The Evolution of a Writer: Nick Brooks on His Literary Path

Foreign what's good, family?

How's everybody doing today?

Welcome to another episode of the Reader of Black Genius podcast where we learn about your favorite writers.

Favorite writers.

I am your host, Derek Young, blurred extraordinaire and co owner of Mahogany Books.

This is another episode of the Reader of Black Genius podcast and I'm super excited to be here with a homeboy, great guy that I met about maybe a year or so ago, Nick Brooks.

And we're going to have an incredible conversation.

But before we get into that, I want to of course let you guys know about our sponsor, Mahogany Books.

Hey, so discover a world of literature featuring black stories@mahogany books.com with the Web's deepest collection of books written for, by or about people of the African diaspora.

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So, hey, like I said, I'm excited for today's conversation because we're here with award winning authority, filmmaker and hip hop artist, Nick Brooks.

What's up, Nick?

What's good, man?

Yo, yo, what's good?

Thanks for having me, my man.

No problem.

Welcome to the Reader of Black Genius podcast.

Yes.

How's everything going though?

You had to run around and take care of some stuff?

Yeah, yeah, everything's all good, man.

Just another, another day at the office, you know, writing.

Been writing all day, you know, so I'm happy to get into it.

Hey, no problem, no problem.

I love it.

I love when I talk to other guys, you know, family people, family men who are, you know, we, we got things going on too, right?

We got our errands, we gotta do, we gotta work as well.

And I love talking to other guys and just saying, hey, you know what, we're out here putting work in, supporting the family and making stuff happen.

But likewise for time.

Today we're gonna have a get into this conversation.

The.

So before I ask you my first question, I really give people kind of like a backstory of how we met and when we last saw each other.

I want to let people remind people of who you are.

So your first book was published, If I got this right, it was a middle grade novel.

2022.

Nothing interesting ever happens to Ethan Fairmont.

Yeah, yeah, that was the first book of a three book series.

Second book, middle Grade book in that series came out.

Too many Interesting Things Happening to Ethan Fairmont.

And I'm excited to hear what the third book title is going to be.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And then when I first had a chance to meet you was with the debut of your first YA novel.

Yeah.

Promise Boys.

Yeah.

And that was around last year, January 2023, I think it was.

Yeah.

Got a lot of buzz.

I'm saying buzz, but it was.

Right.

Got a lot of buzz from buzzfeed, from Seventeen, from Forbes.

It was an award.

It was honored by the Boston Globe Horn Book Award.

Man, you just been out here doing your thing, all the other stuff.

Yeah.

Making a mark here in the book world.

And it was just great to be able to get a chance to meet you for the first time at that publisher dinner I got a chance to meet you at.

And then I saw you again, and I was just surprised.

I'm sitting there in work mode and you're hanging out with us.

Yeah.

Yeah, man.

I happen to be.

I happen to be in town.

We were talking about Off Mike, my little sister who's going to college next year, she was graduating.

So I just happened to be in town, happened to be seeing family, and I saw Charlamagne was gonna be in town.

Like, let me pull up, you know what I'm saying?

Because I've been wanting to tap in anyway, and it was just cool to see y'all and see the fam, so.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that was cool.

I was sitting there like, ah, just, you know, one of those moments you run in and then you see a good.

See a face that you're familiar with.

Like, oh, man, I ain't talked to dude in a while.

Yeah, yeah.

So that was.

That was good.

So I was like, yes, I.

And I stopped right there.

I was like, yo, I gotta get you on the podcast.

Gotta talk to you.

Because as soon as I saw you and I was start thinking back to some of our original conversations, like, so we can start here.

Like, you're from D.C.

like, you're from the place where I'm from.

Right.

And I think that's something that I want people to.

To understand and start to recognize that, number one, D.C.

is crazy with writers.

Number of writers that come from dc.

I don't think people really, really understand that.

Yeah, I haven't even thought about that, to be honest.

But, I mean, it's such an interesting place.

You know, It's.

It's the things that you see.

I grew up in, like, you know, 90s, 2000s, and so even then coming out of the 80s, you know, and.

And you see the residual effect of the 80s and crack epidemic and all of these different things.

And so the, you know, living in that.

But then also politics, and then also you have, you know, black wealth.

Like, there's all of these different things in the city where you certainly come out with stories to tell.

Right, right.

So let's.

So let's.

Let's.

So let's start there.

Let's talk about your background.

Let's talk about, you know, what part of the city you come from.

What was life like growing up in D.C.

where your parents from?

Let's give people the background.

Absolutely.

Well, yeah, my folks are from D.C.

as well.

They're both from Northeast.

Well, my dad is Northeast, primarily.

My mom, Northwest.

My mom is from basically around, like, Takoma park area.

My father's from, like, Ben and Terrace 21st.

If, you know.

You know, people might know Heck and Jamal, Ben and Row.

All of that.

Yeah, right off 17th and Lane Place.

So very, you know, it's interesting.

And it's like I say a lot sometimes.

Sometimes women need.

Sometimes they like the bad guy.

You know what I mean?

It's like my mom, she's a pastor's daughter.

My grandfather was a pastor.

She grew up in the church.

She went to Banneken High School, which is actually where I went.

My father was at Spin, Gone and, you know, got kicked out of Sping on end up graduating from McKinley Tech.

And.

And so, yeah, I grew up.

For me, I grew up primarily in Northeast, you know.

And, you know, my story is, again, like, a lot of people come up.

It's just an interesting story.

You know, we grew up, you know, not.

Not very much money.

You know what I mean?

You know, there's times when we bounced around a lot, too, me and my mom, she was a single mom.

She got pregnant in 19, you know, that type of thing.

Went to PG Community College.

You know, I remember it's like six.

Between six and eight was really rough, you know, like, I mean, to the point.

It was like, you know, crackheads breaking in the house type pool, you know, so it was an interesting thing.

But my mom was a hustler, and again, she was on the younger side.

So she had this ambition and this drive and this energy.

And so I got to watch her really, really do her thing.

She went to Howard.

And as a kid, I was.

And this is also something that, As I was reflecting on something I've never seen again.

But I used to be in class with my mom at Howard.

I'VE never seen that.

I've never seen an undergraduate college student bringing their 5 year old kid to class.

I've never seen it.

And she would take me on class trips like, you know, she, she sacrificed a lot and, and had to really, really, really hustle.

So I always gotta make sure I give her a props for that.

And then my father was like I said over in Northeast and I would get to see him when I got to see him.

And it was a much different environment, you know what I'm saying, over there.

But both things, you know, my mom's side, my pop's side, they both kind of like allowed me to see like different things and experiences different things in different parts of the city.

Right.

And so again, you know, coming up was, it was interesting, man.

I, I say like, I say I probably like really like came outside around like 14.

It's really when I started working, you know, I started working for some of you program and, and working all around the city.

I was, I was lifeguarding.

So I worked in every, I basically worked in almost every hood in the city.

You know what I'm saying?

Like I worked in, I was down there.

Yeah, go ahead.

So.

No, no, no.

So I wanna, so you said something and I don't know if people are going to catch this, I think.

Well, like if, if you're from a city, right.

Like being a city, you said I really came outside when I was 14.

Or jumped or jumped off the porch.

As people would say when you were, when you kind of left that bubble.

Right.

Kind of was able to kind of get out, be around people, start actually actively engaging and being in this, being part of the city.

Right.

That's, that's a different type of.

You're now being introduced to a lot of things good and a bad.

Right.

But you're now at this point out there.

Yeah, yeah.

So I just want to make sure we, we can talk.

We point that 100.

Yeah.

Because up to that point my mom, she did a lot, she kept me in a lot of stuff.

I was an athlete.

I, I, I wrestled for a while as a kid.

I was like number three in the tri state area.

Maryland, DC, Maryland, Virginia and wrestling for like three years straight.

I played football, I played the saxophone.

Like she kept me very, very, very busy for that reason.

Right.

Because it's again, because it's the city and we all know what that is.

And so, yeah, it was about 14 where I really got like I said jumped off the porch and, and I'm so grateful that I was that she molded me up to that point because from 14 to 18 is such a pivotal, pivotal part of a young black man's life, particularly in these type of, you know, in these type of environments where, you know, it can only go a few different ways.

Right.

And so for me, luckily I had the foundation.

So when I hit that, that and I can, you know, we can get it to the point where I had to.

I knew I had to make a choice.

And I was like, that's.

That's not me.

Like, I'm not.

I'm not going down that path.

Just the path I'm gonna go down.

So, yeah, around 14.

And, you know, I went to.

I went to Jeff.

I went to Jefferson Junior High School, so in Southwest.

And I think around 14 is when I just graduated from Jeff.

And like I said, I ended up going to Banneker.

But yeah, it was cool, man.

I mean, I had, I had a lot of fun, you know, Like I said, I worked.

I worked in D.C.

aquatics.

I was a lifeguard from 14 all.

All the way up.

Like, for a minute I was, I was like gardening in the city.

But so I got to experience, like I said, all.

All of the city.

You know, I worked all the way from like, Joyce again from up in Northwest to, like, Georgetown to Randall in Southwest.

Like, I've worked at all the pools all across.

Right.

So it was really cool to.

And, you know, I was making money and.

No, no, say I'm just gonna jump because.

And that's kind of rare.

Like, I'm just, just hearing.

I'm thinking about this as like a guy from, from dc, Right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We generally don't leave.

Yeah.

Our neighborhoods.

Right.

And I know there's a lot of other things like this too.

Right.

In New York, you know, if you're in Harlem, you're in Harlem.

If you're in Brooklyn.

Yeah, Brooklyn.

Right.

But D.C.

is so small that it sometimes amazes me that, you know, a brother from Northeast never gets out the Southeast.

Right.

And it's literally maybe a 10 minute bike ride.

Like, it is nothing to get to the different areas of D.C.

so I, I really, I'm just, you know, as I'm thinking about, you talk about this part of your story and how, you know, your.

Your mind is growing and evolving at this younger age.

Yeah.

Seeing your mom going to different schools.

Right.

Striving, pushing, trying to create a better life for herself.

But then also you getting out and seeing other parts of the city.

Yeah.

Again, still broadening your mindset, broadening, you know, your foundation of who you are allows you to start making some of these decisions.

So, yeah, I just want to, like, kind of touch on that, because that was.

