The Life Of Dice 🎲

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Diego “ Dice Hound ” Blanco​

Patterson's Finest.. Dice
Diego Blanco, better known around the Bronx as Dice Hound , was born and raised in the same environment that shaped many kids growing up in the South Bronx. From the time he was young, his life revolved around one place — 291 E 143rd Street, better known throughout the n

eighborhood as Patterson Houses. The buildings, stairwells, playgrounds, and basketball courts became the backdrop of his childhood. It was the kind of place where everyone recognized each other, where kids stayed outside until the streetlights flicked on, and where the streets themselves taught lessons you couldn’t learn anywhere else.

As Dice got older and started attending Dream Charter School, he began meeting people who were a little older than him. Even while he was still in middle school, many of the people he spent time around were already in high school. Because the neighborhood and school communities overlapped so much, it wasn’t unusual for younger kids like Dice to end up around older students after school or around the block. Dice naturally gravitated toward them, partly because he looked up to the way they carried themselves and partly because many of them were from the same buildings and neighborhoods he grew up in.

Being around older teenagers exposed him to a different side of the environment he was growing up in. The conversations, the way they moved around the neighborhood, and the reputations they carried all had an impact on him. Dice spent a lot of time listening and observing, slowly picking up the mentality and habits of the people he surrounded himself with. Over time, those influences began shaping how he saw the streets and the role he wanted to play within his neighborhood. What started as simply hanging around older friends from school gradually pulled him deeper into the lifestyle that many of them were already involved in.












Growing up in Patterson Houses/Pville/43rd
Growing up in Patterson Houses meant understanding things early. The neighborhood had its own rules and its own way of moving. Dice learned quickly that you had to stay aware and carry yourself a certain way. Living there his entire life forced him to mature faster than most kids his age. While the block was full of energy and people who looked out for each other, it also came with tension and the quiet understanding that respect and loyalty mattered more than anything.

Dice attended Dream Charter School, where many of the same kids from Patterson grew up together. School was where friendships started forming, and where people slowly began making names for themselves.

One of the most important people in Dice’s life growing up was his neighbor Yosiah “YuYu Gunz ” Hernandez. Their mothers were extremely close, so the two boys were practically raised side by side. YuYu was three years older than Dice and always treated him like a little brother. Wherever YuYu went, Dice usually wasn’t far behind. YuYu often walked him to and from school and made sure he was good when they were moving around the Bronx together.

As Dice got older, he started spending more time around YuYu and his circle. After school they would often head over to RPT River Park Towers — to hang out, play basketball, or just chill on the block.




Diggity Gunz
One person Dice noticed early on was Daequan “Diggity” Randall. Diggity was someone younger kids naturally looked up to. He carried himself with confidence and had a reputation that made people respect him. Even though he eventually moved to River Park Towers, Diggity had originally grown up in the same Patterson Houses as YuYu and Dice.

Dice mostly watched from the sidelines while YuYu spent time learning from Diggity. On the basketball courts and around the neighborhood, Diggity was someone who always had people around him. He spoke about loyalty, survival, and the reality of growing up in their environment. To the younger kids like Dice, he represented what the streets around them looked like when someone fully embraced that life.

At the time, Dice was still just a kid observing everything around him. He watched how YuYu began carrying himself differently and how the older teenagers moved with a certain level of respect on the block.

But the moment that affected Dice the most happened when he was just 11 years old.

It was a late evening outside a small deli near River Park Towers. The air was warm, and the block was still alive with noise — music from passing cars, people talking on the sidewalks, and the normal sounds of the neighborhood settling into the night.

Across the street near the corner, five teenagers were hanging out — YuYu, Dice, Faxe, BG, and Wavy Hound. They had stopped by the deli to grab snacks after spending most of the evening together. Leaning against the wall, they argued about music and scrolled through their phones, barely paying attention to the street around them.

Then everything changed. A loud crack suddenly echoed through the block. For a second nobody understood what it was. The sound bounced sharply between the buildings, cutting through the normal noise of the night. YuYu’s head snapped up toward the deli.

Dice followed his gaze.

Across the street, they saw Diggity standing near the entrance of the store. The bottle he had just bought slipped from his hand and shattered against the sidewalk. Diggity staggered. Then he collapsed.

“Yo—” YuYu said, stepping forward as the realization hit him before anyone else. Dice froze.

