July 24, 2025 • 45 mins
In this inspiring episode of *Eating While Broke*, host Coline Witt sits down with "Kenneth Monroe", aka 'Pen Ken, to explore his incredible journey from Hollywood party promoter to celebrated children’s book author. Known for his unique book series, 'Legends of Hip Hop', Kenneth shares the inspiration behind his work, the challenges he faced, and the valuable lessons he learned from his mentor in Oakland.
The conversation dives into Kenneth’s transition to fatherhood, his decision to leave social media for his family, and his pandemic pivot into the children’s book industry. Kenneth also discusses the importance of cultural representation in literature, his approach to co-parenting, and navigating the publishing world.
To top it off, Kenneth prepares his nostalgic and budget-friendly dish, 'Player Potatoes', a meal he relied on during tough times. This episode is packed with heartfelt stories, practical advice, and plenty of inspiration for aspiring authors and entrepreneurs.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:13):
Hey, guys, welcome to another episode of Eating While Broke.
I'm your host, Coney Witt, and today we have very
special guest, Kenneth Monroe, also known as penn Ken in
the building. Very excited to have you. Oh, I forgot
to introduce guys. He is an author of children's books
and many more a long time over twenty years as
(00:34):
an entrepreneur. But what caught my eye is your books
Legends of Hip Hop dedicated to children. We got Tupac,
Queen Latifa, Kid and Play, and we have Biggie And
before they started taping day, I was grilling you because
he does not have jay Z. And if everyone who
(00:54):
knows me knows that I am a huge jay Z
fan and I would have loved to see a jay Z.
There's next one.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
It's more they're doing well, so it's more to come.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Yes, they're all and that's even better to hair. So
before we get started into your story, what are you
gonna have me eating today?
Speaker 3 (01:10):
So what I'm gonna have you eat is a meal
that one of my mentors taught me years ago in Oakland, California,
five to one over the town. And these are called
player potatoes. Player potatoes is something that gets you by.
It don't cost a lot, but it's enough ingredients in
there to get it's fulfilling. You have your potatoes, you
have your cut up garlic, you have your cut up carrots, bell, pepper,
(01:35):
and it's something that you can make that you can
eat it two three times with one server.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
So and it's very affordable, extremely affordable because this is
like under five dollars in this economy, and you can
eat you get survived. Yeah, yeah, you can survive. It
will keep you.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Bulky absolutely when you loan funds and stuff like that.
When you grinding, you can make a part of this
and you can eat it twice in one day and
still have a little bit left over for the next day.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Nice. So how long on average does it take to
make this dish?
Speaker 2 (02:04):
About twenty twenty twenty five minutes.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Okay, go ahead, start cooking it.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Do it.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
This will be my I eat cereal in the morning.
Now I'm like a little kid. I eat fruity pebbles
or Captain crunch. No healthy cereals here. When you have
a little kid, you know that you become a little
kid again. I did not know that's the thing. When
you become an adult and you have kids, you get
to become a kid again.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
That's the fall part, yes, and.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
One of the things not trying to sidetrack at all,
but as becoming a new mom, I did do by
a lot of kid books, and I started to realize,
like some of the publishers I liked when I was
a kid, I was like, why Doctor Zeus was one
of them. Ah, I can't do it with these classes
talking to me thank you while we're taping. They're like
(02:52):
sending me messages and I'm like, oh no, I can't
do it. I am terrible. I'm multitasking. But I will
say I do read these children's books, and some of
them they're either long winded or for Doctor Zeus in
the case Doctor Zeus was like too arithmatic. It was like,
you're not even making sense. And nowadays so you see
these cartoons and they don't really have an underlining. In
(03:12):
my opinion, they don't make sense. Like a lion falling
in love with.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
A dear we can't relate to that, we can't resonate with.
And that's one of the things where I wanted to
do the books because we didn't have nothing for the
culture for us. Hip hop is a big part of
us in the culture. And when I was doing my
research before I started the books, I'm like, when I
first sign with my agent, the first thing I told her,
I said, I don't want.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
To do them, no cute bedtime stories.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
I'm like, if I want to if I'm gonna get
into this industry, you have to be books that's going
to touch the culture, the kids to parents, something that
we all can resonate with that we grew up on.
So I'm like, it's nothing touching on music. Music is
such a big part of our world and our culture.
Why aren't kids learning about our hip hop he ros?
When we in school, we learn about presidents all these
(03:54):
type of holidays, but we don't learn about hip hop
and where it started in the origins of it. So
I told my agent, said, I want to do a
hip hop series and this is before hip hop fifty.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
And I love this too because kids are seeing kids
that are reflections of themselves, which you know, you have
people of color in the book. Obviously it's hip hop,
but we don't really have a lot of that going
on either.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
And everything comes back for a circle. Imagine when Wese
kids think about it. What was we listening to around
the house, the old school, the seventies music. So these
kids in this generation, they need to know about the
legends that we grew up on exactly.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Let's get into Take me back to what was going
on during the time of potatoes, and this you said
came from your mentors.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
And they called play a potatoes potatoes.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Take me back to what was going on when you
got advice to make play of potatoes to survive.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
So this was a time we experienced different things in
our life, different hardships that we have to persevere through,
but we always remember our first time experiencing hardship for real.
Even if we have different hardships throughout our life, you
will never forget the first time you really experience like
what it means to be.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Low and down.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
I grew up in EA, Chicago, Indiana, a two parent household,
my parents two two jobs, great jobs, my whole like
me and my little brother, I didn't struggle growing up.
I could not have asked for a better childhood. My
mother and father, they just from what they taught us
and how they raised us. They just raised us the
right way, and we was grateful that they could be
(05:20):
able to afford things and do things with us to
provide a great childhood for us. I went to school.
I went to school in Arizona's where I went to
college at and after my second major of communications, and
after my second year, I was like, I don't want
to go to school no more. I knew I wanted
to get into the entertainment. I knew the corporate life
wasn't going to be for me. I never worked a
corporate job in my life. It was like I fifty, say,
(05:41):
get rich of Doe, Tryne. For me, it was entertainment
of that trine. So after my second year, I told
my parents, I said, I know who I am. I
know what I want to be. Some kids just know
who they want to be early. I knew in high
school what I wanted to be. It was just about
waiting for the opportunities.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
And what did you want to do in high school?
Speaker 3 (05:55):
In high school? In high school, I was like, one day,
I want to go to LA. In high school, go
to LA and see what the entertainment industry is about.
I was always in high school. I was popular. I
was known a lot of my personality of the classes
and stuff that I was.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
In was like communication classes and TV classes.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
I played sports, so I knew that sitting behind the
desk wasn't just gonna be my journey. So after my
second year in college, I told my parents. I said,
I don't want to waste no more time to do
another two years, knowing this is not what I want
to do. They teach us to go get your degree,
go work for something for thirty years, get your pension.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
How did your parents take the news.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
I have some very supportive parents, and that's one thing
I've learned through other feings.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Parents sound amazing.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Yeah, I have very supportive parents. You got parents that
try to hold their kids back from what they want
to do. My parents was like, we don't know nothing
about Hollywood. My mother was scared to death. She said,
but if this is what you want to do, we
can hold you back. And so they said, this is
what we're gonna do. We're gonna go out here to
La We're gonna get your apartment. We ain't gonna get
your apartment in the hood and nothing. We're gonna get
(06:59):
you apartment, a nice apartment where it's happened in that.
We're gonna pay your first year rent. No, absolutely, we
don't pay your We don't want you to be in
the hood and the sketchy areas, gangs out there, we
don't want you to be. We want to put you
in the white area where everything happened. And so they
put me in the Valley studio city absolutely, so it
(07:22):
was like I found the roommate. It said, for this
first year, we want you to hustle, we want you
to network, we want you to find your way, meet people, this,
and that. After the first year, you should be good
enough to start hustling and making a couple of dollars
to start funding your apartment, whatever you need to do.
So that whole first year I did nothing. But I'm
(07:43):
a people person. I call myself I'm a master in networking.
That's just who I was my whole life growing up.
So that first year I was just getting into different
things and just I started working for MTV and doing
re member of dismissing all them shows. That was back
in the day. It was a lot of shows on TV.
I started working doing shows for.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
MTV and you were doing intern level or what No.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
I was doing TV shows like talent you know what
I mean, like.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Bucking the talent or I was the talent. Okay, oh
you were getting paid and stuff.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Yeah, I was getting paid back in them days, like
the reality shows, they pay you I think five hundred
dollars or a few hundred dollars.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
They want nothing.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
But I was doing like different shows. And then I
started working for a playboy and doing different things. And
that whole year, I was just meeting a lot of
people and I was just building my network. And long
story short, after that first year was over, or around
towards the first year, that's when I met my mentor.
He had came to my apartment complex. He was he
did real estate, He did a lot of the music industry.
(08:39):
He is a guy that taught me a lot just
about life. And when he met me, he took a
liking to me and said, you're really talented.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
I believe in you. He said, if you ever get
in the buying or something like that, just let me know.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
This guy had I called him pimping because he had
so many women he like. When I met him, he
was in a drop top baby blue Rolls Royce when
he came to the like, he had limos. He was
just like but he was a good guy. But he
took care of the hood.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
He was that guy.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
But he was around a lot of dope heads and
drug dealers and alcoholics and just from trying to help
people and put people on.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
So what did he do for work?
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Real estate?
Speaker 1 (09:14):
He did real estate, and he did while you go ahead,
start cooking.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
While he did he did real estate, and he did
a lot in the music industry.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Yeah, I'm good.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
He did real estate and a lot in the music industry.
After the first year, I had met a woman and
she had a small daughter. She had a small daughter,
she was like two three years old, and she had
just got out of a divorce with a big TV producer,
and the TV world, it was a lot of long
hours and stuff like that. So when I met her,
she was fifteen years older than me, and that was
(09:43):
my first time dating a older woman. And she had
a small kid, and we got really close, and I
became really close with the kid. So we started dating
and got in a serious relationship. And after that first
she was older than fifteen years older than me, had
her own money all the time, said I'm a young kid.
And and after that first year, I stopped telling my
mother and father things because I wanted to show them
(10:05):
that I was growing up, and I just didn't want
to use them for a crutch every time I needed
something or to bail me out.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
So I went and got a little job at office depot,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Didn't want to do it, but I wanted to show
my woman that I got my all money.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
I'm gonna get a few dollars.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
I'm not about to be taking you out to dinner,
panding on my parents' allowance. Like fifteen years old than me.
I'm like, I got to grow up at some point.