Yeah, no, it was.

It was an important point.

100.

No, it helped.

It helped tremendously.

Because even just being able to adapt, like, to your point, you know, I tell people D.C.

is not really.

It's not.

It's not a gang town.

It's a.

It's a hood town, so it's a neighborhood town, right?

So like you said, you could be, you know, for me, what exactly?

Northeast, where I grew up, you know, maybe Edge would probably.

I would say, is like, you know, that's the hood.

That's the.

You know what I'm saying?

Government housing that we were.

That I live closest to was Edgewood.

But I can go right up the street to Turkey Thicket now.

I'm at.

Now with One Deuce.

Right now.

I'm in One Deuce.

Me personally, because I went to Banneker.

Banneker is one of, I think, one of maybe four schools in the city where kids from all over could come.

It's Banneker.

It's School Without Walls.

It's Duke Ellington, and it's Wilson.

Right?

Uptown, those four schools, kids from all over can come.

So because of that, a lot of.

I was kicking it with all.

You know, I would be up in Shepherd Park.

I would also be down Oxford Manor and Southeast, down Anacostia.

Like, I was all over the city, which allowed me to adapt.

But again, even.

Because I'm again, just doing my own reflection and thinking about myself as an artist and the things that I was able to see in these different places that show me what to do and what not to do, right?

I would be in these different planes, and I'd go back home and.

And it was what it was.

But, yes, I worked all over the city, and I think probably the most pivotal experience I had was working actually in Langdon park, which is also in Northeast, right off Rhode Island Avenue.

But I worked at Langdon park for a couple of years at a time where it was.

A lot of it was.

It was beef, right?

As people.

As kids call Beef.

Beef.

Beef.

And it's like, I got to see it at.

Are really.

I got this.

It sounds weird saying this, but I got to see beef at a high level.

Like, I got to see beef, like, what it looked like when neighborhoods are really killing each other.

Like.

And so for me, not actually being from Langdon park, it was.

You know, I think about.

There's a scene in Snowfall where there's a kid with a camera, like following, following Franklin around, which is like, it was like an homage to John Singleton after he passed.

But it was, you know, I think about like the John Singletons or the Kendrick Lamars and Jake, like these type of guys who were in and around these type of things.

But they were, but they were observing, right?

They weren't really.

And that, and that is what I feel like I got growing up in the city and working these different neighborhoods.

I got to see all these different beasts.

And like I said, the, the realest one was one in Langdon park, where it's like I'm seeing the people that I, that I work with and then I'm with every day.

Like being real, they're really plotting how do they go spin over here?

And I'm really seeing the old heads that I'm communicating with and working with, because at this time it was.

I could get into a whole bunch of stuff.

But at this time I was, I was trying to figure out where I fit in with the whole city and that, you know, so I was, I was making money from like, God, and I was flipping it.

A guy again, I work with in Southwest had told me, look like, yo, the money I'm making over here, I'm able to, I'm able, able to flip this, sell it.

Selling weed, right?

And so he, you know, he puts me on.

And so now I'm at Langton park lifeguarding and trapping.

Out of the, out of the, out of the lifeguard, out of the, out of the rec center.

And so, you know, these guys that I'm working with, I see them being shot, see them being killed.

Like, I saw it, you know, and so for me, it really was an eye opening experience to be like, oh, this is not, this is not at all me.

You know what I'm saying?

And I actually take a lot of pride in understanding that I'm not a murderer, you know what I'm saying?

Like, these guys, I take pride in that because I've been up close to it.

And so when I hear kids and I see.

Hear the music and all of this, I'm like, I just understand that a lot of it's entertainment because I know what it's like to be with those people.

And it is far from glamorous, right?

So anyway, that was kind of my upbringing.

And like I said, in high school, I was working and decided, okay, that's not what it is for me.

What do I really want to do in music?

And that's where I get to like, Music and rap.

And I had always been a huge fan of the arts, I guess, like music, tv, film.

I've always been a huge fan and rap was the thing.

I started around, I want to say seriously, around 15, 16, and thought, hey, is this something that I can, that I can pursue seriously?

I used to, you know, print out lyrics and read lyrics and watch freestyle battles on YouTube.

This one, YouTube was first, like, really, really popping off and.

Yeah, and that was, that was kind of the thing and like we talked about again, a little bit off Mike, you know, it was not something that I felt like I could get a lot of support in from, from my mom because I just knew she wouldn't understand, like, what is even rap?

What is hip hop?

How do you make a living out of this?

She was a nurse.

She still is.

Like, that was her thing is going to school, getting a degree.

And she preached that daily.

Like, look, you got to go to school, you got to go to school.

So I ended up trying to figure out, you know, there was another experience, like a life changing experience I had where again, just being a kid in the city and again, talk about beef.

And this time, you know, guns are way different now in the city.

I feel like when I was a kid it was much harder seemingly to get your hands on a, on a, on a, on a firearm and.

But people were, it was like, it was like people got jumped a lot.

People would get jumped on the train, da da da da.

Or robbed.

And so one of my, some, you know, some people try to rob one of my homies.

And it was a whole thing.

And in the midst of that, for the first, the first time I had a gun pulled on me in like a, you know, attempt to retaliate.

And luckily there was a witness by who, like shouted and I was able to get away.

But again, that was another experience.

I was like, okay, again, this is not for me.

Like, I'm not really built for this.

What is it going to be?

And so with the music, it was like I was kind of like, which I feel like a lot of people do is like trying to figure out, you know, I'm trying to do both.

I'm trying to, like, I really, really, really want to do this rap thing, but also like, I'm trying to play it safe, so I need to go to college, you know what I mean?

And so I ended up applying to a bunch of schools.

I got into two.

I got into North Carolina A and T, and I got into Oklahoma University out in Norman, Oklahom, Oklahoma, Sooner and even that I had got accepted on, like, an academic probation, which is, like, I had to.

I had to, you know, achieve a certain GPA in the first.

The first semester to continue in school.

And so I got out there, man, and.

And I killed it.

To Oklahoma.

Yeah.

I ended up going to Oklahoma University because I was with one of my boys, my God brother, who I rap with.

He didn't get into A and T, but he got into ou.

So he was like, look, we just got to go to the same spot.

That's all we knew, right?

And he had got into Hampton, but I didn't get to Hampton.

So we wanted to go to Hampton, but so we ended up out in Oklahoma at ou, and.

And as I'm laughing because it was just a funny time, and we were so far away from home.

But again, you talk about, like I was talking about, you know, moving all these different parts of the city.

I was really able.

I can adapt, you know, I was able to, Dad.

I could talk to anybody, you know?

So we got out there was a culture shock.

Was like, all white people.

Yeah, yeah.

As Ramonda, you know.

You know, my wife is from Tulsa, Oklahoma.

I do know that, because she knows my stepmother.

My stepmother was her teacher.

Oh, what?

Yeah, yeah.

Okay.

And we found that out at the Promise Boys release at MLK Library.

My stepmother was there.

My stepmother was your wife's teacher in high school.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's crazy.

Small world, but, yeah.

Tulsa.

You know, Tulsa.

Tulsa is far more.

I'm not sure how black it is, but it's far more black than Norman, for sure.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But it was.

And that's saying something, right?

Because at the end of the day, it's Oklahoma.

And so, you know, we went out there, ended up pledging, fraternity, and it was getting in the mix, but.

But music was still the focus.

And so at that time, actually, I.

Was so, you know, so.

I'm sorry, bro.

You can't throw that out there, because, you know, everyone's gonna be now listening, like, okay, so what's the frat like?

You got?

Oh, yeah.

A5.

A.

A5.

A Alpha.

Alpha.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Alpha Phi Alpha, man.

And.

And so we pledged, but music was still a focus.

And so this is a.

This gets into a whole nother.

So we were doing these songs.

We start.

We were on the radio.

Like, we had a little emotion.

We had some traction with music videos and this guy.

Well, really, this girl reached out to me.

She reached out to me.

She called me.

She was like, nick, like, I Saw one of your videos just now.

It was a video called Robot.

And I was like, okay, thanks.

And she was like, yo, I got something to tell you.

I don't want you to tell anybody.

And I.

And she's like, I haven't told anybody.

And I'm like, okay, what's up?

She's like, well, you know, my cousin is Kanye west.

And this is.

And this is at the time.

This is.

This is right around.

This is, like, right before.

What album is this?

It's after graduation three, but not quite.

Not quite.

808 in heartbreaks.

Okay?

So.

So it's is.

You know, May or maybe 808 had just came out right around that time.

So my cousin's Kanye west, and I'm like.

And, you know, at this time, Kanye is the biggest.

Graduation Heartbreaking.

That's the biggest thing you get.

Far bigger than Drake and all of that.

This is the.

This is.

This is the biggest you can get in hip hop.

I'm like, okay.

And she's like, yeah, you know, he's actually from Oklahoma.

Our whole family from Oklahoma.

Da da da da da.

So I'm just listening.

I'm like, all right.

Because I.

You know, you get spun a lot trying to do the arts.

Like, people always, you know, everybody's talking.

So I'm like, all right.

And she's like, I want to put you in touch with one of our other cousins.

His name is Tony Williams.

So I look up Tony Williams, and I see Tony Williams is literally, like.

On every Kanye song there is, like, he's singing everything.

He's the one who's like, so why don't you raise your glass?

Won't you like Tony Williams singers on everything?

On everything that Kanye does, he's on.

So she's like.

So I look him up, and I'm like, okay, that makes sense.

She puts me in touch with Tony Williams.

Next thing you know, we're writing on Tony Williams first project for Good Music, Finding Dakota Gray.

And so we do two songs for Tony Williams.

He does one of our track for us.

And this is.

I know that they're recording dark.

They're working on Dark Toys of Fantasy at this time, because at the time, this is when they were recorded in Hawaii.

And he's like, yo, I want to get y'all to Hawaii.

I want to introduce y'all to Kanye.

Like, I think y'all make a great addition to good music.

And so we're like, you know, this is crazy for us.

We like, 19.

You know what I'm saying?

Like, What?

You know, in the studio, Tony would let us wear the good music chain as we record.

And so what happened?

Okay, so.

So all of that's going on, and the two tracks, the two songs that we do for Tony Williams, basically, he needed us to do something with the vocals.

