By Stranga The Great
Hip-HopVibe.com Staff Writer
Hip hop is more than the music, there is a culture behind this. There are more reasons than one, this is called “art.” Some people make music, others do graffiti, and other kinds of photo art, meanwhile some people write their stories, in forms of books.
In Philadelphia, currently one of hip hop’s hottest cities, there is an author, named Authentic, on the scene. While he is currently behind bars, his impact is still being felt. He has his book, I Got a Story to Tell, which is hot off the press.
Authentic allowed Hip-HopVibe.com to peek into his world, for just a minute. Giving HHV an On The Rise exclusive, Authentic talked about his book, the stories behind it, and his motivation. This book lives up to his pen name, as the story is true to his upbringing.
Read the entire interview below:
Exactly what is the story your telling? I Got a Story to Tell is basically the dangerous addictive and enticing way of life that captivates the souls of our youth. See, in my neighborhood, the “Bad Landz,” there’s young bucks like the characters in my book: Pooh, Spud and Tone out there on every corner. When I was writing I Got a Story to Tell, so many memories good and bad came to my head sometimes even in my dreams so a thought or memory I would turn that into an idea. I Got a Story to Tell is the horrifying reality of a few childhood friends that fell victim to the streets and greed and by the time they realized its time for a change their life was already in the hands of the DOC.
Your book is called I GOT A STORY TO TELL, is this title inspired by B.I.G.?
Nah Nah “I got a story to tell”, is inspired by my life. Growing up in north philly ” The Bad Landz”, I’ve seen a lot for a pup (aka a young kid) 13 or 14 yrs old, it was kind of overwhelming, the shit turned me out the shootings, the money, the drugs it was exciting for me. My old heads that ran my neighborhood didn’t give me no guidance they put me out on the block with a $150 pack gave me my shifts and told me where to drop the money off when i was finished each bundle. The thing is its 1,000 lil niggaz from the landz wit the same story and when I was writing the characters Pooh, Spud,Tone and even Mama they reminded me of my lil team I had growing up. Living in the ” Bad Landz” it was always something poppin off, everyday was a movie and that’s what inspired my testimony, but rest in peace to the “Big fella” he inspired other aspects of my life just not this project right here I gotta give it to my hood.
With this book, what are your goals, in terms of cultural impact? In the “Bad Lands”, I see the youth following in the foot steps of “OGs” that ran neighborhood drug corners before they themselves started getting busy, but see when you “busy” in this ” fast life” you don’t notice certain sh*t, and you can look up to find all of your folk either dead or upstate doing a wheel or football numbers. I wrote this book for that teenage kid that got sucked into this way of life we call “the game.” I Got a Story to Tell is a fictional reality novel that gives you the brutal truth of how your story can end playing around in these streets.
There is no happy ending; no mansion on a hill, and no Wraith in the garage, when it’s said and done. Just three hots and a cot or a grave yard. I see kids coming through this system by the bus load every week with a lot of time on there hands 19-20 year olds that won’t see their minimum until their 45 or 50. I always ask them ” youngin is this really what you want?” , “do you think you can beat this game?”
My cultural impact needs to hit in my community with these kids because they need some guidance and that’s the direction I was going while writing I got a story to tell, I wanted to give the people a realistic situation they can relate to, I want the reader to say wait a minute “is this a true story”, that’s the only way to hit home, give them the brutal truth no matter if it hurts or not.
What inspired you to become an author? I was in the RHU (aka the hole), there’s really not much to do but read whatever you can get your hands on in the Restricted Housing Unit. It’s a 23-N-1 lock down, so I usually read to kill time. I was running through hood novel after hood novel, until they started to burn me out and then I started reading other genres cause I was tiered of the super untouchable drug lord kingpin bullsh*t. Then, one day, “I’ll never forget” I said to myself “I gotta story to tel,l too,” and right then and there I started writing my first novel and never looked back.
Would you consider the possibility of turning this book into a movie, down the line? For sure, I would love to. When I finished the project, I used to get that a lot. People used to tell me the book would be a good movie. I am an extremely visual writer, when your reading my material I like the reader to be able to visualize every scene. It wouldn’t be hard to turn one the I Got a Story to Tell into a movie.
Where can people go purchase the book? I GOT A STORY TO TELL, will be available at Amazon and Kindle Fire in February 2019.
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