I didn't want that job, but I went and so
I was stocking the shelves. I think it was twelve
dollars hour.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
It want nothing. I got a job.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
After five months, I said, I'm not doing it. I said,
this ain't me. I'm not about to force myself to
do this. Things start getting hard. I wasn't telling my
parents what I was going through. They had called me
a check on me and how I'm doing this, and
that I was lying the whole time. I'm doing this,
I'm doing that. I'm getting some money, but I'm struggling
the whole time. I'm behind. I'm behind on my rent.
I had a roommate I'm behind on my rent. Things
(10:55):
was going on. I got so deep that I got evicted.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Oh wow, and you still ain't.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
I had to at that point because they had to
help me bail me out.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
And was their name on the apartment too?
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Oh wow? So you was did they handle that? Did
you get in trouble?
Speaker 3 (11:13):
I didn't get I didn't get like in real trouble.
But they gave me a long talk. They gave me
a long talk.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
And I got it. I got evicted.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
I had just recently, me and my girls together about
a year and a half. We had just recently broke
up because we was going into two different directions and
she wanted to get married again. I'm like twenty one
years old. Yeah I'm vib and that's not what I
wanted to do. And the thing that hurt me the
most is that me and her daughter was very close,
and it's like walking out of a kid's life when
they three four years old, walking out of kids like
(11:42):
when they're three four years old.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
And that kind of messed me up mentally. That hurt me.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
My mentor in Oakland, he was like, you either gonna
go home or you can come out here until you
get on your feet.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
So he said, come out where to Oakland.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
He had this big house.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
He was the only he he was the only black
person in the hills of Oakland, waterfalls, all his backyard.
He was like, like the only black all white people around,
the only black person in the hills of Oakland.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
It was crazy.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
So when I went out there, that was the first
time when I learned real life. He was like, I
ain't gonna I ain't gonna treat you like your mama.
You're about to grow up. He was like, you've been
spoiled too much. He was like, you like you're facing
hardships and this is what real life is about. And
he used to like he used to have me around
a whole bunch of like drug addicts and alcoholics and
(12:30):
people that he dealt with, just to show me like
this could be you if you don't clean up this Hollywood,
this this California.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
This ain't like backing your hometown.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
If you want to survive and make it out, hear,
you gotta grow up and you gotta start understanding the game.
So he when he did that, he used to take
me around a lot of meetings and stuff. He was like,
I'm gonna take you around all these meetings with me
unless you see how you conduct business, how you do things. Now,
one thing, one valuable thing that he taught me, and
I appreciate him to this day. He said, the people
(12:59):
that's gonna end up helping you in your life is
going to be women.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
He said, yeah, shut out to the women.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Ninety percent of the people that was in his life
that he was doing business was women. He was like, look,
you got charisma, you good looking, you got a good
head on your shoulders. He said, a lot of guys
is gonna hate that. A lot of guys that can't
give you opportunity not going on to get an opportunity.
A lot of guy's not even going with you around
a woman, you know what I mean. And at the time,
I'm like, what do all this mean? And so he
(13:27):
started taking me around all these means and started letting
me see, like how he was conducting business with women.
Shark women I'm talking about. He had sharp women, entrepreneur women,
this and that. So he was like, use your gifts.
He was like, you have to use your gifts to
get ahead in life. He was like, women is more responsible.
They don't procrastinate like men. He was like, they don't
have no reason to hate on you. A guy hate
(13:48):
on you before a woman will in a second. He
was like, get some sharp woman on your team. He
was like, I'm not talking about just like on dating.
He was like, I'm talking about handling business. Learn how
to do business with smart business like women, and you're
gonna see how your life donna change. So I was
in Oakland like a year, and after that lesson, when
I went back to LA, I kept my network the
(14:10):
whole time. When I went back to LA.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Where you were out there for a whole year, year,
I was out there.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
For a year. I was out there for the year.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
And it was times I was out there I was
at my breaking point, but I just said, I'm not
going to give up.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
I'm not going home. It's not no option.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
And when I went back to LA, I started gathering
my network and I started throwing the biggest parties in Hollywood.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
I'm talking about not clubs.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
I'm talking about like Manches, hotels, yachts, like from bel Air,
Beverly Hills. I was doing it in like Miami, South
Beach Vegas. The women I was dealing with used to
give me their homes to throw parties in, and they
didn't want no money.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
They was like, we're gonna give you our house throw
a party in.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
And that's how like my network started when I started
throwing all these big parties. But I wasn't making no
money at first, because you gotta fake it until you
make it.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Of course, the type of.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Parties, yeah, the type of parties I was throwing was
they was celebrity parties and high level parties.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
So you can't really asking people.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
For no money when they're giving you they homes and
different things to throw parties in. And even the people
that's coming, you can't really ask them for money. You
gotta do the parties and build your network. So I'm
still struggling, but I'm faking until I make it. I
got all these rich people, Hollywood people in all these rooms,
but and we party. I'm building my network. But I'm like,
I'm betting on myself. If they liked me, they're gonna
(15:32):
want to help me down the line. So when my
mother used to call me and say how you get money?
Speaker 2 (15:36):
What is you doing? I used to tell my mom
I had a job.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
I used to always tell her my work for the
move of companies that help people move out their homes,
like the moving trucks. I'm lying the whole time, but
you know how I really was getting money until I
was able to make some money. I hate to say it,
but I'm gonna be real. I was getting money because
the drug dealers. I used to have people, but they
(16:00):
used to come in and serve rich people like to
get high. They liked when they party that they liked
to get high. So I had the drug dealers coming
in serving ecstssy, cocaine, weed, all that just for the party.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
I never touched it. I wasn't driving around the car
with it because I wasn't taking them type of chances.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
So they used to come in and supply whatever they
needed at my parties. And by the end of the night,
I get a bankroll. I get a bank roll, just
hand it to me, put in your pocket.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
I leave. It's three four five thousand dollars.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
That's how I'm paying rent off drug money, you know,
because I wasn't getting paid from the parties at first
until I started building my name. Yeah, so how I
was surviving was getting a commission on that's the drugs
that they was hustling at my party. Yeah, So that's
how I was. That's how I was getting money at first.
And then once I started building my network and stuff
(16:57):
like that, then I was able to start getting sponsors
and different things start happening as far as where I
was able to make money. But that's how I started
throwing a party, and that's how I was making money
until I was able to start making the real money.
Drug money was paying my rent and my survival.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
You survival instincts, and your mentor sounds like he did
a very good It sounds like he left a lot
of golden seeds in your head because even if you
think of it about it from a business perspective, if
you're catering to a certain audience and this is what
they're into, and you cater to them in total capacity,
they're going to keep coming back. So you did exactly
what brilliant. I thought you were gonna say sponsors from
(17:34):
the jump, But you're right, it does take time. So
after you're throwing these parties, what I'm trying to inch
all the way to the end to where you're at
today when it comes to being an author in twenty years,
being an entrepreneur. So I see you started in your
twenties as an entrepreneur.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Yeah, I moved to LA when I was like nineteen.
After my second year, cops real young and start throwing
the parties. My run and the parties from was from
like twenty one to about thirty one. I had about
a decade run while I was woll I was really.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Your dad, amazing. I want to go, but you're done.
You're not doing it anymore.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
I had my daughter and she got me out the game.
When I have my daughter, I got off social media.
I stopped throwing parties. When I became a father, A
lot of changed for me. But before I had it,
from like twenty one to thirty one, I had a
decade run where I was throwing the biggest parties in Hollywood, Miami,
South Beach, Vegas, New York. Like my network became to
a certain point where I was throwing parties all around
the country where.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Like it was, but I got caught up.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
It was a lifestyle that I would never go back
to because I definitely got caught up. And you spending
as fast as you're getting it, and you're seeing a
lot is happening at there's parties, and you can't keep
a relationship like that as well. So it was cause
of issues with my relationships.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
And you mean like your personal relationship.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
Absolutely, because my parties was like eighty percent women my parties.
You walk one of my parties. I was doing parties,
Playboy Mansion I was doing. It was like eighty percent women,
all the parties I was doing. Because that's when my
mentor taught me, get the women on your team. That's
how you're gonna get money.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
That's why he's nicknamed.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
I name him that because that's how i'm him.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Is he still around.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
Yeah, I haven't talked to him, and I haven't talked
to him in a while. We lost touch a little
bit throughout the years when I had my daughter, when
I became a dad. But he's about he about eighty
years old.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Now, wow, he's still doing the lifestyle that he was
when you met him.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
No, you can't be doing that at that age.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
It's not an eighty I'm just saying, I don't know
if he's just a retired pick.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
No, he's still gonna beat him. He's still gonna get
money with women. But he didn't slowed down from that
lifestyle because he eighty Now.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Okay, did he ever settle down and have kids or
not trying to do.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
He do have a kid, He do have a kid
that I was really close with.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
But his lifestyle was just always he wasn't selling down
Mary type.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
God.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
He always had women around him like all the time
ever since I known him, So that that won his personality.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Now, all right, so what happens at thirty one where
you start to take another pivot?
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Thirty one? That changed my life because.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
You did that. You did the party scene for thirty
or for ten years, right, Yeah, so then what happens
for Yeah, tell me what happens at thirty one?
Speaker 3 (19:59):
I was with my girlfriend that held me down. She
she was like seven years older than me, and all
throughout the Yeah, no, she held me down. She was
somebody that my journey wouldn't be my journey without the
role that she played in my life.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
I'm talking about Ride or Die.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
And we were together for years throughout the whole party scene.
We had separated and broke up, and when we had separated,
I mess someone else and she got pregnant fast and
I had a daughter and.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
I had a kid.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
So when that happened, we were still maybe talking about
getting back together and whatnot. But once I knew I
had a kid on the way, that was over. I
had to leave La move to Chicago because she was
from Chicago, and she was like, I don't want to
get a birth in La.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Oh the girl that you hooked up with.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
My daughter's mom.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
Great girl, great family. I appreciate like her family, like
we're still close today. Great person, great family. And I
come from a father that was in my life. So
I wanted about to do no raising, no child long distance.
I moved to Chicago. I was depressed for a while
because I got a baby on the way. I don't
know what that's I'm leaving in La, I'm leaving my network,
I'm leaving my lifestyle, and I'm coming out to Chicago
(21:10):
for the unknown. But thank god for family, thank god
for family support, because I never knew how hard it
was to have a child as far as just like
babysitting and just raising a child.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
I just never knew.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
So it's like a culture shock.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Yeah, it's a culture shock. So it's a.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
It's like jumping into a cold water plunge. You like, wait,
what differ, don't you?
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Absolutely absolutely. It was a culture shock to me. So
when I when she was pregnant. I was at every
doctor visitor, I was involved the whole thing. And I
said to myself, I said, bro, you got to change
your ways. I said, you're about to become a dead
just the lifestyle that you've had the past ten years.
