The Story Behind the Story .
How To Write a Book in 15 Years is an inside view as to where I drew my inspiration to write my urban novel Who Am I? The Chronicles of Cain. This includes my 15 years behind bars, my short but celebrated time in the music industry, fatherhood, drugs and violence. I’d like to think I’ve emerged a better man for the effort.
Comparatively,Potters Crossing, a section of Edison, New Jersey – where I spent the earliest part of my years — I would consider
rougher than Plainfield in a way. Everyone there fought hand-and-fist like old time gladiators that fought for blood and honor with the twisted notion of someday dying a “good death.” I can’t imagine any death that’s “good.” by contrast, sections of Plainfield had evolved to have long been a place where you can get gunned down in the street. Come to think of it, perhaps it is like the Wild Wild West after all.
Still, anyone can simply pick up a gun nowadays and be considered a killer. But I’ve seen many killers up close turn into cowards when they were caught without their weapons.
When I decided to write a book, I could’ve written it about myself. I had plenty in my life to write about, and perhaps some time in the future I will chronicle those adventures, which were equal parts exciting, frustrating, and frightening.
My life had lots of highs and lows. During the 1980s and ‘90s I was immersed in the music business: co-founding a production company and record label with my partner Bruce T. Dugan. I was featured in several magazines, met celebrities — like Wendy Williams during a private tour at KISS FM radio. I attended high-profile shows with my legendary brother Dee Jay Cheese; and hung out with many of rap’s most celebrated artists, including LL, Biz, Ice T, KRS 1, Eric B, Slick Rick, Big Daddy Kane, and Naughty By Nature, just to name a few.
Hell, if I were to tell most people the entire story behind my book, they would have difficulty believing it. Because things weren’t always so rosy. I was a father struggling to support a child with an unreasonable mother, an artist trying to fulfill my own creative passions, an entrepreneur attempting to build a company, and a kid trying to quickly grow into a man struggling with what truly felt like a little devil on one shoulder, and a little angel perched on the other; neither of them ever giving me a minutes peace.
In the mid-90s when my new labbel Up Front became financially tight, I gave in to the urge that I had resisted all my life. I pioneered to West Virginia and managed to build a money-making drug-selling machine that generated twenty-thousand dollars within the first three days. My new associates and I sold crack-cocaine to hillbillies, homeowners, and businessmen.
Then I got pinched when I was sold out by competitors. I was sentenced to 25 years in the federal pen, so I guess it was short-term success at best.
I wasn’t pushing kilos even though I could have. And I never killed anyone. I did however whip a lot of ass; shot my best friend; watched another die, and saw a lot of gun fights played out in the streets. I’d been robbed, broke many hearts, owned the niceties in life, and did whatever else in the hell I wanted.
I always knew life was as hard as the prison bars that I’ spend 15 years behind. But my fall was a life-lesson a long-time coming. And
during the time that passed in that cage, I pondered, I thought, I schemed, I reviewed my triumphs and my losses, my highs and my lows, the cost of it all, and in the end have chosen a new path.
Upon my release I worked crap jobs just above minimum wage and slaved away pounding the keys that have evolved into Who Am I? The Chronicles of Cain.
I can say that I am proud of that achievement. What in the hell did you do with your life, and what have your triumphs and failures taught you? One thing for sure: If you’re in your late twenties to early forties and you’re not handling your priorities, then all I can say to you is WTF! Get yo sh*t together!!!
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