People nearby started shouting. Some ducked down while others rushed forward trying to see what had happened. Dice’s hands were shaking as he pulled out his phone, trying to call for help.

BG kept repeating in disbelief, “Yo… yo… somebody help the nigga gang.” Wavy Hound and Faxe stood there stunned, staring across the street at the chaos unfolding. Only seconds earlier the block had felt normal. Now sirens were already beginning to echo in the distance.

People from River Park Towers started coming outside as word spread quickly through the neighborhood. Some yelled, others cried, and many just stood there shocked as police cars and ambulances arrived, their flashing lights covering the entire block.

Dice stood there watching it all happen, not fully understanding how something could change so fast. That night stayed with him. Years later, now at 15 years old, Dice still remembers every detail of that moment — the sound, the shouting, the flashing lights, and the feeling that the neighborhood he grew up in had suddenly become much more real.

Becoming G6 Snotty Hound
Before Dice ever held any kind of leadership role, he was just another young face around the block trying to find his place. Around the age of 10, he had already started spending more time around the older crowd from Patterson Houses and River Park Towers. Being around them so often, Dice slowly became recognized as one of the younger G6 Hounds/Jets, someone who was around the movement and learning from the people ahead of him. At that age he wasn’t expected to lead or make big decisions — his role was simply to stay close to the people he respected, pay attention, and understand the environment he was growing up in. Dice spen

t those early years watching how the older guys carried themselves, how they handled problems, and how loyalty and respect worked within their circle.

Those years shaped him a lot. While other kids his age were still figuring things out, Dice was already learning the importance of awareness and discipline from the people around him. He stayed present around Patterson Houses and River Park Towers, and people began noticing that he was consistent. He wasn’t loud or trying to force a name for himself — instead he built respect by simply being around, listening, and showing loyalty to the people he grew up with.

As time passed and Dice got older, the people around him began to see that he had matured. By the time he reached 15 years old, he wasn’t looked at as just a younger kid anymore. He had grown up in the same environment, experienced the same moments as everyone else, and built trust with both the younger generation and some of the older figures connected to the neighborhood.

Becoming The G6 Hound Pilot From Pville
That trust is what led to a major moment for him. While Peter “Parkem” was incarcerated, he still kept in contact with people back home and paid attention to what was happening around Patterson Houses. Dice’s name continued coming up in conversations about the younger generation — people mentioning how he carried himself and how others around his age naturally followed his lead.

Seeing that growth and hearing those things, Parkem
decided to place his trust in Dice. From jail, he passed down his “stain,” giving Dice the responsibility of becoming the G6 Jet Pilot for the Patterson Houses lineup while he was away. For Dice, it was a big jump from where he started. Just five years earlier he had been a 10-year-old regular G6 Hound/Jet learning from the people around him. Now at 15, he had been placed in a position to guide others and represent Patterson Houses while someone respected had trusted him with that responsibility.

The change showed how much Dice had grown within the environment he came from. What started as a kid observing the older generation slowly turned into someone the next group looked toward for direction.

Information On Patterson Houses ​

Patterson Houses, located in the South Bronx, has long been known as one of the more intense environments to grow up in within the borough. The large NYCHA development sits along East 143rd Street and the surrounding blocks, made up of tall brick buildings, crowded courtyards, and stairwells that echo with the constant movement of people coming and going. For many families it’s simply home — a place where generations have lived, where neighbors know each other, and where kids grow up playing on the same basketball courts their older siblings once used. But at the same time, the environment around Patterson has always carried a reputation for being tough.

The area has historically dealt with high levels of crime, gang activity, and constant tension between different groups from nearby neighborhoods. Because so many people live within a small space, conflicts can spread quickly and word travels fast through the buildings and blocks. Kids growing up there often learn early to stay aware of their surroundings, to know which blocks are safe to move through, and to recognize when something doesn’t feel right. Sirens, police lights, and arguments echoing through the courtyards are things many residents grow up seeing regularly.

For younger people especially, Patterson Houses can be a place where the line between childhood and street life becomes blurred. Older teenagers and adults who have already built reputations on the block are always around, and younger kids often grow up watching them closely. The respect those figures carry, combined with the pressure of the environment, can influence how younger generations see their future. Some view the streets as something to survive, while others feel pulled toward the same lifestyle they see around them every day.