You can't do that no more. Your father now I
had to become responsible from a mindset perspective. That was
(21:53):
when she told me she was pregnant. A couple months later,
that's when I got on social media. I ain't been
on social media in a decade. And I know what
you're gonna say. People always asking how do you do
what you're doing not being on social media when the
whole world is about social media?
Speaker 1 (22:05):
You know what You're right, because I think I did
try to look you up on social I know I
found you on LinkedIn.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
I don't call that social media like a business profile,
but TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
I got off that about close about ten years ago.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
And people ask me all the time, how do you
do everything you're doing and know the people are doing
what you're doing and you're not on social media?
Speaker 2 (22:25):
And that's the way the world works.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
And I tell people all the time, if you knew
how to hustle and get money and do your thing
before social media, you can do it now. Life is
about relationship.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Really, ten years is a long time of relationships that
are solid.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
My relationships is strong, and that's why I tell people
I don't need to be on social media because my
relationships I'm talking about twenty years in the game.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
People.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
A lot of people that's on social media, they force
themselves to be on social media.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
If you really think about.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Me, we do. You're watching this.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Clip absolutely, but you don't need social media because if
your relationship. That's why I tell people I don't cross people.
I don't cross people for no money. I don't cross
I do everything with good intention, of good character in
my karma good because everything every business, when I do
business is all good intention. I do things the right way.
So I got relationships that I've had fifteen twenty years ago.
We still getting money, We're still doing things. So social
(23:16):
media is not needed for me because people hitting my
line out the time.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
It's all referral.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
So I'm the type of person that I know that
if I don't have no money, my phone gonna ring.
Like you gotta have that mindset it's the work that
you've put in throughout the years.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
It's then people still gonna ring your phone.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Yeah, I agree. So you and just you and this
young lady, do you guys settle down officially as like
a family.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
We did, and unfortunately we broke up when she was
like four years old. But we do a great job
of co parenting, and it took me a long time
to She has a new boyfriend that she's been with
for a few years, and as a father, you don't
want no man around your child, around your daughter. So
he's a great guy. He treats my daughter with nothing
but love. So it's something that I had to get
over and accept. But we do a great job of
(24:02):
co parenting. And but my daughter's the one that changed
my mindset while I got off social media the way
I need to start moving and doing things differently. And
she the one that inspired me to get into children's books.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
And now the backtrack, the getting off social media, why
was it so crucial for your growth?
Speaker 2 (24:18):
I had to.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
I had no choice. I was in the party scene
so tough. I had so many girls that if you're
trying to settle down and have a kid and be
a father, you got to get out the spotlight. I'm
not gonna I'm like, I'm not gonna say names are
going to I don't do that. But it was getting
It was to a point where I was having relationships
with a lot of celebrity women, high level executive whatever
was coming to my parties. I'm talking about full on relationships.
(24:41):
And my lifestyle was real wild around the time, full.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
On relationships as in like on the personal side, Oh
so you was.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
He was really a lot of sexual relationships with a
lot of celebrity women and influencer women and socialites.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
I mean they was coming to my parties. And it
got to a point where like I was and demand
and you know how it go.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
So I had to get off social media because that
won the lifestyle that I needed coming to Yeah tonight.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
I would imagine you go into your phone and three,
four or five ten messages from hey you want to
and you're like trying to turn your life around.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
Yeah, that's why my relationships didn't work out when I
was in a party scene, because like it got to
a point where it just the lifestyle I was living.
You can't have a relationship and have a family doing that.
It's never gonna work. So that's why I got off
social media because I want to focus on being a father.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
So you become this dad and you're reading children's story,
I would pay me the scene of how you know,
becoming a dad morphs into a children's author per se
without skipping a beat. So if I'm moving too fast,
slow me account.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
So I give the whole story to run down. So
what was the biggest thing to have happened in our
life these last few years?
Speaker 2 (25:53):
I'm talking about the whole world? What changed the whole
world a few years ago?
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Pandemic.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
When that came, nobody a lot of people stopped making money.
Productions were shut down. You couldn't go nowhere. So the
pandemic came. And the person that's now my agent and
my business partner for the books, we was talking about
some business, some toy business, a toy deal for one
of my clients at the time.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
And well clients at the time, what were you doing
at the time.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
I was doing a lot of different music stuff, sports stuff.
And one of my clients at the time, she was
like fifteen years old. Once she's one of the biggest
shout out Brooklyn Queen. She's one of the biggest influences
on TikTok and stuff like that. But she had a
massive following and we was talking about doing different business
with her. So that transpired into have you ever thought
about she's an author, she's an agent, she's a very
(26:43):
successful person in the publishing industry. She said, with your
resume and your background, have you ever thought about doing books?
Because you just had a daughter at the time, My
daughter was three years old, have you ever thought about
doing children's books? I'm like, not really, I ain't never
thought about doing anything for children of books in my life.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Unless you have a kid, you ain't.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
Really thinking about children's But she was like, you know what,
that's a big industry. That's something you need to think about.
You have the network, you have to create the vision
to create your writer.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
She was like, think about it.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
So I'm like, she was like, ah, you can make
some money during the pandemic when ain't nobody making the
money right now? Yeah. Shout out Karen Kilpatrick. Thank you
for everything you did for me. I wouldn't be in
this book industry without her. She taught me the game.
She taught me everything I need to know. My success
in publishing is because of her, and I think her
for it all the time, because it changed my life.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
It took me, these books took me around the world.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
These books are just so you know, for all the listeners,
these books are so beautiful, like the animation the Professionals.
It's distributed published by HarperCollins, which is a bit. That
was another reason why I wanted you on the show
to like walk me to how do you get this?
But I see how it's working. Okay, okay, you got
this long resume.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Yeah. So she was like, let's start creating.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
So I told her, I said, you know what, if
I get into this game, I don't want to do
the cute bedtime stories. I don't want to do stories
that don't mean nothing. I want to do stories that
I think is cool and I think that kids and
their parents think it's cool. So I started doing my research.
I said, you know what, I see all these books
and stories, but I don't see nothing that's talking about
hip hop. Now keep in mind, this is before Hip
(28:13):
Hop fifty. I signed my deals already when I had
even before I even knew Hip Hop fifty fifty was coming.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
It just fell in line and the books released doing
hip Hop fifty.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
So I said, I'm gonna create a hip hop series
that's going to teach kids about the legends and the
history of hip hop, but through education. So once I
started creating it, I said, she said, you got to
create it where like the education part is very fluid,
(28:42):
you know what I mean. Through it's books, teaching you
how to count, teaching your numbers, Biggie as the opposites.
So we're teaching them about these hip hop legends lives.
But while they're learning how to count and the alphabets
and opposites and whatnot. We created the Tupac first, and
shout out to Luana Or she's my publisher. She's my
editor at HarperCollins. She did Lebron James book, she did
Dwyane Wade, Gabrielle you and book, big time editor there.
(29:04):
We created Park first and she loved it. She loved
a poc one. She was like, I love this. It's
nothing on the market for this. This can be big.
I give you a deal for four, I give you
a I give you a series.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
And now didn't now you you at this point are
you pitching the actual book or are you pitching the concept?
Speaker 3 (29:22):
I'm pitching the concept. I'm pitching the concept. But she
was like, this concept is so big. She was like,
this is not a one off. She's like, this is
a series. She was like, if the Tupac one is
good the manuscript, I give you a deal for four.
We turned into Tupac one.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
She saw.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
She said, we want to sign the deal for four.
Pick what other three three you want now?
Speaker 1 (29:42):
And you didn't pick jay Z. Just want to point
that out one more time.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
But I had the pie.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
I know, I know. Why explain to the listeners why
you did not go with jay Z because I think
your explanation was made a lot of sense, even though
I'm a hater because you don't have jay Z. But
go ahead, explain to everyone why you chose who you
chose for the books.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Okay, So I chose pacbecause Pocket is my favorite hip
hop artist of all time. He always won't be number
one for me, just from his music, from his movies,
just his personality, who he was.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
It's just who he was. He was just like the
realist rapper ever.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
So I chose Pac them Mama my favorite song of
all time. When I chose Pac, I said, I have
to choose Biggie because their lives go together. You can't
talk about Pac without talking about Biggie as far as
what they went through on the street level and the music.
So that's why I picked Biggie because they go together.
I'm like, if you have Pac, you can't tell the
story of Tupac and don't tell the story of Biggie
(30:31):
the kids because their lives go together.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
So I picked them too.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
And then they was like, you gotta pick a woman
because we need a woman and enough women in pot
and I'm like, of course. So they gave me different
options to choose. They gave me Queen Latifa, they gave
me Missy Elliott, they gave me em c Light, Laurren Hill,
Salt and Pepper shout out to Sartin Pepper my Homegirl
Mannered Salt, and they want to do a book too.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
But wait the books, dybody.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
Yeah, So I picked Queen Latifah because Miss Queen Latifah
Unity is my favor a female empowerment.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Record of all time.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
And then they was like for the last one, I'm like,
for the last one, I want to pick a group.
I'm like, kidd and plays my favorite group of all time,
House Party so I said, yeah, that comes out later
this year, the Kid and Play joint. Now, keep in mind,
I'm the story, the story about to get even. But
at the same time, I'm working with one of the
top female music artists in Africa. I'm working with one
(31:23):
of the top female music artists in the Caribbean. Her
grandfather created the music genre Soaka. Rod Shorty created the
music genre Soaka Nola black Men. It's his granddaughter and
ms V was my music artist in Africa. I said,
there's never been no mainstream children's book talking about Soaka
and Carnival. There's never been no mainstream children's book with
(31:45):
a deal from a music arts in Africa.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
So I said, I want to bring them in and
get them deals. So mss V.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
She has a big song called natural Girl. It's about
teaching black girls how to embrace theirself in their natural
skin and who they are.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
So I created the book title.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Natural Me, Me and My Partner, and it's a spin
off of her song.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
And that's what HarperCollins as well.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
Nyla Blackman's book is about Carnival and Soca called Love
La La, where he's teaching her the sights and sounds
of Carnival. Why he's teaching her Soca all this was
going on doing my hip hop series. I got all
them deals within the same month.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Wow. And then just curious for all listeners out there
that are wanting to get into becoming an author. When
you're doing a book on a tupole of Queen Latifa,
is there some kind of clearing of rights? How does
that whole part of the deal work?
Speaker 3 (32:37):
Thankfully, when you sign to them big companies, the legal
department take you all that. I'm not responsible for any
of that. They legal team get all those rights and
whatever needs to be done legally. That's the pros of
working with a big publisher. Wow, they do all of that.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
When you got your publishing deal off concept, what did
that moment feel like for you?
Speaker 3 (32:55):
It was a crazy moment for me, as I never forget.