And I was young and not really understanding how the industry works.

He was basically.

He was kind of like.

He started to.

It was getting close to his album release, and he.

He needed this thing done.

And he started talking to me like.

He started talking to me like.

Like son of Me.

Like, talking to me a little bit aggressively, you know?

Yeah.

And so we had a conversation because I.

I wasn't really for it.

I didn't really.

I didn't really understand the politics of any of this stuff, right.

Of, like, you got it and entertainment.

People expect you to, like, eat shit.

Which I just wasn't.

And it's crazy, you know, I just pledged.

So I knew what that was, but I didn't realize it was the same type of thing.

And so we had.

We exchanged words or whatever.

Long story short, Tony's album came out.

The two songs that we.

I think one of the songs that we did was on a.

Was on a project.

The other one wasn't.

Cause we never did whatever he was.

That we had asked us to do.

And he stopped returning our calls, and that was it.

And I never forget that moment because it just taught me something in, like, ego and, like, you know, how.

Burning bridges and like, all of these things.

Lessons that I still would go on and still need to learn, to be honest.

But it was an interesting time, right?

And.

But.

But I will say this.

The other thing that I learned too, is because in addition to those songs, we had, like, we were the young.

It's like the kids today.

Like, we were like the young kids.

We know how to use the camera.

We know how to use the Internet really well.

So it was also some things that he wanted from us that he necessarily wasn't willing to, like, pay for.

You know, there was a level where he was exploiting us, basically, you know what I'm saying?

And so I don't feel totally bad about it because, again, I was just learning the game.

But he had his dudes.

Yeah, I was like, 19.

Yeah, I was like 19.

So, you know, I didn't.

We're just doing stuff for free.

We just writing these songs.

We're just shooting these videos for him.

We're doing all this stuff for free.

And when I look back at it, I was like, yeah, he was getting and the minute I showed that I wasn't like a.

Like a pushover, he cut ties, right?

So it's like, you know, you take the good with.

It's like, I did learn, but also at the same time, I learned it both ways.

I learned, okay, you got.

Sometimes you do got to stand up for yourself, because people in this industry will exploit you for everything they can, you know, before they move on.

Right.

So anyway, long.

Long story short, because I'm just kind of rambling along because you just asked me to go through the story.

Long story short, that happened.

And simultaneously, I was told I necessarily didn't have the grades to keep up to stay at ou, at least for the.

The.

The.

The major I had.

It was like, well, you know, this is not.

This is not really working.

You're gonna have to basically switch majors and, like, start over, because the core classes in this major, you don't have a grade.

What was the major?

It was a pre nursing.

Okay.

Which I was only doing nursing because my mom was.

Yeah, yeah.

So your mom was like, okay, yeah, yeah.

Okay.

This is what I knew is what I saw.

I.

I make a terrible nurse.

I'll be honest.

I wouldn't make it.

And so.

And so that didn't work.

So, you know, I talked to my mom about it.

She would.

And at this time, my mom was actually a nurse at the health center at Howard at the student health center.

And she said, look, I work at.

Because I work at Howard, you could get remission of tuition here and go for free.

And I'm sure I could.

I could get you in if you applied, even with your grades, if you apply to the nursing department, because I'm a.

Because I'm a nurse here, I could get you in.

And so that's what I did.

I transferred to Howard as an.

As a nursing major, and then switched majors at Howard to psychology.

And then I was able to finish my degree at Howard.

But when I transferred.

So when I Transferred back to D.C.

i was pretty depressed.

I was like.

Because I felt like I had Bluetooth opportunity with good music.

I wasn't able to stay in Oklahoma with my.

I mean, everything we had built.

And again, this is where, like, social media wasn't what it was today.

So, like, our popularity was regional.

Like, and it was me and my brother.

We was a group.

And so having to come back to D.C.

and him being in Oklahoma just doesn't.

Just doesn't work.

Again, at that time, social media wasn't what it was today.

So it kind of, like, killed our Momentum, you know.

And I felt like I also blew this opportunity with the music.

So I was, I ain't gonna lie, I was a little bit depressed when I first moved back to my house that got robbed.

Like, it was a bunch of stuff.

And I was like, man, this is not it.

And so I pivoted for a short time into, you know, I needed to work.

So I got a job at a nonprofit called Concerned Black Men.

And this was also really pivotal for me because I started working with at risk young black and brown boys.

I started to push into schools around the city, like Brown.

What else did we do?

We go, we went to like Anacostia, Spingon, all these different schools around the city, working with really the at risk population.

And so that was cool because I started coaching little league football, started coaching up Lamar Riggs.

And so it was really cool because I got to like tap back in with all of these young men who reminded me a lot of my younger self.

And seeing a lot of them at that same, that same inflection point that I, that I was where I talked about, you know, all those years before.

And I made, I had to make a choice.

A lot of these kids were at that exact moment where they had to make a choice.

And because I saw a lot of myself and a lot of them, I, I found this affinity for them and, and, and, and this love for like, in this passion for like wanting to, to, to work for and with them and help guide them through that process.

Because I, you know, it's something I talk about a lot too.

But like the black men, particularly in a city like D.C.

the black men all vanished.

There's a whole generation of black men that pretty much vanished.

You know, they were imprisoned or they were killed or whatever happened, they completely vanished, bro.

So even for me, even like, even my dad, you know, I didn't grow up, my dad in the house, so a lot of these kids didn't.

And still to this day, like didn't have direction and don't have direction at least from seeing positive black men in their lives that are doing, you know, doing, doing things right, doing things other than get just kind of stereotypical, the few, the few buckets that, that we might see on a day to day basis.

So anyway, it was cool that I found a lot of joy in that, which made me think, you know, okay, maybe for this career path, right, this plan B.

Because for me at first, and I thought my, my plan A was rap and that that wasn't really going well, I was like, maybe I'LL get into education.

And so I applied for this organization called Teach for America.

And so I did.

I ended up getting into TFA.

Did TFA.

I taught at this charter school called DC Scholars right off East Capital in Southeast D.C.

and I actually got.

I was teaching kindergarten.

Okay.

So, yeah, so I've seen, you know, as a traditional classroom teacher, I taught kindergarten, first grade, and then, you know, as a.

As a support staff, I guess you would say, you know, I taught middle school and high school.

And so I got to see the whole.

The whole range.

And while I was a teacher at TFA is when, again, I've always been a writer.

And, you know, I always love words and always, on some level, felt like, you know, I wanted to be in entertainment.

And so I was in class one day and I was, you know, I was looking at the books that we had in class, and they were all like, you know, see spot run.

Or, you know, see spot jump.

And I was like, yo, I could do this.

Like, I could write these books.

Like, maybe that's a way, you know, I was always trying to figure out a way to get back to just like, writing for a living or in my mind, in my mind, books.

Books were kind of a pathway still to like, entertainment, you know, whether, you know, whether it was Hollywood or whatever.

It was like, yeah, I could write these books.

Like, these are pretty easy.

And none of the books had characters that looked like the kids that I was teaching.

Right.

Or talk about the communities that we were in.

So that was my rationale.

I was like, y'all can write books.

And so I started writing these books called the Adventures of Yani, the children's series, which really are like, sight word books, early reader books.

But it was a.

Featuring a young black girl, and she was in D.C.

so she was on a bus and she was on a train.

You know, all of this stuff.

Yeah.

And also I was using words in a book that were.

That reflected the, like, core values of the Charter Network, which were words like preparedness, attentiveness, thoughtfulness, hard working, like, these things.

And so my students started to use these word, five years old, starting to use this vocabulary.

And people around the school started to notice, and they're like, Mr.

Brooks, like, you know, what are you doing?

Da da, da, da.

I told him, you know, I'm writing these books.

I was finding pictures online to, like, match the words that I was writing.

And long story short, again, I'm cutting a lot of steps in this.

But eventually what happened was the Charter network that I work for gave me seed money to self publish my own children's book series.

So I was able to get them illustrated, all of it, because they saw the impact it was making.

And before I knew it, they were, like, really invested.

Before I knew it, I had books, like, across the East Coast.

Like, it was a big charter network.

They had schools in New Jersey.

They had schools in Pennsylvania.

So before I knew what, I had my books in Multiple schools in D.C.

schools in New Jersey, schools in Philadelphia.

Literally just from being.

Just from writing these kit.

These.

These kind of kids, like, where books.

And so I was like, this is really dope.

At the same time I was doing this, I was in grad school getting a master's in curriculum and instruction through tfa.

So my whole, like, thesis was writing a curriculum to match to go with these books.

And so after two years of doing tfa, I had my own curriculum and my own cortex that I was now consulting with schools, you know what I'm saying, with these, you know, And I just kind of found my way into it.

And all of a sudden I'm doing.

I'm doing sessions on culturally responsive teaching with the Yanni series.

Right.

And so that took me to Dallas, Texas, where I was recruited to join staff at Teach for America.

Oh, go ahead.

Yeah.

So.

So let me.

So what I want to do, because so there's.

There's.

There's a great story.

Right.

And I've been hesitant to.

Yeah, yeah, jump in, whatever.

Yeah, yeah.

I love how this is going.

What I really.

So far, what I really appreciate from this, and I think that the thing I want to kind of circle back around to is the power of words for you.

From the very beginning as a musician, writing music to becoming so, you know, coming back home, another culture shot.

Right.

Coming back to D.C.

yeah.

Going to Howard and then finishing up there, but then really kind of rooting yourself in with the community.

Right.

Yeah.

Yep.

You know, being a person who's willing to actively.

And the thing is, I don't.

I'm toying with this word in my head, and I don't know if this is right, but it feels like observer is the thing that I kind of get when I.

Right.

When I'm hearing you tell your story.

You're a person who's.

Who's who, whether it's on a small scale or big scale, who's traveling, going around and seeing people and observing and then kind of identifying, you know, that there's this itch to, like, write and words and music and art is a big thing.

For you.

And somehow that.

That's the thing that kind of creeps out that.

Yeah.

Whether you're teaching or doing something else, that's the thing that you.

That you just start to kind of naturally do, because that's the thing that's, like, built up inside of you anyway.

100.

Yeah, it's there.

You know, it's the way that I process my own thoughts and emotions.

It's.

It's what I feel like I'm good at.

You know, it's.

I just did a class.