Despite the danger and reputation, Patterson Houses is also a community where people look out for one another. Families, friends, and longtime residents build strong bonds because they understand what it means to grow up there together. But the reality remains that living in Patterson means constantly balancing that sense of community with the challenges and risks that come with one of the South Bronx’s toughest neighborhoods.

• Neighborhood Context: The Highbridge/Concourse area, where Paterson Houses are located, was ranked 39th safest out of 69 patrol areas in 2010, indicating a higher-than-average crime rate.
• Violent Crime: The area has seen violent incidents, such as gunpoint robberies and stabbings within apartment buildings in the 44th Precinct.
• 44th Precinct Statistics: As of March 2026, the 44th Precinct has seen 2026 year-to-date reports of felonious assaults, robberies, and shootings, with significant ongoing policing efforts, according to data from NYC.gov.
• Historical Context: The Patterson Houses have a long history of crime, with records showing significant issues with robberies and drug-related incidents as early as the 1960s, notes Wikipedia.
  
  
  

WhooptyGzzly
As Dice continued growing up around Patterson Houses and spending time near River Park Towers, the influences around him started shaping the identity he would eventually carry. Two of the people who had the biggest impact on him were Daequan “Diggity” Randall and someone known as Faxe. Both of them were already respected within their circles and represented different sides of the environment Dice was learning about. Being around them regularly meant Dice was constantly hearing their perspectives about loyalty, reputation, and how the different

groups around the Bronx connected with each other.

Diggity strongly represented Young Gunnaz , carrying that identity with pride and making sure the younger people around him understood what it stood for. Faxe, on the other hand, was closely connected with the G6 Hound/Jet side of the movement. Dice spent time around both of them, and over time he began picking up pieces from each influence. To him, the two sides weren’t separate worlds — they were both part of the same environment he grew up in.

Because Dice had close ties to people connected to both groups, his identity slowly became a blend of those influences. The people around him started referring to that mix as WhooptyGzzly, a name that symbolized the combination of the two sides he was connected to. It represented the influence of Young Gunnaz from Diggity and the G6 Hound/Jet presence from people like Faxe and others around Patterson Houses and River Park Towers.

For Dice, the name wasn’t just something people said — it reflected how he had grown up within the environment. He had been around both sides since he was young, learning from the people he respected and carrying pieces of their influence with him. The identity of WhooptyGzzly became a way to represent that mixture and the path he had taken growing up between those two circles.







MAKK BALLA FAMILY TIES

In the South Bronx, especially around Patterson Houses and River Park Towers (RPT), a lot of the relationships between different groups weren’t always completely separate. Many of the people growing up in those buildings shared the same blocks, schools, and family connections. Because of that, there were often strong family ties and neighborhood relationships between people connected to Makk Ballaz, Young Gunnaz , and the G6 Hounds/Jets . For younger kids growing up in those areas, those connections were something they saw naturally around them every day.

Older people from the neighborhood who had ties to Makk Ballaz were often related to or grew up alongside people who later represented Young Gunnaz or the G6 Hound side. Since many families had lived in Patterson Houses and around RPT for years, it wasn’t uncommon for cousins, older siblings, or longtime friends to end up connected to different sets while still sharing the same roots. That created an environment where the influence of those groups blended into the culture of the neighborhood itself.

For younger people like Dice and others coming up around Patterson Houses, those influences were always present. Hanging around the basketball courts, stairwells, or outside the buildings meant constantly being around older individuals who represented one side or another. Conversations about loyalty, respect, and reputation were normal parts of the environment. Even if someone was too young to fully understand everything at first, they were still absorbing the culture and mentality that surrounded them.

River Park Towers in particular became a place where a lot of those connections crossed paths. People from Patterson Houses often moved through RPT, and vice versa, since the neighborhoods were close and many of the same friend groups existed in both areas. Because of that, the presence of Makk Ballaz family ties alongside Young Gunnaz and G6 Hounds created a shared influence that shaped how many of the younger generation viewed their identity and the neighborhood they were part of.

For kids growing up in those buildings, the environment itself became a teacher. The history of the people before them, the reputations carried by older figures, and the connections between groups all played a role in shaping how the next generation saw themselves and the path they would eventually take within Patterson Houses and River Park Towers.