It was April twenty twenty one and I had got
six book deals within the same week. We had been
pitching them since like January, and when the deals all
came in, they all came in at the same time.
I got six book deals. My agent called me within
the same week.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
How did you backtrack? How did you have an agent
to begin with?
Speaker 2 (33:17):
My partner. I was telling you about Kara Patrick.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
She was your partner agent.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
Yeah, she's a big agent in the publishing industry, so
she's my agent.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
But she was the one that also pitched you to
write books. So what were you doing to have an
agent prior?
Speaker 2 (33:31):
Oh, you mean to have her?
Speaker 3 (33:32):
No, she just she asked me if I wanted to
get into the children's books and what I thought about it,
and she and I said, she said, we're gonna need
an agent. She said, I'll represent you because she's a
big agent and represent a lot of authors.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
So she was like a friend slash partners.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
No, she won friend we had at the time. Obviously
she's a friend now.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
But at the time we had met and it was
like like business from the about the books?
Speaker 1 (33:53):
So were you pitching her the books? Because I'm missing something, Okay,
So she was. She was on the phone with you
and she was like, have you ever thought about publishing?
What were you guys doing for her or even what
kind of business were you doing.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
We had met on LinkedIn.
Speaker 3 (34:09):
We had met on LinkedIn and when we met on LinkedIn,
it was about the toy business for one of my
for one of my clients at the time because she
had she was a she used to be a VP
at a big toy company, so she was That's when
she was like, have you ever thought about doing books?
Speaker 1 (34:23):
But you keep saying your client at the time, what
were you doing to have these types of clients?
Speaker 3 (34:27):
Oh, just music, sports. I was doing a lot of
stuff came for my parties.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
But that's what I'm saying. What were you doing for
these people for them to be your clients? Were you
managing them?
Speaker 3 (34:37):
Okay, okay, I was producing music, I was managing them.
I was doing pr from them. I was doing a
lot of different things. So for the client of the time, Brooklyn,
I was producing music own her. I was doing PR
WAE for different networks and companies and stuff like that.
So we were doing a lot same thing. For Nyla
and ms V, I was producing music. We was doing
a lot of different things. So I was like, what
you think about children's books?
Speaker 1 (34:58):
So this makes a lot more sense going back to
why you got off social media. No matter what, clients
were always hitting your phone or opportunities were always coming
to you.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
All the time. Almost done cooking, I'm almost done.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
We got we're gonna, We're gonna We're gonna end the
episode with absolutely shout outs to pin Bin for this mail.
So now that So go back to April twenty first,
you said, yeah, you have six published book deals, and
why did you choose a publishing offers? Why did you
choose Harper Collins and don't you could obviously it could
(35:32):
also be the money, but why did you choose them?
Speaker 3 (35:35):
I chose them and then my other one through Penguin
Random House. I chose HarperCollins because.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Oh, you have two publishing deals at the same time,
House and HarperCollins. Would you tell them up front?
Speaker 3 (35:46):
So when the offers came in, we decided, like who
we want to go with and HarperCollins. So Luana that
gave me my deal for that. She comes from producing
Lebron James children's book Wayne, all these big children's books
about the culture. So I'm like, for hip hop series,
this is the right this is the right one to
go and then shout out Sackston More.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
He is the illustrator of Legends of.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Hip Hop Amazing, illustration amazing, three time.
Speaker 3 (36:09):
Three time Emmy director from Nickelodeon Cartoon That with.
Speaker 1 (36:13):
The Guys Amazing, his first book.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
He's been doing things.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
His artwork is absolutely stunning. Continue sorry, continue with your story.
So why did you choose Random House? What publishing deals
does Random House have with you?
Speaker 3 (36:28):
The love La La not a Blackman's book because the
editor that gave me that deal is big in the
Caribbean culture, and I wanted the book to I wanted
the book to be authentic. So I remember one day,
me and my business partner, we was writing it. We
was sitting up all night thinking of like their language.
We was like looking at the dictionary like in Trinidad
and Soka's it is different language. So we wanted our
(36:49):
books are very authentic and that's why they're doing well,
Like however they talk in their country.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
That's how the children's books are. So we had to
study all of that.
Speaker 3 (36:57):
Like I'm a real nerd when it comes to being
great and having a vision and doing something like I
really study this.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
Now. What did your daughter say when she first saw
your bucks?
Speaker 3 (37:05):
She couldn't believe it was me. She she couldn't believe it.
She was like, you wrote these. She was like, I
inspired you to get into this. I said, babe, you
inspire you changed my life. You inspired me to and
shout out to my daughter's birthday today. Happy ninth birthday
to my daughter Gianna.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
But she was shocked. She couldn't believe that I had
did that. And for her to learn.
Speaker 3 (37:22):
About people that we grew up off of that was
pretty pretty different from me.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
Now, just this is sidebar. Since you had your internship
opportunity with pimping.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
And oak play potatoes with these.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
Play potatoes, I am genuinely curious here burme. Does it
make you look at women differently when you are dating
them versus like just dating for looks or cuteness or
what have you. I don't know why I have so
many on my plate. Hold on, hold up, I'm already.
I'm already big. You're gonna eat somebody.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
Okay, okay, okay, come see.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
It, watch it taste great?
Speaker 2 (37:56):
Oh huh, you may need some of this. Now.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
Let's see why you didn't put seasons on. I did.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
I did love it more.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
All right, guys, pull a chair up or pretty much
at the end of the episode, which kind of sucks
because I have so much more. So turn off that stove.
You you don't cook at home, do you?
Speaker 2 (38:14):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
Okay, come closer, come closer. This will be your mic. Okay,
so let's try. Oh did you answer my question? Do
you look at women differently since no one pimping?
Speaker 2 (38:26):
Absolutely?
Speaker 1 (38:27):
So like where you date? Do you date for more
than just looks?
Speaker 2 (38:30):
And absolutely?
Speaker 3 (38:32):
And I like dating just educated women and women that
have goals and it's always bigger than looks for me.
Speaker 1 (38:39):
Oh no, I'm good on the potato right there.
Speaker 3 (38:41):
Yeah, No, it gotta you gotta have. You gotta have goals,
you gotta have morals, you gotta have just a mindset
that that you want to be great and you're looking
for more. He taught me that shark women. I love
shark women. Nothing is sexy than a shark woman. Yes,
I don't date women that look for dudes.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
To be tricks.
Speaker 3 (39:00):
And I don't associate with the type of women women
that's looking for dudes for come ups and tricks and
dudes flying girls around around the country and taking them shopping.
And some type of girls can't get my attention on whatsoever?
Speaker 2 (39:12):
Yeah, whatsoever?
Speaker 1 (39:14):
Let's see what pimping? Do you lived on this in Oakland?
I'm guessing yes, Yes, it's a great dish. It's a
great dish. And mm hmm, I love that it's colorful.
Shout outs to pimping for trajectory of your life. I
(39:36):
love that this mentor played such a pivotal role, and
just to see where you are at today. And I
love that you came from a two parent household, because
I think the assumption on the show can be if
you didn't come from nothing, But no, your pivotal journey
started right there in the middle, and your parents did
a great job. Shout outs to your daughter for leading
us to legends of hip hop the series. And when
(39:58):
you get your jay Z version, Yes, yes, yes, Can
I at least get the first text or email like Hey,
what's happening? Or can I get like some input? Can
I see one of the drafts? But i'd be allowed
to see like a draft like before you send it
to your agent.
Speaker 3 (40:15):
Like absolutely, so I could be like, oh, let's do it,
let's get one on whole.
Speaker 1 (40:20):
But this right here is spectacular.
Speaker 2 (40:23):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (40:24):
I eat this from time to time just just to reflect.
Time to time, I'll still I'm not a cooker. I
don't cook, but from time to time I'll still do
this just to remember, like where I came from and
the struggle in the journey and persevering and life lessons
that I learned while I was eating this dish.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
This dish is really great, really great seasoning did a
good job.
Speaker 2 (40:43):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (40:44):
Thank you so much for responding to me, and you
were right. But when it comes to your network, I
saw you on LinkedIn. I was very like, Wow, this
is amazing, legends of hip hop, unique black author. It's
nice to see people of color in different industries. But
I did, of course reach out to some other people.
I try to see who you knew, and everyone came
back saying really great stuff about you that I did.
(41:08):
I always have to. I'm like, I literally picked up
the phone call someone I hadn't talked to like almost
a year, Oh wow, and asked about you and there's
great things and they were like, yeah, you'd be great
if you could get them on the show. And I
was like, that's when I hit you up. So yes,
and I rarely checked my LinkedIn right it was Haley.
Speaker 3 (41:25):
Shout out to Haley.
Speaker 1 (41:27):
Yeah, she has been on the show. She has her
hair care products in all Walmarts. And I did ask
her about like d I and how all that was
affected her.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
They're doing great and her daughter that they're great.
Speaker 1 (41:38):
They're great when it comes to your book sales. I
just have a couple of last questions. Is there any
pressure to sell a certain quantity or market a certain quantity.
Speaker 2 (41:46):
No, it's not pressure.
Speaker 3 (41:47):
You know, when you sign deals with the publishers, they
give you a real nice advance to do your thing,
and there's no pressure because when they signed you because
they love the product, and the books have been performing well,
so I'm thankful for that they perform a real well.
A lot of celebrities been doing things with them. One
of the things that took me back about this book
is when Ludacris shout out to Luda he's my favorite,
(42:07):
one of my favorites all time.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
And when he did it, when he.
Speaker 3 (42:11):
Was talking about him and taking photos and stuff with him,
that did it for me because he was He's like
top three all time for me. So a lot of
celebrities been taking pictures with the books, buying the books
for their kids. It's been these books been circulating a
lot in the celebrity world.
Speaker 1 (42:26):
So it's humbling and now we know a lot of
what you've shared, a lot of the knowledge that really
helps you grow outside of that knowledge. For people like
I have a girlfriend and I told you that's trying
to get into writing children's books. What kind of advice
would you give that person? You could say, right into that.
Speaker 3 (42:44):
Camera, advice for getting to the children's book industry. Create
Always make sure your story has depth to it. Have
a beginning, have a middle, half an end, Have something
that the character has to persevere through, have to learn from,
and that that's what agents look for, that's what publishers
look for. It's not just about writing a cool story,
(43:04):
but your story has to have depth to it. It
has to have something that a challenge that they're trying
to get over, because that's how kids relate because life
is not perfect. So if you write a children's book
that it's just like all cool, but it's no lesson
in it.
Speaker 2 (43:17):
It's just like these books.
Speaker 3 (43:18):
It's yeah, we're teaching you about hip hop, but what
else are we teaching you how to learn how to
counter opposites? We teaching you things that you're going to
learn in school, you know. So always start with a
great story that has to beginning, a middle or end.