I just taught a class at Norfolk State on the idea of, like, passion, purpose, and what I call in proficiencies, which is really just, like, talent.

What are you.

What are you good at?

But the.

The.

You know, for me, the sweet spot is where you hit with.

You know, when you hit the middle of that, the thing that you're passionate about, the thing that.

That, you know, gives you purpose and the thing that you're uniquely qualified for.

And then in the center of that is where you'll hit, like, prosperity, you know, at a different level.

Because it's not just about the.

The tangible success, but it's about the emotional success, the spiritual success.

Right.

All the things that fill you.

And I've been.

That I'm somebody who has really strong boundaries, like, in life in general.

And so I found that going through life, I've always tried to.

The one thing I'm committed to is creating the life that I want.

So it's like.

Even if I'm teaching, it's like, okay, but this is not what I want.

You know, in a little, you know, you could call it.

I don't know what you could call it, people.

You could call it.

You call it only.

Only child syndrome, which I'm not.

But, you know, I want what I want.

And so no matter what, no good or bad, for better or worse, in any situation I'm in, I'm constantly looking towards, well, I'm not 100.

Like, this ain't it.

I'm not 100 happy here.

What's the.

I need to get to it, basically.

I need to get to the thing that's gonna.

And so.

No, you're totally right.

It's like every situation I'm in, you know, I'm always looking for that.

Like, how do I do the thing that I want to do?

How do I do the things that make me want to have happy?

And again, not for nothing, but it also comes back to, again, prosperity.

You know, I think growing again, a city like.

Like DC and growing up in Poverty, it.

It can.

It could go either way.

You know, you could become kind of accustomed to it.

And.

And it can make you complacent.

It can make you super, super hungry.

It can make you like, yo, I gotta really, really get it, because I don't like how this feels.

And that goes back to me and like, wanting the life that I want is like, I don't like how this feels.

And so it did.

You know, it always kind of put that drive into me, which I will say, I think the other thing real quick.

And then I can.

I'll.

You know, I can jump back to the story, but feel free to jump in whenever.

But one of the other things about rap too, or hip hop is like, it was one of the things like the.

The money of.

Particularly in the 2000s, you got like, ludicrous.

And now I feel like everything was very flashy escalades like that.

You know, the money was constantly in your face.

And so it was that or it was.

But even then, again at this time.

Cause social media wasn't a thing.

Even athletes, you didn't really see athlete money.

Like, the athletes didn't flaunt their money the way that they do now.

At that time, the money in hip hop, the black men that I saw, like, with money were all in rap and they were flaunting it.

And so again, for me, you know, it's like I believe that I was kind of born to write only because I took a.

Like, you know, the first thing I ever wrote was in like, second grade.

And I think I said this in mlk I second grade, I wrote a comic book.

That was the first thing I ever did.

Yeah, yeah.

You know what I'm saying?

I think.

I think I always have been drawn to it.

But there is a part two where it's like seeing the money in hip hop.

I was like, yo, okay, this is, you know, this is something.

I think that was an added motivator, right?

It's like, yo, this is something that you can make a lot of money in.

Right.

But anyways.

Oh, go ahead.

Yeah.

No, no, no.

Let me ask you this because.

Because so, you know, the part of the flow is, you know, we have the origin story where we talk about, you know, you as a young person growing up, talk about some of the obstacles through, like, your.

Your high school years.

Right?

Then we talk about the becoming, which is where kind of you were right then.

Talking as teaching.

Teaching for America.

Publishing.

Yeah.

Just like stumbling into public, being an independent, public, independently published author with books in a school.

System, you know, going up and down the east coast, as you said.

Yeah.

And that's the becoming part.

But the, the interesting thing as well is like, I'm a huge believer and for me, one of the reasons why I love doing this podcast is that, you know, mentorship is huge, hugely important.

Right.

And you get mentors who are your family members.

Right.

You have mentors who are people that you meet out in the world and then you also have mentors who are the books that you read.

Right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

But I was really intrigued with the part about your mom, you know, taking you to class.

Right.

Because so it's very interesting because it's seems very similar to some of, some of my experience growing up where my mom, my father did construction.

Right.

So my parents, they were still married 40 something years.

It is now.

My father did work construction.

My mom was alternately either a stay at home mom because me and my sister were acting up.

Right.

And so we had to be in the house to keep us in line.

Right.

Yep, yep.

Or she went to work because we need to make stuff when you ready to pay bills.

Right.

Wintertime comes and construction doesn't happen in the winter time.

So my father's home.

Yeah.

My mom's out working.

But my mom always, always, always was finding, trying to attain an advanced degree.

Right.

So she went to PG county for a while.

She actually finished there, got her associates and end up doing like medical billing and stuff like that.

But I always saw my mom trying to find, trying to educate herself some way to advance herself to help out the family.

So as I think about.

So you talk like, as you talk about prosperity, I'm thinking about the thing that, that kind of.

I just keep coming back to as part of your story is your mom and her work effort ethic.

Not just to work, but to get some type of degree to end up being a nurse.

Right.

And even what that meant for you when you went out to OU to be in the pre nursing program.

Right.

Yeah.

So I'm thinking about your mom's influence and then if there were any books at that time.

Yeah, we, when those two things combined really kind of started to mellow you out.

Yeah, absolutely.

In terms of I need to kind of.

I not going this other way.

This is the way I need to go.

Absolutely.

There was.

So around that time, I think there were, there were two books.

One.

One book is a book that like really got me excited about reading and it was actually a, A Walter Mosley book.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah.

Called A Little Yellow Dog.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

You know, again, I'm.

You know, I was reading that book way too early.

You know, I was like a kid.

You know, kid is either a little yellow dog because, you know, he has this whole Easy Rollins series.

It's either that one or Red Death.

I read them kind of back to back because I started to read all his books.

But basically, I say.

All to say, I forget which one it was, but in the opening chapter of the book is like a sex scene, you know what I'm saying?

Between Eazy as a janitor at the school with this teacher at the school, and the teacher, I think is the one who ends up being murdered and becomes a murder mystery.

But I remember reading as a kid, of course, who not going.

You know, I'm reading as a kid, like, oh, yeah, okay.

You know what I'm saying?

I like Walter Mosley.

So that's one thing that got.

He became my favorite writer instantly, right?

But that got me reading, which led me.

Which.

Which made me pick up a book or be willing to pick up a book, because all these were books that my stepfather was, like, giving me, like, yo, read this, read this.

But then the book that, to your point of, like, the kind of mellow, you know, to mellow me out and figure out, okay, what am I trying to do with my life?

But it was a book called Makes Me Want to Holler.

Yeah.

Yeah, Nathan McCall.

And I read that book, and I still, to this day, like, I always go back to that book.

In fact, I just ordered it again because I thought I had it, but I.

I must have lost it in my travels.

But I read that book, and it felt so real, you know, it felt just like a lot of the things that I was seeing and going through, I mean, there's a.

Again, I don't.

You know, I'm speaking freely on this podcast, but, like, there's a chapter in that book that talks.

I think it might be called Train or something.

But the.

The things that he talks about in that book were things like either I had already been through it, or it was things that I came up against, you know, in years to come.

And it gave me some perspective on how to handle those things or.

You know what I mean?

And.

And, yeah, man, so.

So makes me want to Holler, certainly, I think, was the one that I always go Back to, Nathan McCall, that, like, was really eye opening, and it felt like, okay, like, I can.

You know, I can do this.

Like, I could put.

I could also write.

You know what I mean?

I could because of the voice that felt so real.

So yeah, I would say those, those two books in particular, but particularly makes me want to holler is the book that really let me know, okay, there's a bigger picture here, you know what I'm saying?

And like, you can go, you can go.

You can be from a place like DC and go on to write for the watch to post.

Like, like, like Nathan.

Right.

So I would say that that is probably one that stands out the most.

What's, what's interesting about that is one.

Yeah.

So Black Betty was the, for me, I was in, I think I was my first year in college.

So yeah, I want to say I was.

So, yeah.

So I end up, I was supposed to go to UNC Charlotte didn't have the money to go, so I ended up just staying at and going to pg PG Community College my first year.

And I recall there were two books that I got.

It was the Genocide Files and then that I found on my mom's bookshelf.

The second book was Black Betty.

And what it was was that I read the Genocide Files, which is independent indie author.

He self published a book and it was a globetrotting conspiracy Mr.

Mystery Book.

And I'm like, oh, I like these kind of books.

Yeah, right, yeah.

Like my mom was giving me like Invisible man and all these, yeah, Black Boy and all these other books.

And I'm like, okay, yeah, Black Boy.

Yeah, yeah.

I want action.

Yeah, something with action in it that keeps my attention.

And I finished reading the Genocide Files, then went that went right to my mom's bookshelf and picked up Black Betty by Walter Mosley.

And that's when I knew I'm a reader.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So it's the same thing.

Like you, you re watch a Mosley and it's like, oh, action.

I love it.

Then you read Nathan McCall.

And what's interesting is when that book came out, I was actually working at Caribou Books because I was my second year in college.

Yeah, I was working at a bookstore.

And that book was, everybody was loving it was coming to pick up that book.

And I recall like the first time, you know, I read Malcolm X, but I hadn't read anything by a contemporary black man that was like speaking to present day mindset issues, challenges.

That was relatable.

Right.

And I just recall that so that that was one of the first books that on a nonfiction side that really just like resonated with me.

So I, I, yep, same authors, different books.

Yeah, yeah.

But yeah, I, I, yeah, that's that's, that's, that's very interesting.

But I do want to ask you about.

Because you, you mentioned your stepfather was.

Was handing you books.

So talk about that part, though.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's an interesting thing, man.

My stepfather was like a former street guy, went to the military, and he was.

Again, I talk about this when I, When I, When I was doing my whole promise thing.

A lot of, A lot of reflection.

Like in your old, like, you know, your early 30s, you start to, like, especially I got kids, it's like a lot of reflection, you know, and we had a really.

It was a very tits household.

Like, we had a very.

What's the word?

A lot of tension, you know, in the household.

He wasn't particularly, like, nice to me.

And so when the, when he first met my mom, I.

I guess there was this mantle that he wanted that he felt he needed to take up.

It's like, yo, I gotta teach this young boy these, these things, even if it means really tough love.

And so he would literally, like, when I was older, and this is part of the reason why I didn't.

