Mistaken Identity

Have you ever been told that you look like someone else? I think we all have at one point or another. Usually it goes something like, "Hey, did anyone ever tell you that you look like ____?" and it's typically somebody famous. If not then you probably remind that person of someone else they know. I know I've told plenty of people they look like someone else, and it's a fun game. Just the other day I took my cousin (she is 11) to the Ohio State Fair, and I saw someone who is a dead ringer for Bobby Brown (except he looked even more cracked out). I can't begin to explain how funny that was.

One day a few years back, a bunch of us were in NYC for my b-day (I think). My boy Quint happened to come face to face with his look alike. Ok, maybe they didn't run into each other but it was a close encounter. The group decided to go to this bar/lounge late night and guess who walks out as we are walking in. In order to preserve his identity I won't indicate what celebrity it was but he goes by one name and has been the love interest of many black women in several movies. He also somehow ended up on a damn mountain with Sly Stallone in a movie (you know black folks don't like cold or heights). Anyways, that was a once and a lifetime coincidence.

For some reason, the number of people I've been told I resemble is just astounding. Some I agree with (well maybe) and others I am completely bewildered by. Yeah I know you can take certain characteristics of someone and use them to describe a person who doesn't really look like them. In my case, I can't even begin to find the correlation between some of these. Part of it is because I used to experiment with different types of facial hair (goatee, trimmed beard, chin strap, combo, side burns, etc) and hair styles (short and even, bald, fade, mini afro, etc) but still that doesn't explain some of these. Here is the list of people that I've been told I resemble in no particular order:

Chris Webber, Quinton Fortune, Craig David, Harold Reynolds, DMX, Henry Simmons and Usher (if only because I am black, can dress, and know how to dance but still).

Now I can understand some of these more than others but for the most part it is still a stretch. Since I pretty much look the same as I did when I was a kid (seriously, I look like I did when I was 6, just a lot older now) people from my past recognize me all the time. The problem is, I hardly ever recognize them. Oh well, I guess it's one of those things. I'm just waiting for someone to tell me that I look like someone who is white, and I'm just going to crack up.