You know, you have to have an agent if you
want to get into the big publishers because theyre the
ones that negotiates you get you the best deals.
Speaker 2 (43:35):
You can't do this alone at all.
Speaker 3 (43:37):
So it's create a great story, get an agent, and
really just you know, put your foot on the gas.
You got a network, You got to hustle. If you
really want to get into the children's book industry, let
it be known.
Speaker 1 (43:46):
Yeah, let it be known. And then just from one parent,
I don't know how you feel about when you read
children's stories. After I had my daughter, I didn't. I'm
very picky when it comes to children's books now. The
books that have the most words like drive me nuts,
especially at bed time. I love that you balance that
in the book because there are people that will write
(44:06):
like a whole novel and I'm like, lady, we're trying
to get through bedtime. I don't want to have to
just start making up the story because I don't want
to read these words in the semi dark, trying to
set this mood right.
Speaker 2 (44:17):
Keep it simple, keep it simple.
Speaker 1 (44:18):
And you did a really good job about that. And
that's the only thing I would say. If you're gonna
get into children's books, please not only have a great story,
but please don't do too much with the work.
Speaker 3 (44:27):
And then when you're doing like I did a lot
of tours, like all over the country. So when you're
doing stuff at libraries and schools and things like that,
you want to keep it simple because the classrooms only
have so much time before they got to get to
the next one. So you want something that the kids
can gather real quick when you're doing like tours especially helps.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
Yeah, thank you so much. Penn can in the building
appreciate you. Thank you so much for fitting us in
your schedule. Shout outs to your baby girl. Happy birthday.
Speaker 3 (44:52):
Yes, happy birthday, Gianna Kennedy Monroe. And once again, this
is the dish that I was eating while I was
bro From time to time I still come back to
just to reflecting.
Speaker 1 (45:02):
It's a great dish. I would eat this on a
This will be a staple. And if you're a mom
at Homi, you want to make something under twenty minutes
that's hardy and feeling. This is absolutely superb and you
can throw it with some chicken in your gut. Absolutely
shout out to that, Yes, he's out, guys later for
more eating while broke from iHeartRadio and The Black Effect,
(45:25):
visit the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcast or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows.
Hey, guys, welcome to another episode of Eating While Broke.
I'm your host, Coney Witt, and today we have very
special guest, Kenneth Monroe, also known as penn Ken in
the building. Very excited to have you. Oh, I forgot
to introduce guys. He is an author of children's books
and many more a long time over twenty years as
(00:34):
an entrepreneur. But what caught my eye is your books
Legends of Hip Hop dedicated to children. We got Tupac,
Queen Latifa, Kid and Play, and we have Biggie And
before they started taping day, I was grilling you because
he does not have jay Z. And if everyone who
(00:54):
knows me knows that I am a huge jay Z
fan and I would have loved to see a jay Z.
There's next one.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
It's more they're doing well, so it's more to come.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Yes, they're all and that's even better to hair. So
before we get started into your story, what are you
gonna have me eating today?
Speaker 3 (01:10):
So what I'm gonna have you eat is a meal
that one of my mentors taught me years ago in Oakland, California,
five to one over the town. And these are called
player potatoes. Player potatoes is something that gets you by.
It don't cost a lot, but it's enough ingredients in
there to get it's fulfilling. You have your potatoes, you
have your cut up garlic, you have your cut up carrots, bell, pepper,
(01:35):
and it's something that you can make that you can
eat it two three times with one server.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
So and it's very affordable, extremely affordable because this is
like under five dollars in this economy, and you can
eat you get survived. Yeah, yeah, you can survive. It
will keep you.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Bulky absolutely when you loan funds and stuff like that.
When you grinding, you can make a part of this
and you can eat it twice in one day and
still have a little bit left over for the next day.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Nice. So how long on average does it take to
make this dish?
Speaker 2 (02:04):
About twenty twenty twenty five minutes.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Okay, go ahead, start cooking it.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Do it.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
This will be my I eat cereal in the morning.
Now I'm like a little kid. I eat fruity pebbles
or Captain crunch. No healthy cereals here. When you have
a little kid, you know that you become a little
kid again. I did not know that's the thing. When
you become an adult and you have kids, you get
to become a kid again.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
That's the fall part, yes, and.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
One of the things not trying to sidetrack at all,
but as becoming a new mom, I did do by
a lot of kid books, and I started to realize,
like some of the publishers I liked when I was
a kid, I was like, why Doctor Zeus was one
of them. Ah, I can't do it with these classes
talking to me thank you while we're taping. They're like
(02:52):
sending me messages and I'm like, oh no, I can't
do it. I am terrible. I'm multitasking. But I will
say I do read these children's books, and some of
them they're either long winded or for Doctor Zeus in
the case Doctor Zeus was like too arithmatic. It was like,
you're not even making sense. And nowadays so you see
these cartoons and they don't really have an underlining. In
(03:12):
my opinion, they don't make sense. Like a lion falling
in love with.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
A dear we can't relate to that, we can't resonate with.
And that's one of the things where I wanted to
do the books because we didn't have nothing for the
culture for us. Hip hop is a big part of
us in the culture. And when I was doing my
research before I started the books, I'm like, when I
first sign with my agent, the first thing I told her,
I said, I don't want.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
To do them, no cute bedtime stories.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
I'm like, if I want to if I'm gonna get
into this industry, you have to be books that's going
to touch the culture, the kids to parents, something that
we all can resonate with that we grew up on.
So I'm like, it's nothing touching on music. Music is
such a big part of our world and our culture.
Why aren't kids learning about our hip hop he ros?
When we in school, we learn about presidents all these
(03:54):
type of holidays, but we don't learn about hip hop
and where it started in the origins of it. So
I told my agent, said, I want to do a
hip hop series and this is before hip hop fifty.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
And I love this too because kids are seeing kids
that are reflections of themselves, which you know, you have
people of color in the book. Obviously it's hip hop,
but we don't really have a lot of that going
on either.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
And everything comes back for a circle. Imagine when Wese
kids think about it. What was we listening to around
the house, the old school, the seventies music. So these
kids in this generation, they need to know about the
legends that we grew up on exactly.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Let's get into Take me back to what was going
on during the time of potatoes, and this you said
came from your mentors.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
And they called play a potatoes potatoes.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Take me back to what was going on when you
got advice to make play of potatoes to survive.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
So this was a time we experienced different things in
our life, different hardships that we have to persevere through,
but we always remember our first time experiencing hardship for real.
Even if we have different hardships throughout our life, you
will never forget the first time you really experience like
what it means to be.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Low and down.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
I grew up in EA, Chicago, Indiana, a two parent household,
my parents two two jobs, great jobs, my whole like
me and my little brother, I didn't struggle growing up.
I could not have asked for a better childhood. My
mother and father, they just from what they taught us
and how they raised us. They just raised us the
right way, and we was grateful that they could be
(05:20):
able to afford things and do things with us to
provide a great childhood for us. I went to school.
I went to school in Arizona's where I went to
college at and after my second major of communications, and
after my second year, I was like, I don't want
to go to school no more. I knew I wanted
to get into the entertainment. I knew the corporate life
wasn't going to be for me. I never worked a
corporate job in my life. It was like I fifty, say,
(05:41):
get rich of Doe, Tryne. For me, it was entertainment
of that trine. So after my second year, I told
my parents, I said, I know who I am. I
know what I want to be. Some kids just know
who they want to be early. I knew in high
school what I wanted to be. It was just about
waiting for the opportunities.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
And what did you want to do in high school?
Speaker 3 (05:55):
In high school? In high school, I was like, one day,
I want to go to LA. In high school, go
to LA and see what the entertainment industry is about.
I was always in high school. I was popular. I
was known a lot of my personality of the classes
and stuff that I was.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
In was like communication classes and TV classes.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
I played sports, so I knew that sitting behind the
desk wasn't just gonna be my journey. So after my
second year in college, I told my parents. I said,
I don't want to waste no more time to do
another two years, knowing this is not what I want
to do. They teach us to go get your degree,
go work for something for thirty years, get your pension.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
How did your parents take the news.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
I have some very supportive parents, and that's one thing
I've learned through other feings.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Parents sound amazing.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Yeah, I have very supportive parents. You got parents that
try to hold their kids back from what they want
to do. My parents was like, we don't know nothing
about Hollywood. My mother was scared to death. She said,
but if this is what you want to do, we
can hold you back. And so they said, this is
what we're gonna do. We're gonna go out here to
La We're gonna get your apartment. We ain't gonna get
your apartment in the hood and nothing. We're gonna get
(06:59):
you apartment, a nice apartment where it's happened in that.
We're gonna pay your first year rent. No, absolutely, we
don't pay your We don't want you to be in
the hood and the sketchy areas, gangs out there, we
don't want you to be. We want to put you
in the white area where everything happened. And so they
put me in the Valley studio city absolutely, so it
(07:22):
was like I found the roommate. It said, for this
first year, we want you to hustle, we want you
to network, we want you to find your way, meet people, this,
and that. After the first year, you should be good
enough to start hustling and making a couple of dollars
to start funding your apartment, whatever you need to do.
So that whole first year I did nothing. But I'm
(07:43):
a people person. I call myself I'm a master in networking.
That's just who I was my whole life growing up.
So that first year I was just getting into different
things and just I started working for MTV and doing
re member of dismissing all them shows. That was back
in the day. It was a lot of shows on TV.
I started working doing shows for.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
MTV and you were doing intern level or what No.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
I was doing TV shows like talent you know what
I mean, like.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Bucking the talent or I was the talent. Okay, oh
you were getting paid and stuff.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Yeah, I was getting paid back in them days, like
the reality shows, they pay you I think five hundred
dollars or a few hundred dollars.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
They want nothing.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
But I was doing like different shows. And then I
started working for a playboy and doing different things. And
that whole year, I was just meeting a lot of
people and I was just building my network. And long
story short, after that first year was over, or around
towards the first year, that's when I met my mentor.
He had came to my apartment complex. He was he
did real estate, He did a lot of the music industry.
(08:39):
He is a guy that taught me a lot just
about life. And when he met me, he took a
liking to me and said, you're really talented.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
I believe in you. He said, if you ever get
in the buying or something like that, just let me know.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
This guy had I called him pimping because he had
so many women he like. When I met him, he
was in a drop top baby blue Rolls Royce when
he came to the like, he had limos. He was
just like but he was a good guy. But he
took care of the hood.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
He was that guy.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
But he was around a lot of dope heads and
drug dealers and alcoholics and just from trying to help
people and put people on.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
So what did he do for work?
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Real estate?
Speaker 1 (09:14):
He did real estate, and he did while you go ahead,
start cooking.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
While he did he did real estate, and he did
a lot in the music industry.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Yeah, I'm good.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
He did real estate and a lot in the music industry.