Why I didn't really get outside like that till about 14.

Because he met my mom like, around when I was like 9.

From 9 till about 13, he would pretty much lock me in my room.

He's like, yo, you gotta sit in your room and you gotta.

You gotta do book reports on these books, right?

So, like, at, like, at like 11, I'm doing a book report on, like, Nelson Mandela's boring ass.

You know what I'm saying?

Like, I don't even understand this stuff.

I don't even understand it.

But he's literally locking me in the room and being like, you can't even come out.

You can't even come to the kitchen.

Like, you can't come into the kitchen, so you write something down.

And so it was that sort of thing.

And that's, that's how and why I read the autobiography of Malcolm X.

And that's how and why I read Gifted Hands, you know, Like.

Like these different books that were incredibly boring until it got to a point again once.

So once I'm getting a little older and I'm able to, like, have my own kind of advocacy.

I'm like, yo, these, like, these.

I can't read this book.

Like, I don't even know, you know?

And so that's when I got into the Walter Mosley, like, exactly how you said, like, okay, I can enjoy reading.

You know what I'm saying?

Because it was so Boring.

I just hated it.

And then I got to Walter Mosley and stuff, like, oh, okay, I can't.

And Omar Tyree, even.

I got into Omar Tyree, and I'm like, okay, these books.

I can.

I can.

What's the other brother?

Omar Turtman is another.

Eric Jerome.

What?

You know, Eric Jerome, Dicky.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I was reading these books, and I'm like, okay, I can dig.

Okay.

I like these.

I could.

I could rock with these.

So.

So, yeah, so he was that type.

He was like, you gotta read.

You gotta read.

And at that point, you know, once I had hit again, once I hit.

Once I became a teenager, essentially is what kind of.

He was like, hands off.

He was like, okay, boom.

But.

But again, I'm grateful that I had that time, even just that time between him meeting my mom to.

For that really, really, really tough, like, discipline.

And I understand, too, that he was actually trying to keep me inside.

He was trying to, like, be like, okay, I just got to keep giving you stuff to do because once you go outside, the point in which I.

Is when I kind of.

You kind of lose control because again, you're outside.

And like you said, you just.

You kind of get introduced to all these other things.

So in ways.

I appreciate it now in retrospect.

But.

But, yeah, so that was.

That was kind of the case with that.

And I realized, okay, he was.

He was trying to keep me.

Was just trying to keep me inside, really, because he knew what was outside, what was outside, you know.

But, yeah, he would give me those books to read, man.

And so it had me.

It had me reading and exposed to a lot of different things.

But, yeah, once I read.

Once I came across those books is when I was like, okay, these even, like, you know, Walter D.

Myers, you know, these are books that I really.

That I.

That I got into more.

And for that pocket until basically.

Until about 15, you know, is when I didn't kind of got into rapping and kind of got out of it.

But.

But that those from 9 to, like I said, like, 13 is when I did the most reading of my life.

And I think it was probably the thing that.

That really.

Yeah, really helped.

It really saved me in a lot of ways.

Probably.

Probably ways that I.

That I don't realize right now.

But going back to even, like, you know, makes me want to holler.

Even just reading that book probably helped me in such a tremendous way that I don't even really realize.

You know what I'm saying?

Yeah.

So let me ask you this.

Yeah.

Did.

I'm curious, did the.

So reading Walter Mosley.

His style.

Yeah, yeah.

Nathan McCall.

His style.

Or even, you know, you just mentioned.

Not Walter Dean.

My Walter Dean Myers.

Not necessarily.

Yeah.

As a.

Did those books have a.

Or do they impact you now in terms of when you're writing?

Yeah.

For young kids now, like as you think back to what that meant for you then.

Right.

Was there anything that.

That left a mark on you from their writing style or how it impacted you that you now kind of integrated into your process as a writer?

Yeah.

I would say specifically with Walter Mosley is just the idea of like writing mystery.

Right.

Like reading that book.

Like you said, I love the action, I love the mystery.

That's what I primarily write now.

And I know for sure it's a direct result of.

Of fall of those being the first things that I fell in love with, long form things to read were mysteries.

You know, that's the reason I write mystery now.

And the other thing I'd say that I really hold near and dear to my heart is the idea of like writing for non readers or what people perceive to be non readers.

Because exactly like you said, is like, once you found the book that you connected with, it was like, oh no, I do like reading.

Which was a similar experience for me.

And so something I always.

That I'm again, like I said, I'm new to the literary world, but going forward, it's something that I really, really, really want to stand on is that I want to write books in a style that feels authentic to the voice, particularly of the kids from D.C.

right.

The kids that I'm trying to speak to, like my audience.

And so I think for me that, you know, that's something that I've taken away is like, yo, the way it impacted me just by reading the book that I felt connected with me just because of the language.

It's something that I'm.

I know is possible.

Right.

Like I.

And it's tough, man, because everything's about, you know, dollars, right?

The, the publishing companies are really about dollars.

And they'll likely tell you that black boys ain't really driving the market.

You know, it's young girls and da da da da da da da da.

So it's interesting because it's.

It's something that I got to kind of stand on because I'm like, well, to your.

The publishing, to your own, you know, to your own point publishing house, the reason that they're not driving the market is because there's not a lot of things being written for them.

Right?

Yes.

And so me trying to, me like needing to stand on that is also I think a result of me understanding that what got me into reading was.

Was reading those.

Was reading the things that I felt catered to me.

You know what I'm saying?

Like.

Like it makes me want to holler.

So those, I would say those are the two things.

Just, just writing mystery in general and then also just standing on the fact that I gotta write that, you know, write things that I know will cater to this, this, this particular audience.

Yeah.

I gotta say this.

You know, I don't know if there are any publishers out here listening to this podcast.

I mean, if there are, I'm.

I'm happy.

I'm excited.

I just want to take this moment.

This is from a bookstore owner and a book writer, right?

Yeah.

Award winning book writer.

Yeah.

I understand.

Business is business, but I don't.

I do not understand why you don't want to invest in a new market.

Like if you're thinking about numbers, like growing your profit margin, growing your revenue, why not invest in a new market where there are untapped hundreds and thousands and millions of readers, potential readers out there.

Yep.

That don't have people writing for them right now.

Like, it just doesn't make sense.

Like that's the thing.

I hope that makes sense and for everyone else who isn't a publisher.

But it's like, I don't, I don't get why people don't see that as such an obvious idea.

Yeah.

Create products for people who don't have products created for them.

100.

And I'll tell you, because the same thing in Hollywood is just fear.

It's like, it's like, you know, you gotta, you gotta a guy or girl who has a boss, who has a boss, who has a boss.

And nobody want to the money up, so nobody want to take a chance on the thing because they don't want to lose their job.

Because the book don't say, you know, they're all afraid.

It's the same thing.

In Hollywood, you can't get anything made unless it's IP or, you know, a list.

A list, names attached.

Because nobody wants to take a loss.

Just, you know, that's really what it is.

And it's unfortunate.

It takes like the Black Panther, you know, it takes the thing to shatter that.

It takes the thing to completely shatter that notion.

But then everybody else will hop on and so, so that's what it is, man.

And it's, it's.

But it's a.

It's a, it's a fight that I'm certainly willing to take, take on.

So I'm glad we're on the same page.

Yeah.

And you're doing it.

I mean, that's the thing is, that's why, you know, I just, I remember that day intently when, you know, and I forget who was on your team that invited us, invited us out for that dinner.

And I'm sitting there listening to you and the publishers talk about your book.

Yeah.

And I'm like, thank you.

Right.

Like, yo, like we have, I don't, I have numerous black boys that walk into the store every day, day.

And they're looking for a book.

They are looking for books that, that, that they want that they can jump into.

And most of the books have.

And nothing's wrong.

I love it that they have little black girls on there.

But we also need books that reflect little black boys and them just being little black boy.

Right.

Like that's it.

That's all.

Like, they ain't got to be nothing big, nothing super.

Just living a regular, regular smegular little black boy life.

Right?

Yep, yep.

100, bro.

I, I, I'm really, really excited about the next book, the one that comes out next year.

It's called up in Smoke.

Because it's, it's I again, I'm doubling down on exactly what we're talking about.

Like a, a black.

I mean, it's still mystery, so it still is, you know, the action and a lot of the fun again.

But it's like, it's not, it seems like, it seems like, to your point of, like just a regular life.

The only time they will take the leap is if it's, you know, supernatural or it's fantasy.

It's like a kid, you know?

So I'm really excited to see how this next one performs and excited to hit.

Excited.

Really.

What got me excited about why I wanted to mention it is because hearing you say that black boys are coming into stores looking for these books.

And I'm really hoping that this, that this is something, this next one is something that, that really resonates.

So we'll see.

We'll see.

Yeah, yeah, I know.

They definitely are.

I mean, we were just in the store the other day and Ramonda was little boy came into the store, middle grade reader.

And she's just talking to him, right?

He's like looking for a book.

He's like, she's like, you, like this is like.

Yeah, yeah.

Like he's looking for a book, taking it to his mom.

Like, can I Get a book.

Right.

Like, this is happening on a daily basis for us.

Yeah, okay.

Okay, okay.

I.

I took us.

I wanted to dig into some of that stuff there, but yeah, yeah, that was really important.

So.

So we're.

We're at the.

Becoming part of your.

Of your story.

So you're.

Yeah.

You at tfa, right?

You're teaching.

I think it was a charter school, you said.

I was teaching it.

Yep, Yep.

I was teaching that charter school.

Did my, you know, did the book thing and ended up getting recruited to join staff at TFA to train new incoming teachers.

Okay.

And so that job took me to Dallas, Texas.

So I was in Dallas, Texas for two years working.

Working that gig.

And while I was in Dallas, Texas, again, it's always this push and pull because it.

I got the job, but then it kind of took me away from the.

The books because now I was using the books to train teachers, but I was no longer writing new books.

One thing about.

One thing about, at least for me as an artist, is like, once I make, like, I always need to create.

So once I make something and put it out in the world, it's kind of like, okay, I need the next.

The next thing.

So again, I got, you know, a year into that job, I got into the same kind of like, no, that's not it.

Like, again, going back to, like, I'm not.

I'm not really fulfilled here.

I'm not creating anything.

Like, I'm just.

Now I'm just using these to do this thing.

But I want to keep creating.

And that's why creators really, really need good business people around them, because it's hard being both.

It's hard being creative.

And now I'm also trying to, like, build this Johnny business up to where I can create.

Like, it's a lot to manage.

So I was like, okay.

I kind of fell into that.

That space again and figuring out, okay, what's the next step?

And I saw a movie called Fruitvale Station.

This is around 20.

Yeah, yeah, around 2014.

I see real Station.

I was like, man, I really, really love this movie.

Who made this?

And so I go look up who made it, did my thing.

And I see this guy, Ryan Coogler, and he's speaking and much like you talked about.

So it's like, again, you talk about, like, mentorships or seeing, seeing, you know, whether it was.

Whether it was rap, because they're rap.

It was dmx.

That was like, DMX and Jay Z were like, early on, it was DMX that got me into rap.

And then as a, as a kid in high school, it was like, you know, Jay Z and then the Kanye west and the whole Rockefeller movement, you know, Dipset Cam'ron, Joel, Santana, like, all of that is what really got me into rap.

But then fast forward all these years, seeing Ryan speak.

It was the first time I connected with a film director, right?

Like up until that point, I always looked at film director that was like another planet to me.

Like I'm, you know, I'm looking at these rappers, like, making the movie that seemed like some.

That's like reserved for like the top, you know, the cream de la creme.

Like, that's like, like, you know, So I saw him speak and I was like, okay.

He also was somebody who wasn't a traditional filmmaker.

He was trying to play ball.

And so like, okay, maybe this is.

Maybe make it.

I always love movies.

Maybe that's something I can do.

If it's not gonna be music, if it's.

If the books wasn't, you know, I did, because again, I was never looking at books as like a big path.

It was just something to like, get me out of the classroom, get me back into writing.

And so I was like, I said, okay, maybe I can do the film thing.

What did he do?

I saw he went to the school usc, supposed to be number one film school in, you know, in the country, in the world.

And so I was like, all right, let me see if I could go to usc, learn how to make a movie.

And so I did that.

I did the application you had to make a short film.

Made a short film.

And the short film I made actually started to take legs on its own.

Like it got into festivals and was in like four runner up in Forbes, 30 under 30 and like all of this stuff before I even got the news that I got accepted in the sc.

And not only did I get accepted in the sc, but I got a scholarship from George Lucas and like all of these crazy things.

And I'm like, okay, maybe I'm on the right track.

Because that's another thing is like, I'm really good at like pivoting.

And when things start to work, it's like, okay, I'm gonna leave.

Let me, let's hit this hole even harder because it's working.

Clearly there's something here.

So I went to SC.

So now I'm out of Dallas, Texas.

I moved to LA.

I go to school at USC.

I started school at USC in 2017, grad school.

And it's a three year program.

I make a bunch of films.

I write a bunch of scripts.

I work for LeBron James.

I'm working at Spring Hill, which is crazy, because at that time they were making Space Jam with the one with LeBron.

So now I'm actually working with Ryan Coogler, the same guy who.

He's the whole reason I got into, which I never told him, of course.

But, you know, you gotta always just play it like, what's up?

Like, you know, I'm like, you know, just playing like, what's up?

Well, you know, we both here working, so it's like, you know, so I'm working with him and meeting a bunch of guys and a bunch of guys who are doing, like, you know, Joel Taylor, who ends up doing Nicole and Tyrone, which I actually got the opportunity to make music for.

I mean, guys like Stephen Capel, all these guys who.

Young black men who are doing anything in film.

So again, I'm seeing it and I'm like, okay, this is something I can really do.

So I'm in SC 2017.

I do three years there.

I graduate SC in 2020, which is crazy because that's when everything, like, you know, everything shuts down.

And so it's 2020.

I'm.

Now I'm not even walking across the stage.

I just spent all of this time and resources going to the school and money, and I'm like, okay, what?

Again?

Now I'm back in the spot again.

You know, it's just like when I had to go back to D.C.

from Oklahoma, or it's just like when I had.

Was in Dallas from D.C.

you know, you hit this point where it's like, all right, now what do I do?

You kind of just reevaluate everything.

And that's kind of the phase I'm.

You know, I like being in that phase.

It's like, okay, cool, now figuring out what's the next move.

And so it was 2020.

Everything shut down.

Hollywood shut down.

But the things that I knew how to do again, write, make music, these are things that I can just do in my home by myself.

So again, I got back into that bag.

I was like, okay, maybe I could revisit the Yanni thing.

You know, maybe I could write some more scripts.

Maybe I can make some more music.

And that's what I started doing in 2020.

I started writing again, started writing more books, started writing Yanni, started writing a bunch of scripts.

I wrote a.

A mystery script called Ace Harlem that takes a lot of influence stylistically from, like, Walter Mosley.

It's about a detective well, Ace Harlem was really interesting, and Ace Harlem is important because it gets me into my.

My novel bag.

But I wrote this script.

I was trying to figure out, okay, what are other.

I knew I couldn't get my hands on, like, Walter Mosley ip, like, I can't get my.

The Easy Rollins property is not something I could.

I could touch at this stage of my career.

Who are other black detectives?

And in my research, I only ever found one other black detective.

And it was this guy named Ace Harlem who was actually a comic character from the 40s.

It was this comic imprint called All Negro Comics was the first black publisher that actually only got to put out one issue because they were blackballed.

They put out one issue.

It did really, really well.

And then they were basically squashed out by white publishing.

They were like, all negro comics will not exist.

So now they're blackballed to the point.

Where nobody know this.

Yeah, bro, it's a crazy story.

They basically.

No.

Everybody stopped selling them paper to make issues.

Nobody was selling paper because they didn't want all negro comics to thrive.

So they only put out one issue.

But in that issue contained a story called Ace Harlem.

So I found.

I mean, I was digging in the crates, so I found Ace Harlem, wrote a script.

I have a co writer in on the TV film side.

Got the script to his agent to see about the Ace Harlem rights, which we ended up getting.

But basically, this.

This agent, she reads the script, and of course, it's all in black.

My co writer's white.

She's like.

And she sees the name Nick Brooks, Sam Miller.

She's like, yo, who is Nick Brooks?

Because I guess it's the.

You know, the first time.

She's like, who is the Brook?

This script is great.

And.

And Sam, I met him at usc, and he really, really, really loves my work and appreciates me as a person.

Loves me as a person.

So I'm guessing he did a lot of what they call gas.

And I guess he really was like, yo, you gotta be Nick.

Like, Nick the one.

Like, you know, that type of shit.

Like, he was really.

I think he was really advocating for me because he believed in me.

And so his book agent.

Cause he is the novelist.

He's a New York Times bestseller novelist.

She got in touch with me and was like, yo, read the script.

Sam said, you know, was telling me about you telling me this was your idea.

Like, I read a couple of other, like, some stuff you did on your own.

Love your voice.

Like, do you.

Have you ever thought about writing books?

So of course me and I've always been a hustler.

I could tell you about how I got my friend, you know, I'm going a little faster now, but how I first got.

How I forgot my first rep out here in LA is a crazy story.

But like I always been like the hustle type.

So as soon as she hit me up, I'm like, oh yes, let's, let's run it.

Like.

So I'm sending her all my stuff, my short films.

But yeah, I actually did a self published children's book now series.

Da da da da.

So I sent her all my work and she's like, I love this.

I want to connect you with one of my other clients.

Kate Literary was Danielle's Clayton, who's also from dc.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And so I meet Danielle and we get to chopping it up.

And Danielle's actually who got me into writing novels.

She was like, yo, I have a couple.

Well, it was a couple.

Cause they wrote another script called.

What was it called?

Skylights, which was very.

Was basically like Ethan, it's a kid alien invasion type of thing, but it's a script.

So basically long story short, she was like, yo, I got a couple things I would love to work with you with.

I told him my background, how I was the educator.

She was like, okay, cool.

Well, the first thing you should do is a mystery, like in a school.

Like she basically, she just, she was like a producer.

She was like, became like my producer.

You know what I'm saying?

She was like, yo, okay, this would like, this would be the perfect thing for you to write murder mystery in a charter school.

Like this is.

Write it like this is perfect for you in dc.

Well, she was like, I don't know where you would set it.

And of course I was like, well, it's got to be dc, you know what I'm saying?

So that was Promise, how Promise came about.

And she helped me.

I think I wrote the.

Before we even took Promise out first.

I did like 25 pages to send it to her.

She was like, this is dope.

Like, keep going.

Then I did 50 pages and actually she had me read a book called I think so how was Going down, or how it Went Down.

I'm mad that I'm forgetting.

I think it's called How I Went Down.

But anyway, it's multi perspective.

So I read that.

I was like, yo, this is dope.

I think you know, this is perfect for a book like Promise.

So anyway, she helped me really craft like the whole book really?

But so that was that.

That relationship.

But then also, Ethan came about through Danielle as well, because she read the script Skylights and the same type of thing.

She's like, yo.

Like, she was actually already working on a concept, a book about.

About Ethan and was like, yo.

Basically, she brought me into, like, rewrite, you know, and I was like, okay, this is dope.

So we.

We worked on both of those projects together.

But anyway, so all of 2020, not all of.

But like I say, the second half of 2020 and all of 2021, we're working on those projects.

Working on Ethan 1 and working on Promise Boy simultaneously.

I'm doing a lot.

And then I'm also the top of 21.

I started working on Mandalorian.

I started assisting a director by the name of Rick Famua.

He did.

He's old school.

He did Brown Sugar.

He did the Wood.

Yeah.

He did the movie dope.

But he's also EP on Mandalorian.

So I started assisting him and shadowing him.

So I'm doing all of this.

So again, I'm going.

I'm skipping a few things, but so from 2020 to 2021, I'm.

I'm working with Danielle.

I'm working on music again.

In 2021, I started working under Rick on the season three of Mandalorian.

And the end of 2021 is when we get news of the deals for both Ethan and Promise.

Like, we took both of them out and got and sold them both.

Yeah.

So it goes crazy.

I want to say the end of 2020, again, my time, bro.

What's the pandemic?

Years like, are all.

Yeah, it's weird.

It's like, I don't really.

It's like, I'm like, hold on.

Does that happen that year?

I'm like, yeah.

Anyway, the end of 2021, I believe, was it.