After the first year, I had met a woman and
she had a small daughter. She had a small daughter,
she was like two three years old, and she had
just got out of a divorce with a big TV producer,
and the TV world, it was a lot of long
hours and stuff like that. So when I met her,
she was fifteen years older than me, and that was
(09:43):
my first time dating a older woman. And she had
a small kid, and we got really close, and I
became really close with the kid. So we started dating
and got in a serious relationship. And after that first
she was older than fifteen years older than me, had
her own money all the time, said I'm a young kid.
And and after that first year, I stopped telling my
mother and father things because I wanted to show them
(10:05):
that I was growing up, and I just didn't want
to use them for a crutch every time I needed
something or to bail me out.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
So I went and got a little job at office depot,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Didn't want to do it, but I wanted to show
my woman that I got my all money.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
I'm gonna get a few dollars.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
I'm not about to be taking you out to dinner,
panding on my parents' allowance. Like fifteen years old than me.
I'm like, I got to grow up at some point.
I didn't want that job, but I went and so
I was stocking the shelves. I think it was twelve
dollars hour.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
It want nothing. I got a job.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
After five months, I said, I'm not doing it. I said,
this ain't me. I'm not about to force myself to
do this. Things start getting hard. I wasn't telling my
parents what I was going through. They had called me
a check on me and how I'm doing this, and
that I was lying the whole time. I'm doing this,
I'm doing that. I'm getting some money, but I'm struggling
the whole time. I'm behind. I'm behind on my rent.
I had a roommate I'm behind on my rent. Things
(10:55):
was going on. I got so deep that I got evicted.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Oh wow, and you still ain't.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
I had to at that point because they had to
help me bail me out.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
And was their name on the apartment too?
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Oh wow? So you was did they handle that? Did
you get in trouble?
Speaker 3 (11:13):
I didn't get I didn't get like in real trouble.
But they gave me a long talk. They gave me
a long talk.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
And I got it. I got evicted.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
I had just recently, me and my girls together about
a year and a half. We had just recently broke
up because we was going into two different directions and
she wanted to get married again. I'm like twenty one
years old. Yeah I'm vib and that's not what I
wanted to do. And the thing that hurt me the
most is that me and her daughter was very close,
and it's like walking out of a kid's life when
they three four years old, walking out of kids like
(11:42):
when they're three four years old.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
And that kind of messed me up mentally. That hurt me.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
My mentor in Oakland, he was like, you either gonna
go home or you can come out here until you
get on your feet.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
So he said, come out where to Oakland.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
He had this big house.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
He was the only he he was the only black
person in the hills of Oakland, waterfalls, all his backyard.
He was like, like the only black all white people around,
the only black person in the hills of Oakland.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
It was crazy.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
So when I went out there, that was the first
time when I learned real life. He was like, I
ain't gonna I ain't gonna treat you like your mama.
You're about to grow up. He was like, you've been
spoiled too much. He was like, you like you're facing
hardships and this is what real life is about. And
he used to like he used to have me around
a whole bunch of like drug addicts and alcoholics and
(12:30):
people that he dealt with, just to show me like
this could be you if you don't clean up this Hollywood,
this this California.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
This ain't like backing your hometown.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
If you want to survive and make it out, hear,
you gotta grow up and you gotta start understanding the game.
So he when he did that, he used to take
me around a lot of meetings and stuff. He was like,
I'm gonna take you around all these meetings with me
unless you see how you conduct business, how you do things. Now,
one thing, one valuable thing that he taught me, and
I appreciate him to this day. He said, the people
(12:59):
that's gonna end up helping you in your life is
going to be women.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
He said, yeah, shut out to the women.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Ninety percent of the people that was in his life
that he was doing business was women. He was like, look,
you got charisma, you good looking, you got a good
head on your shoulders. He said, a lot of guys
is gonna hate that. A lot of guys that can't
give you opportunity not going on to get an opportunity.
A lot of guy's not even going with you around
a woman, you know what I mean. And at the time,
I'm like, what do all this mean? And so he
(13:27):
started taking me around all these means and started letting
me see, like how he was conducting business with women.
Shark women I'm talking about. He had sharp women, entrepreneur women,
this and that. So he was like, use your gifts.
He was like, you have to use your gifts to
get ahead in life. He was like, women is more responsible.
They don't procrastinate like men. He was like, they don't
have no reason to hate on you. A guy hate
(13:48):
on you before a woman will in a second. He
was like, get some sharp woman on your team. He
was like, I'm not talking about just like on dating.
He was like, I'm talking about handling business. Learn how
to do business with smart business like women, and you're
gonna see how your life donna change. So I was
in Oakland like a year, and after that lesson, when
I went back to LA, I kept my network the
(14:10):
whole time. When I went back to LA.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Where you were out there for a whole year, year,
I was out there.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
For a year. I was out there for the year.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
And it was times I was out there I was
at my breaking point, but I just said, I'm not
going to give up.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
I'm not going home. It's not no option.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
And when I went back to LA, I started gathering
my network and I started throwing the biggest parties in Hollywood.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
I'm talking about not clubs.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
I'm talking about like Manches, hotels, yachts, like from bel Air,
Beverly Hills. I was doing it in like Miami, South
Beach Vegas. The women I was dealing with used to
give me their homes to throw parties in, and they
didn't want no money.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
They was like, we're gonna give you our house throw
a party in.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
And that's how like my network started when I started
throwing all these big parties. But I wasn't making no
money at first, because you gotta fake it until you
make it.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Of course, the type of.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Parties, yeah, the type of parties I was throwing was
they was celebrity parties and high level parties.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
So you can't really asking people.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
For no money when they're giving you they homes and
different things to throw parties in. And even the people
that's coming, you can't really ask them for money. You
gotta do the parties and build your network. So I'm
still struggling, but I'm faking until I make it. I
got all these rich people, Hollywood people in all these rooms,
but and we party. I'm building my network. But I'm like,
I'm betting on myself. If they liked me, they're gonna
(15:32):
want to help me down the line. So when my
mother used to call me and say how you get money?
Speaker 2 (15:36):
What is you doing? I used to tell my mom
I had a job.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
I used to always tell her my work for the
move of companies that help people move out their homes,
like the moving trucks. I'm lying the whole time, but
you know how I really was getting money until I
was able to make some money. I hate to say it,
but I'm gonna be real. I was getting money because
the drug dealers. I used to have people, but they
(16:00):
used to come in and serve rich people like to
get high. They liked when they party that they liked
to get high. So I had the drug dealers coming
in serving ecstssy, cocaine, weed, all that just for the party.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
I never touched it. I wasn't driving around the car
with it because I wasn't taking them type of chances.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
So they used to come in and supply whatever they
needed at my parties. And by the end of the night,
I get a bankroll. I get a bank roll, just
hand it to me, put in your pocket.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
I leave. It's three four five thousand dollars.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
That's how I'm paying rent off drug money, you know,
because I wasn't getting paid from the parties at first
until I started building my name. Yeah, so how I
was surviving was getting a commission on that's the drugs
that they was hustling at my party. Yeah, So that's
how I was. That's how I was getting money at first.
And then once I started building my network and stuff
(16:57):
like that, then I was able to start getting sponsors
and different things start happening as far as where I
was able to make money. But that's how I started
throwing a party, and that's how I was making money
until I was able to start making the real money.
Drug money was paying my rent and my survival.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
You survival instincts, and your mentor sounds like he did
a very good It sounds like he left a lot
of golden seeds in your head because even if you
think of it about it from a business perspective, if
you're catering to a certain audience and this is what
they're into, and you cater to them in total capacity,
they're going to keep coming back. So you did exactly
what brilliant. I thought you were gonna say sponsors from
(17:34):
the jump, But you're right, it does take time. So
after you're throwing these parties, what I'm trying to inch
all the way to the end to where you're at
today when it comes to being an author in twenty years,
being an entrepreneur. So I see you started in your
twenties as an entrepreneur.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Yeah, I moved to LA when I was like nineteen.
After my second year, cops real young and start throwing
the parties. My run and the parties from was from
like twenty one to about thirty one. I had about
a decade run while I was woll I was really.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Your dad, amazing. I want to go, but you're done.
You're not doing it anymore.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
I had my daughter and she got me out the game.
When I have my daughter, I got off social media.
I stopped throwing parties. When I became a father, A
lot of changed for me. But before I had it,
from like twenty one to thirty one, I had a
decade run where I was throwing the biggest parties in Hollywood, Miami,
South Beach, Vegas, New York. Like my network became to
a certain point where I was throwing parties all around
the country where.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Like it was, but I got caught up.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
It was a lifestyle that I would never go back
to because I definitely got caught up. And you spending
as fast as you're getting it, and you're seeing a
lot is happening at there's parties, and you can't keep
a relationship like that as well. So it was cause
of issues with my relationships.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
And you mean like your personal relationship.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
Absolutely, because my parties was like eighty percent women my parties.
You walk one of my parties. I was doing parties,
Playboy Mansion I was doing. It was like eighty percent women,
all the parties I was doing. Because that's when my
mentor taught me, get the women on your team. That's
how you're gonna get money.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
That's why he's nicknamed.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
I name him that because that's how i'm him.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Is he still around.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
Yeah, I haven't talked to him, and I haven't talked
to him in a while. We lost touch a little
bit throughout the years when I had my daughter, when
I became a dad. But he's about he about eighty
years old.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Now, wow, he's still doing the lifestyle that he was
when you met him.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
No, you can't be doing that at that age.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
It's not an eighty I'm just saying, I don't know
if he's just a retired pick.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
No, he's still gonna beat him. He's still gonna get
money with women. But he didn't slowed down from that
lifestyle because he eighty Now.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Okay, did he ever settle down and have kids or
not trying to do.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
He do have a kid, He do have a kid
that I was really close with.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
But his lifestyle was just always he wasn't selling down
Mary type.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
God.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
He always had women around him like all the time
ever since I known him, So that that won his personality.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Now, all right, so what happens at thirty one where
you start to take another pivot?
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Thirty one? That changed my life because.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
You did that. You did the party scene for thirty
or for ten years, right, Yeah, so then what happens
for Yeah, tell me what happens at thirty one?
Speaker 3 (19:59):
I was with my girlfriend that held me down. She
she was like seven years older than me, and all
throughout the Yeah, no, she held me down. She was
somebody that my journey wouldn't be my journey without the
role that she played in my life.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
I'm talking about Ride or Die.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
And we were together for years throughout the whole party scene.