It had to be.

I think the end of 2021 is when the news came out about Promise Boys as far as the deal, the big.

Because it was a.

It was a bit of war.

And I never forget, that's when you talk about the becoming.

When that announcement came out is when everything changed.

Like, literally everything changed, you know, and it's.

It's.

It's still changing, but, like, changed from the perspective of even just perception.

Because all of this stuff is perception, right?

Like Hollywood, like, all this stuff.

If people think you got a lot of motion all of a sudden, then they want to, you know.

So that announcement came out and everything changed.

Even my relationship with Rick changed everything.

On set change.

The people at the Mandalorian set started to look.

Because I was just an assistant, everybody started to look at me different.

It was a.

It was a weird shift, but it felt a lot.

But.

But.

But that happened going into 2022 is when Ethan came out, right?

So the end of 2022 is when Ethan came out.

So now I'm.

Now I'm doing, like, press, and I'm doing the tour thing and, you know, everything.

And, you know, also, again, at the end of 2022, I'm also even doing press for Promise, because Promise is coming out the top of 2023, and it's.

Such a big deal.

So 2022, man, was such a blur.

My head was spinning, and it took a lot for me to get my feet underneath me, to be honest, because it was like.

It was like a tailspin.

And not to mention, at this time, I just had two daughters.

I just had twin daughters.

They were born in 2021, you know, so it was a.

It was a crazy time.

And, you know, and, you know, but.

But.

But.

But certainly a time of, like, becoming, you know, and like, okay, now I'm enter.

Now I'm entering a new phase of what's gonna become the new normal.

And so 2022, Ethan 1 comes out top of 2023, promise comes out.

Tons of press for that.

In the midst of this, we sell a TV show, right?

So now Promise Boys, the book sales to Netflix, higher ground, which is, you know, Barack and Michelle Obama are producing the show at Netflix.

So it's like.

And I was fortunate enough to, like, be able to be brought on as an EP of the show and, like, right.

And creator, like, I'm writing the show.

So a lot of stuff happened.

Like, I mean, you talk about going from, like, that whole long journey.

I told you, right?

Like, all of that stuff from dc, all of this.

All of this to just.

In a span of really, just a couple years, 20, like, 2020 to 2022, a couple years, everything changes.

Like, everything, right?

In a blink of an eye.

And so.

And so that's kind of where I am coming out of and trying to now find my new footing and establishment, establish myself and build a team around me to where I can take this and make sure.

Really just make sure I don't fumble.

You know what I'm saying?

Like, okay, how do I take this?

How do I take it to the next level?

How do I keep going?

You know what I'm saying?

What I know I can do at a high level and not have things like imposter syndrome and anxiety.

Like, all of these things clamp down to the point where so many.

Because you see it all the time, man.

So many rising stars looking like they're gonna burn so bright.

And you get it.

You become afraid of that.

Of being one of those names that, like, becoming a.

What I call a limb bias, you know, which limbias demise was obviously much, much different.

But like the idea of being this.

This bright, bright, bright star and then making.

Yeah.

You know what I'm saying?

Making one wrong move or letting something, you know, letting the pressure kind of break you.

And so that's kind of.

Yeah.

Let me speak into you first, because the.

The thing that.

And I.

I'm.

I hope everyone really took stock of what.

This whole story.

So from the origins through your becoming.

And we'll wrap up with the legacy part of your story here shortly here.

But it's.

It's a slow burn.

Yep.

That took a number of different turns.

Right.

Didn't look like he was going to end up here in the arts where you initially wanted to be at.

Yeah.

But, you know, going out to ou, that not working out.

You know, person not working out with good music, coming back to dc, Dealing with, you know, some depression that I failed.

What, like, did I blow my opportunity?

Yeah.

You know, becoming a teacher, writing a book and kind of getting off track there.

Because now they want you teaching about a book, but you're not writing the book.

Yeah.

Like, yeah, all of this stuff is a slow burn.

And the thing that I keep thinking, reflecting back on is, you know, most times people have been grinding under, you know, like, underground.

They've been putting into work where no one can see for the very.

For the.

For the longest time.

They've been growing their roots.

Right.

They've been spreading.

They've been creating a foundation that everyone's just walking past, not noticing for a decade or more.

And then all of a sudden, when they go above ground to start doing stuff, to start showing what they've actually been doing, and they take off.

Everybody's looking at you like, oh, my God, where'd that come from?

Oh, yeah, big time.

Like, bruh, I've been.

I've been grinding.

Like.

What do you mean?

Like, this is something that you've been doing and that part is the thing out.

You know, I'll say for you, bro, you've been doing this work, like, no matter what nobody say, because, yeah, you're doing it with the right heart.

And that's the thing that I love about is that You're.

And, you know, you're writing for kids, you know, for all kids, but specifically black boys, to give them a sense of representation in the literary world now in, you know, the film world, where I can sit here and watch a mystery about D.C.

authentically.

Right.

Yeah.

People that, That I can relate to.

Right.

And that was the.

The feeling that you had when you were reading your books at that young age.

So.

So.

Well, I'm.

I'm.

I'm excited for you.

I'm.

I'm with you.

And I love the.

The.

I love how you told the story and how it.

It is playing out, because I think most people who are every day waking up saying the same thing, like, this is not what I'm supposed to be doing.

Yeah, yeah, this is.

This is not what I'm supposed to be doing.

Right.

It's okay to feel that way, but once you say that, the next thing you're going to do is, yeah, yeah, do the thing.

Yep, you gotta go do the thing.

You know, and people ask me all the time, you know, I feel like one of the big questions, like, yeah, you know, I wanna.

I wanna start writing, but I'm not sure where to start.

There's always, like, just start.

You gotta start writing.

You know what I'm saying?

Put your ideas, get started writing and.

Or like, yeah, you hit it right on the head when you said that.

You know, people will think, like, like, I just started this.

You know, it's like I've been trying to.

I've been trying to, like, really, really.

I've been trying to have a platform and voice for my city since I was 15.

Yeah.

You know what I'm saying?

I'm 34 now.

Like, I've been doing it for a long time.

It's just a different.

But.

But it's always been on my heart.

It's like, yo, I gotta, like, I got something to say.

You know, I got something to say.

I want to put the city on my back, you know, that whole.

That whole.

That whole vibe.

So it's been.

It's been a journey for sure, man.

And I'm.

You talk about the legacy is like, that's.

Yeah, I'm entering this phase.

Okay.

I just got to keep.

Keep going and keep stacking those.

You know, stacking those things.

Like, right now I'm.

Right now I'm writing Grand Theft Auto 6, the video game.

You know, that's something that's cool.

I'm like, okay, this is a cool new.

Just keep.

I'm just continuing to, like, build so, like, to your point where people look back and see all the things, it's like, yo, he did all.

He did.

What?

What?

What?

And it's, you know, it's a grind.

But I.

I'm just like.

I'm right there.

You know what I'm saying?

I feel like I'm right there at the point where it's like, okay, because another big thing, another big.

You talk about legacy, another big thing for me is like, I want to come back to the city.

I'm out in LA now.

I want to come back to the city so bad.

I want to make.

I'm trying to make my first feature film right now in the city.

Oh, man, I'm trying to.

Bro, it's tough out here.

It's tough out here.

I'm trying to get.

I'm trying.

I'm trying to get the funding together now, and it's tough.

But I've been tapped in with the.

The field commissioner, D.C.

he's excited about the project.

Says the city, you know, got my support.

Now I just got.

I got to put together the funds or whatever.

But I'm trying to make.

I'm trying to really, you know, I want to do for D.C.

always.

I want to do for D.C.

like, how.

How Issa Rae represents Inglewood, you know what I'm saying?

Like, because I live in Inglewood, so I see it everywhere.

She's got, like, two coffee shops, and she's got a.

She's got a bunch of stuff over here.

But.

But that's the legacy I want to start to build.

You know, I want to start to.

I want to be in the city.

I want to.

Man, being in the city and being with the kids and being at the schools and being like, yo, I'm from here.

Like, I went to Roots.

I could tell.

I went to Roots right up in.

You know what I'm saying?

Right up in Northwest, I went to Noise.

Right up in Northeast, I went to Jeff.

The south, southwest.

Like, I'm D.C.

through and through, you know, so.

So cool to be able to.

Matter of fact, the first school I hit for Promise Tour was.

Was Banneker, was my old house.

Yeah.

You know, you can't.

You can't beat that.

You know what I mean?

And so, you know, as far as, like, legacy, I think that's what it's about.

I want to get back to the city.

I want to.

I want to start to help, because, again, I didn't have.

I didn't have an author visit our school, you know?

And so for me, to be able to go back into the schools and be able to make TV and film in the city and be able to cast kids from the city.

You know what I mean?

That type of thing is like, Is like the next.

That's like the next level.

That's what I'm looking to.

That's like, what I want to do next is like, okay, this is dope.

I'm getting my foundation together.

You know, I'm getting kind of my name out there.

I'm building my brand.

But the next level is coming back to the city and really, like, putting the city on in any way I can.

You know, bringing Hollywood to D.C.

and, and, yeah, man, that's.

That's kind of.

That's kind of the mission.

Okay, well, I'm with it.

You know, I just.

All I'm saying is one of the scenes got to be done up at Mahogany Books, you know, let's get it.

Yeah, yeah.

That's all I'm saying.

Like, I ain't, I ain't trying to get a part.

Just put me in as an extra.

Maybe walk across the screen, like, yeah, yeah.

Say less.

That's easy.

So, yeah, that's easy.

So what before we, before we wrap up, I want to ask, so was there a book so we.

And of course, I, I, I'm trying to remember.

I should have just put it up.

The, the exact name of the book.

Oh, yeah.

Yellow Dog.

Little Yellow Dog.

I gotta pull that up.

Then book number two is Make Me Wanna Holler by Nathan McCall.

Was the third book.

Yeah.

That in that time, after, like, during the Dallas phase out to usc, even up to today, a book that you read that really kind of helped to finalize or, like, you know what, Chris?

Or let's crystallize exactly everything that you have been growing and learning and evolving into as a person.

Was there a book that kind of really helped you along that process?

Yeah, that's a great question.

This is name.

There's a guy, he used to have a.

He used to have a blog called Very Smart Brothers.

I don't know.

Yeah.

Yeah, man.