We had separated and broke up, and when we had separated,
I mess someone else and she got pregnant fast and
I had a daughter and.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
I had a kid.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
So when that happened, we were still maybe talking about
getting back together and whatnot. But once I knew I
had a kid on the way, that was over. I
had to leave La move to Chicago because she was
from Chicago, and she was like, I don't want to
get a birth in La.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Oh the girl that you hooked up with.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
My daughter's mom.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
Great girl, great family. I appreciate like her family, like
we're still close today. Great person, great family. And I
come from a father that was in my life. So
I wanted about to do no raising, no child long distance.
I moved to Chicago. I was depressed for a while
because I got a baby on the way. I don't
know what that's I'm leaving in La, I'm leaving my network,
I'm leaving my lifestyle, and I'm coming out to Chicago
(21:10):
for the unknown. But thank god for family, thank god
for family support, because I never knew how hard it
was to have a child as far as just like
babysitting and just raising a child.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
I just never knew.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
So it's like a culture shock.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Yeah, it's a culture shock. So it's a.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
It's like jumping into a cold water plunge. You like, wait,
what differ, don't you?
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Absolutely absolutely. It was a culture shock to me. So
when I when she was pregnant. I was at every
doctor visitor, I was involved the whole thing. And I
said to myself, I said, bro, you got to change
your ways. I said, you're about to become a dead
just the lifestyle that you've had the past ten years.
You can't do that no more. Your father now I
had to become responsible from a mindset perspective. That was
(21:53):
when she told me she was pregnant. A couple months later,
that's when I got on social media. I ain't been
on social media in a decade. And I know what
you're gonna say. People always asking how do you do
what you're doing not being on social media when the
whole world is about social media?
Speaker 1 (22:05):
You know what You're right, because I think I did
try to look you up on social I know I
found you on LinkedIn.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
I don't call that social media like a business profile,
but TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
I got off that about close about ten years ago.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
And people ask me all the time, how do you
do everything you're doing and know the people are doing
what you're doing and you're not on social media?
Speaker 2 (22:25):
And that's the way the world works.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
And I tell people all the time, if you knew
how to hustle and get money and do your thing
before social media, you can do it now. Life is
about relationship.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Really, ten years is a long time of relationships that
are solid.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
My relationships is strong, and that's why I tell people
I don't need to be on social media because my
relationships I'm talking about twenty years in the game.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
People.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
A lot of people that's on social media, they force
themselves to be on social media.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
If you really think about.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Me, we do. You're watching this.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Clip absolutely, but you don't need social media because if
your relationship. That's why I tell people I don't cross people.
I don't cross people for no money. I don't cross
I do everything with good intention, of good character in
my karma good because everything every business, when I do
business is all good intention. I do things the right way.
So I got relationships that I've had fifteen twenty years ago.
We still getting money, We're still doing things. So social
(23:16):
media is not needed for me because people hitting my
line out the time.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
It's all referral.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
So I'm the type of person that I know that
if I don't have no money, my phone gonna ring.
Like you gotta have that mindset it's the work that
you've put in throughout the years.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
It's then people still gonna ring your phone.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Yeah, I agree. So you and just you and this
young lady, do you guys settle down officially as like
a family.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
We did, and unfortunately we broke up when she was
like four years old. But we do a great job
of co parenting, and it took me a long time
to She has a new boyfriend that she's been with
for a few years, and as a father, you don't
want no man around your child, around your daughter. So
he's a great guy. He treats my daughter with nothing
but love. So it's something that I had to get
over and accept. But we do a great job of
(24:02):
co parenting. And but my daughter's the one that changed
my mindset while I got off social media the way
I need to start moving and doing things differently. And
she the one that inspired me to get into children's books.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
And now the backtrack, the getting off social media, why
was it so crucial for your growth?
Speaker 2 (24:18):
I had to.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
I had no choice. I was in the party scene
so tough. I had so many girls that if you're
trying to settle down and have a kid and be
a father, you got to get out the spotlight. I'm
not gonna I'm like, I'm not gonna say names are
going to I don't do that. But it was getting
It was to a point where I was having relationships
with a lot of celebrity women, high level executive whatever
was coming to my parties. I'm talking about full on relationships.
(24:41):
And my lifestyle was real wild around the time, full.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
On relationships as in like on the personal side, Oh
so you was.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
He was really a lot of sexual relationships with a
lot of celebrity women and influencer women and socialites.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
I mean they was coming to my parties. And it
got to a point where like I was and demand
and you know how it go.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
So I had to get off social media because that
won the lifestyle that I needed coming to Yeah tonight.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
I would imagine you go into your phone and three,
four or five ten messages from hey you want to
and you're like trying to turn your life around.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
Yeah, that's why my relationships didn't work out when I
was in a party scene, because like it got to
a point where it just the lifestyle I was living.
You can't have a relationship and have a family doing that.
It's never gonna work. So that's why I got off
social media because I want to focus on being a father.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
So you become this dad and you're reading children's story,
I would pay me the scene of how you know,
becoming a dad morphs into a children's author per se
without skipping a beat. So if I'm moving too fast,
slow me account.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
So I give the whole story to run down. So
what was the biggest thing to have happened in our
life these last few years?
Speaker 2 (25:53):
I'm talking about the whole world? What changed the whole
world a few years ago?
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Pandemic.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
When that came, nobody a lot of people stopped making money.
Productions were shut down. You couldn't go nowhere. So the
pandemic came. And the person that's now my agent and
my business partner for the books, we was talking about
some business, some toy business, a toy deal for one
of my clients at the time.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
And well clients at the time, what were you doing
at the time.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
I was doing a lot of different music stuff, sports stuff.
And one of my clients at the time, she was
like fifteen years old. Once she's one of the biggest
shout out Brooklyn Queen. She's one of the biggest influences
on TikTok and stuff like that. But she had a
massive following and we was talking about doing different business
with her. So that transpired into have you ever thought
about she's an author, she's an agent, she's a very
(26:43):
successful person in the publishing industry. She said, with your
resume and your background, have you ever thought about doing books?
Because you just had a daughter at the time, My
daughter was three years old, have you ever thought about
doing children's books? I'm like, not really, I ain't never
thought about doing anything for children of books in my life.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Unless you have a kid, you ain't.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
Really thinking about children's But she was like, you know what,
that's a big industry. That's something you need to think about.
You have the network, you have to create the vision
to create your writer.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
She was like, think about it.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
So I'm like, she was like, ah, you can make
some money during the pandemic when ain't nobody making the
money right now? Yeah. Shout out Karen Kilpatrick. Thank you
for everything you did for me. I wouldn't be in
this book industry without her. She taught me the game.
She taught me everything I need to know. My success
in publishing is because of her, and I think her
for it all the time, because it changed my life.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
It took me, these books took me around the world.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
These books are just so you know, for all the listeners,
these books are so beautiful, like the animation the Professionals.
It's distributed published by HarperCollins, which is a bit. That
was another reason why I wanted you on the show
to like walk me to how do you get this?
But I see how it's working. Okay, okay, you got
this long resume.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Yeah. So she was like, let's start creating.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
So I told her, I said, you know what, if
I get into this game, I don't want to do
the cute bedtime stories. I don't want to do stories
that don't mean nothing. I want to do stories that
I think is cool and I think that kids and
their parents think it's cool. So I started doing my research.
I said, you know what, I see all these books
and stories, but I don't see nothing that's talking about
hip hop. Now keep in mind, this is before Hip
(28:13):
Hop fifty. I signed my deals already when I had
even before I even knew Hip Hop fifty fifty was coming.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
It just fell in line and the books released doing
hip Hop fifty.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
So I said, I'm gonna create a hip hop series
that's going to teach kids about the legends and the
history of hip hop, but through education. So once I
started creating it, I said, she said, you got to
create it where like the education part is very fluid,
(28:42):
you know what I mean. Through it's books, teaching you
how to count, teaching your numbers, Biggie as the opposites.
So we're teaching them about these hip hop legends lives.
But while they're learning how to count and the alphabets
and opposites and whatnot. We created the Tupac first, and
shout out to Luana Or she's my publisher. She's my
editor at HarperCollins. She did Lebron James book, she did
Dwyane Wade, Gabrielle you and book, big time editor there.
(29:04):
We created Park first and she loved it. She loved
a poc one. She was like, I love this. It's
nothing on the market for this. This can be big.
I give you a deal for four, I give you
a I give you a series.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
And now didn't now you you at this point are
you pitching the actual book or are you pitching the concept?
Speaker 3 (29:22):
I'm pitching the concept. I'm pitching the concept. But she
was like, this concept is so big. She was like,
this is not a one off. She's like, this is
a series. She was like, if the Tupac one is
good the manuscript, I give you a deal for four.
We turned into Tupac one.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
She saw.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
She said, we want to sign the deal for four.
Pick what other three three you want now?
Speaker 1 (29:42):
And you didn't pick jay Z. Just want to point
that out one more time.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
But I had the pie.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
I know, I know. Why explain to the listeners why
you did not go with jay Z because I think
your explanation was made a lot of sense, even though
I'm a hater because you don't have jay Z. But
go ahead, explain to everyone why you chose who you
chose for the books.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Okay, So I chose pacbecause Pocket is my favorite hip
hop artist of all time. He always won't be number
one for me, just from his music, from his movies,
just his personality, who he was.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
It's just who he was. He was just like the
realist rapper ever.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
So I chose Pac them Mama my favorite song of
all time. When I chose Pac, I said, I have
to choose Biggie because their lives go together. You can't
talk about Pac without talking about Biggie as far as
what they went through on the street level and the music.
So that's why I picked Biggie because they go together.
I'm like, if you have Pac, you can't tell the
story of Tupac and don't tell the story of Biggie
(30:31):
the kids because their lives go together.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
So I picked them too.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
And then they was like, you gotta pick a woman
because we need a woman and enough women in pot
and I'm like, of course. So they gave me different
options to choose. They gave me Queen Latifa, they gave
me Missy Elliott, they gave me em c Light, Laurren Hill,
Salt and Pepper shout out to Sartin Pepper my Homegirl
Mannered Salt, and they want to do a book too.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
But wait the books, dybody.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
Yeah, So I picked Queen Latifah because Miss Queen Latifah
Unity is my favor a female empowerment.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Record of all time.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
And then they was like for the last one, I'm like,
for the last one, I want to pick a group.