Panama Jackson and Damon Young.

Damon Young.

Damon Young.

Damon Young had a memoir that I actually happened to read while I was at Spring Hill interning because, you know, he was taking it around, trying to get a, Trying to get a show made.

And I'm blanking right now on the name.

You know what I'm talking about, right?

His memoir.

This is one of my favorite books.

It is?

Yes, man.

It's so good.

It's something.

If it's oh, what doesn't kill you?

Or what doesn't kill you makes you.

Black, makes you blacker or something like that.

Yeah, you know what I'm talking about, right?

Yeah, I know exactly the book.

Yeah.

What doesn't kill you makes you blacker.

Yes.

Yep, I read that.

Yeah.

So good, so good about his time in Chicago and all of that and growing up, and it was so good.

And as far as.

Like you said, just from those years, I think that's a book that really stood out to me.

Again, that was like.

Because it, you know, it wasn't making me want to holler, but it still was the idea of being affirmed as a black man.

You know what I mean?

Seeing another black man tell a story authentically, that, again, it just affirmed me in my own journey.

And it was inspiration.

You know what I'm saying?

It inspired me.

And it's like, okay, cool.

This dude did it, and if he did it, I could do it.

And so I would say that's probably the third book.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That.

That book is.

Is.

Is not part of my top five.

It is firmly part of my top ten.

If it doesn't kill you, makes you blacker.

If I was.

What I love about that book, and I'm curious about.

So you kind of talk about what was it about the book?

But the thing that I want listeners to.

To understand is.

And what was interesting is during that time, I read that book, and then I read Heavy by Kiese Lehman, and both of those books, what it really helped to crystallize for me was that for much of our lives, Black men are walking around wearing a mask.

Right?

Yeah.

Walk around with this mask on.

Trying to be what society thinks that we are.

Right?

Yeah.

Trying to be ultra macho.

Right.

We're trying to be these cool, calm ladies.

Men.

Right?

Yeah.

We're trying to be all these things.

Like, things don't hurt us.

We don't have feelings.

We don't cry.

We're not vulnerable.

Like, we're putting up this.

This mask, and it's not us and does us more.

It does us damage because we don't get to be ourselves.

We don't get to.

To have the emotional vulnerability, the ability to really, like you said, be introspective and figure out what is my passion, what is the thing that I want to do, how do I want to live my life?

And those two books were fantastic to read, specifically, Dana, because the humor he wrote with that book.

Yes.

Yeah, it was.

It talked about moments in his life that a lot of Guys deal with.

Yeah, but he was willing to be vulnerable and say, hey, this is what.

This.

This is how I look fool in that moment.

And it's okay.

Like, I made it through.

I'm fine.

100%.

100%.

No, it was.

To be honest, it really, for me, I had this thought from.

Makes me want to holler, but I have to.

I have to write a memoir.

I just do.

Because that type of storytelling is, again, I can't imagine the like, for lack of a better word, like, therapy.

He was able to, like, see him, to your point, seeing him go through all of these moments of his life, it was beautiful for me to read.

So I know for him being able to process, and I just.

I just, like, imagine what that did for him, even just me reading it to your point of, like, you know, being able to break those barriers and taking off those.

You have to take off those masks to be able to write that stuff.

You see what I'm saying?

Like, you have to, really.

And so for.

Even for me, I'm like, man, I would love to go through that process because, yeah, I loved it.

I loved the book.

And it really cemented for me the idea, like, okay, you got to tell your story.

That's the other thing.

It's like, we got to tell our stories because even for us, even for.

Even as similar as it.

As it.

As it is to things, it's still the nuance, you know, it's still a ton of nuance of things that.

That were different, you know, so it's like, you got it.

You got to tell your story, and you never know who was going to hit, because certainly.

And I think that was.

I knew a very smart brothers at the time, but I wasn't necessarily tapped in with him, but it just made, you know, it made me really appreciate and respect.

Respect them, because I'm like, just.

Just from reading the story.

So, yeah, I would say that's.

That's.

That's got to be my.

My third book.

Yeah.

Okay.

Okay.

That book.

I read that book.

So me and Panama.

So Panama actually lives in Southeast.

Him and his family should have said that out, but I think he does podcasts, so I think people know.

But, yeah, so.

So.

But so we host a.

He hosts a.

A book club with me.

So we have the Black Books Matter book club that we host out of our Southeast store, and we meet once a month.

We've been doing this since before the pandemic.

So I want to say 2018, 2019 is when we've been doing this Book club.

And so he was telling me that is that Damon was coming out with a book.

I was like, Like, I'm.

I love memoirs, one of my favorite genres.

I read the book, love the book.

And I was like, dude, you gotta see if Damon can come through.

Yeah.

So.

So, dude, it was one of our biggest book clubs.

We've had to date, like, at the, in the entire lobby, I got, like, chairs going from one end to the next.

Like, it was fantastic.

And that was just an awesome experience.

But that book, I'm just glad to hear that that book meant the same thing to someone else.

Yeah, that it meant to me.

And that for you as a writer.

And again, you never know.

This is why I wanted to do this podcast, is that you never know what, like, what?

People love your books, but they never really get a chance to ask you.

Yeah, that's true.

What's the stuff that you're reading that is helping to define you?

Like, your books are defining them, and they're like, oh, well, I need to go read this book.

Yeah.

Because that's what, you know, help to influence Nick.

So.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I, I love, I, I, I love the story.

I, I, Yeah, I really, really appreciate this.

This was fantastic conversation.

Oh, man.

Thank you.

So we're going to start wrapping it up.

Yeah.

One of the things that we do as part of our, uh, recap.

So I've kind of talked about the book, so a little yellow dog.

I just looked it up.

Is the exact name of the, of the, of the book by Easy Rollins.

Book number one.

And we'll put it, we'll put a asterisk there because, as you mentioned, it's not really for the young kids.

Right.

You know, but those who are listening to this book, listen to this podcast definitely check it out.

Book number two, Nathan McCall, makes me want to holler.

And then book number three, by Damon Young.

What doesn't kill you makes you blacker.

Those are the three books that the genius of Nick Brooks has read that he recommends that he's read.

I didn't mess it all up.

I tried to work at it.

Try to work in a name.

I have to work.

So the last question I want to, I want to ask you is, and I think we might talk about this before, but, you know, so one of our big things are, you know, we, we created the term black books matter.

It's one of the things that back in 2017, 2018, was really big, really integral for us to kind of help motivate and talk about why it's Important that we're doing the work that we do.

So for you as a.

As a reader and a writer, right, of music, of film and books, Right.

You're doing all three.

Why does it.

Why is it important to you?

Why do black books matter to you?

Yeah, I mean, I think one of the first reasons.

And I feel like as black people, we.

I've always been taught that we were like orators and, you know, soothsayers and all these.

But.

But it's history, right?

Like, this is the way we kind of like, communicate past, pass down, like, history and knowledge, you know, like, this is how we communicate with the generations to come.

I think, particularly when you.

In this country, right, where you're based and colonized, this is also like black books, tv, film, music.

Music is interesting.

That's an interesting place.

But a lot of other mediums, it's the way that we're affirmed that we are.

That we are.

That we see ourselves and that we can see ourselves in light beyond just what we're depicted as from our colonizers.

Right.

Again, which gets back to, like, truth and information and then.

Yeah.

And kind of also going off, like, the idea of knowledge.

But, like.

But guidance, like.

Like the books I talked about, what, like, makes me want to holler or.

You know, it's.

How do we.

Again, I think for us, it's unique because of the position that we're in in this particular country.

Like how.

You know, basically, systemic racism, like the fact that a lot of black men are not in homes, so particularly books written by black men for young black men.

This is how we can, again, get information, get knowledge, get guidance.

So that's.

I mean, to me, that's like, the main thing is information, knowledge, guidance, affirmation.

You know, this is.

This is how we.

It's how we communicate, you know, especially when we're not.

You know, when our communities, sometimes our homes are systemically dismantled.

We need.

We actually need it more than any other.

Like.

Than any other group.

You know what I'm saying?

Like, we need black books because of how, you know, our communities are systemically, strategically dismantled.

We gotta be able to get our knowledge from our elders, and we gotta be able to find guidance from, you know, from our elders.

And I think us writers, putting these things in books, put, you know, putting them in libraries, putting them in schools.

This is how our kids get the information, which is why books are being banned, you know what I'm saying?

Because people don't want you to have access to information.

And so I think I would Say.

Yeah, the biggest thing is information.

Affirmation, I guess.

It's like information and affirmation.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Love it.

So right from the writer's mouth.

Yes.

Black books matter, right?

Black book matter.

Yeah.

So, bro, thank you so much for coming out.

I appreciate it.

I want to tell everyone to check out your books.

They're on mahoganybooks.com.

all three books are, I think all three are in paperback now as well.

Yeah, Promise comes out in paperback, top of the year.

Okay.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah.

Okay.

So Promise Boys comes out in paperback, top of the year.

We have the hardback on the website now.

They're also in both stores.

You get Ethan Fairmont, he's his books.

Those books are on the website as well.

And the third book in the series comes out.

When it comes out this winter, everything interesting happens to either Fairmont.

Everything interesting.

And then the next ya, like I said, up in Smoke comes out May 2025.

So really excited about that one as well.

Okay.

Okay.

And make sure you, I'm saying this to you on live on, on air.

Yeah, we live, but people are here to record it.

But make sure we, we connect with you so we can get you back for a book signing.

For sure.

We come back to the city so.

We definitely want to make sure.

Hook up with you again.

Absolutely.

No, that's.

Again, say less.

That's a done deal.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

All right guys, that's our show today.

We thank our special guest Nick Brooks for coming out and kicking in with us for, for a little bit telling us his story.

Remember to please check out the show notes for the full list of the books he discussed here today with us.

And again, if you're interested in picking up any of those books, we encourage you to visit our show sponsor, Mahogany Books.com the premier destination for new, classic and best selling black books.

I like to also say that our show would not be possible without the hard work of, of Shed Life Productions.

Lastly, the reader of Black Genius podcast is a member of the Mahogany Books Podcast Network.

Check them out for other great shows like ours focused on books written for by or by people of the African diaspora.

Please like review and share wherever you get your podcast today, peace and black books matter.

Thanks my man.

Appreciate it.

So.