I'm like, kidd and plays my favorite group of all time,
House Party so I said, yeah, that comes out later
this year, the Kid and Play joint. Now, keep in mind,
I'm the story, the story about to get even. But
at the same time, I'm working with one of the
top female music artists in Africa. I'm working with one
(31:23):
of the top female music artists in the Caribbean. Her
grandfather created the music genre Soaka. Rod Shorty created the
music genre Soaka Nola black Men. It's his granddaughter and
ms V was my music artist in Africa. I said,
there's never been no mainstream children's book talking about Soaka
and Carnival. There's never been no mainstream children's book with
(31:45):
a deal from a music arts in Africa.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
So I said, I want to bring them in and
get them deals. So mss V.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
She has a big song called natural Girl. It's about
teaching black girls how to embrace theirself in their natural
skin and who they are.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
So I created the book title.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Natural Me, Me and My Partner, and it's a spin
off of her song.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
And that's what HarperCollins as well.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
Nyla Blackman's book is about Carnival and Soca called Love
La La, where he's teaching her the sights and sounds
of Carnival. Why he's teaching her Soca all this was
going on doing my hip hop series. I got all
them deals within the same month.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Wow. And then just curious for all listeners out there
that are wanting to get into becoming an author. When
you're doing a book on a tupole of Queen Latifa,
is there some kind of clearing of rights? How does
that whole part of the deal work?
Speaker 3 (32:37):
Thankfully, when you sign to them big companies, the legal
department take you all that. I'm not responsible for any
of that. They legal team get all those rights and
whatever needs to be done legally. That's the pros of
working with a big publisher. Wow, they do all of that.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
When you got your publishing deal off concept, what did
that moment feel like for you?
Speaker 3 (32:55):
It was a crazy moment for me, as I never forget.
It was April twenty twenty one and I had got
six book deals within the same week. We had been
pitching them since like January, and when the deals all
came in, they all came in at the same time.
I got six book deals. My agent called me within
the same week.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
How did you backtrack? How did you have an agent
to begin with?
Speaker 2 (33:17):
My partner. I was telling you about Kara Patrick.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
She was your partner agent.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
Yeah, she's a big agent in the publishing industry, so
she's my agent.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
But she was the one that also pitched you to
write books. So what were you doing to have an
agent prior?
Speaker 2 (33:31):
Oh, you mean to have her?
Speaker 3 (33:32):
No, she just she asked me if I wanted to
get into the children's books and what I thought about it,
and she and I said, she said, we're gonna need
an agent. She said, I'll represent you because she's a
big agent and represent a lot of authors.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
So she was like a friend slash partners.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
No, she won friend we had at the time. Obviously
she's a friend now.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
But at the time we had met and it was
like like business from the about the books?
Speaker 1 (33:53):
So were you pitching her the books? Because I'm missing something, Okay,
So she was. She was on the phone with you
and she was like, have you ever thought about publishing?
What were you guys doing for her or even what
kind of business were you doing.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
We had met on LinkedIn.
Speaker 3 (34:09):
We had met on LinkedIn and when we met on LinkedIn,
it was about the toy business for one of my
for one of my clients at the time because she
had she was a she used to be a VP
at a big toy company, so she was That's when
she was like, have you ever thought about doing books?
Speaker 1 (34:23):
But you keep saying your client at the time, what
were you doing to have these types of clients?
Speaker 3 (34:27):
Oh, just music, sports. I was doing a lot of
stuff came for my parties.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
But that's what I'm saying. What were you doing for
these people for them to be your clients? Were you
managing them?
Speaker 3 (34:37):
Okay, okay, I was producing music, I was managing them.
I was doing pr from them. I was doing a
lot of different things. So for the client of the time, Brooklyn,
I was producing music own her. I was doing PR
WAE for different networks and companies and stuff like that.
So we were doing a lot same thing. For Nyla
and ms V, I was producing music. We was doing
a lot of different things. So I was like, what
you think about children's books?
Speaker 1 (34:58):
So this makes a lot more sense going back to
why you got off social media. No matter what, clients
were always hitting your phone or opportunities were always coming
to you.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
All the time. Almost done cooking, I'm almost done.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
We got we're gonna, We're gonna We're gonna end the
episode with absolutely shout outs to pin Bin for this mail.
So now that So go back to April twenty first,
you said, yeah, you have six published book deals, and
why did you choose a publishing offers? Why did you
choose Harper Collins and don't you could obviously it could
(35:32):
also be the money, but why did you choose them?
Speaker 3 (35:35):
I chose them and then my other one through Penguin
Random House. I chose HarperCollins because.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Oh, you have two publishing deals at the same time,
House and HarperCollins. Would you tell them up front?
Speaker 3 (35:46):
So when the offers came in, we decided, like who
we want to go with and HarperCollins. So Luana that
gave me my deal for that. She comes from producing
Lebron James children's book Wayne, all these big children's books
about the culture. So I'm like, for hip hop series,
this is the right this is the right one to
go and then shout out Sackston More.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
He is the illustrator of Legends of.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Hip Hop Amazing, illustration amazing, three time.
Speaker 3 (36:09):
Three time Emmy director from Nickelodeon Cartoon That with.
Speaker 1 (36:13):
The Guys Amazing, his first book.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
He's been doing things.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
His artwork is absolutely stunning. Continue sorry, continue with your story.
So why did you choose Random House? What publishing deals
does Random House have with you?
Speaker 3 (36:28):
The love La La not a Blackman's book because the
editor that gave me that deal is big in the
Caribbean culture, and I wanted the book to I wanted
the book to be authentic. So I remember one day,
me and my business partner, we was writing it. We
was sitting up all night thinking of like their language.
We was like looking at the dictionary like in Trinidad
and Soka's it is different language. So we wanted our
(36:49):
books are very authentic and that's why they're doing well,
Like however they talk in their country.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
That's how the children's books are. So we had to
study all of that.
Speaker 3 (36:57):
Like I'm a real nerd when it comes to being
great and having a vision and doing something like I
really study this.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
Now. What did your daughter say when she first saw
your bucks?
Speaker 3 (37:05):
She couldn't believe it was me. She she couldn't believe it.
She was like, you wrote these. She was like, I
inspired you to get into this. I said, babe, you
inspire you changed my life. You inspired me to and
shout out to my daughter's birthday today. Happy ninth birthday
to my daughter Gianna.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
But she was shocked. She couldn't believe that I had
did that. And for her to learn.
Speaker 3 (37:22):
About people that we grew up off of that was
pretty pretty different from me.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
Now, just this is sidebar. Since you had your internship
opportunity with pimping.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
And oak play potatoes with these.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
Play potatoes, I am genuinely curious here burme. Does it
make you look at women differently when you are dating
them versus like just dating for looks or cuteness or
what have you. I don't know why I have so
many on my plate. Hold on, hold up, I'm already.
I'm already big. You're gonna eat somebody.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
Okay, okay, okay, come see.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
It, watch it taste great?
Speaker 2 (37:56):
Oh huh, you may need some of this. Now.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
Let's see why you didn't put seasons on. I did.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
I did love it more.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
All right, guys, pull a chair up or pretty much
at the end of the episode, which kind of sucks
because I have so much more. So turn off that stove.
You you don't cook at home, do you?
Speaker 2 (38:14):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
Okay, come closer, come closer. This will be your mic. Okay,
so let's try. Oh did you answer my question? Do
you look at women differently since no one pimping?
Speaker 2 (38:26):
Absolutely?
Speaker 1 (38:27):
So like where you date? Do you date for more
than just looks?
Speaker 2 (38:30):
And absolutely?
Speaker 3 (38:32):
And I like dating just educated women and women that
have goals and it's always bigger than looks for me.
Speaker 1 (38:39):
Oh no, I'm good on the potato right there.
Speaker 3 (38:41):
Yeah, No, it gotta you gotta have. You gotta have goals,
you gotta have morals, you gotta have just a mindset
that that you want to be great and you're looking
for more. He taught me that shark women. I love
shark women. Nothing is sexy than a shark woman. Yes,
I don't date women that look for dudes.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
To be tricks.
Speaker 3 (39:00):
And I don't associate with the type of women women
that's looking for dudes for come ups and tricks and
dudes flying girls around around the country and taking them shopping.
And some type of girls can't get my attention on whatsoever?
Speaker 2 (39:12):
Yeah, whatsoever?
Speaker 1 (39:14):
Let's see what pimping? Do you lived on this in Oakland?
I'm guessing yes, Yes, it's a great dish. It's a
great dish. And mm hmm, I love that it's colorful.
Shout outs to pimping for trajectory of your life. I
(39:36):
love that this mentor played such a pivotal role, and
just to see where you are at today. And I
love that you came from a two parent household, because
I think the assumption on the show can be if
you didn't come from nothing, But no, your pivotal journey
started right there in the middle, and your parents did
a great job. Shout outs to your daughter for leading
us to legends of hip hop the series. And when
(39:58):
you get your jay Z version, Yes, yes, yes, Can
I at least get the first text or email like Hey,
what's happening? Or can I get like some input? Can
I see one of the drafts? But i'd be allowed
to see like a draft like before you send it
to your agent.
Speaker 3 (40:15):
Like absolutely, so I could be like, oh, let's do it,
let's get one on whole.
Speaker 1 (40:20):
But this right here is spectacular.
Speaker 2 (40:23):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (40:24):
I eat this from time to time just just to reflect.
Time to time, I'll still I'm not a cooker. I
don't cook, but from time to time I'll still do
this just to remember, like where I came from and
the struggle in the journey and persevering and life lessons
that I learned while I was eating this dish.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
This dish is really great, really great seasoning did a
good job.
Speaker 2 (40:43):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (40:44):
Thank you so much for responding to me, and you
were right. But when it comes to your network, I
saw you on LinkedIn. I was very like, Wow, this
is amazing, legends of hip hop, unique black author. It's
nice to see people of color in different industries. But
I did, of course reach out to some other people.
I try to see who you knew, and everyone came
back saying really great stuff about you that I did.
(41:08):
I always have to. I'm like, I literally picked up
the phone call someone I hadn't talked to like almost
a year, Oh wow, and asked about you and there's
great things and they were like, yeah, you'd be great
if you could get them on the show. And I
was like, that's when I hit you up. So yes,
and I rarely checked my LinkedIn right it was Haley.
Speaker 3 (41:25):
Shout out to Haley.
Speaker 1 (41:27):
Yeah, she has been on the show. She has her
hair care products in all Walmarts. And I did ask
her about like d I and how all that was
affected her.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
They're doing great and her daughter that they're great.
Speaker 1 (41:38):
They're great when it comes to your book sales. I
just have a couple of last questions. Is there any
pressure to sell a certain quantity or market a certain quantity.
Speaker 2 (41:46):
No, it's not pressure.
Speaker 3 (41:47):
You know, when you sign deals with the publishers, they
give you a real nice advance to do your thing,
and there's no pressure because when they signed you because
they love the product, and the books have been performing well,
so I'm thankful for that they perform a real well.
A lot of celebrities been doing things with them. One
of the things that took me back about this book
is when Ludacris shout out to Luda he's my favorite,
(42:07):
one of my favorites all time.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
And when he did it, when he.
Speaker 3 (42:11):
Was talking about him and taking photos and stuff with him,
that did it for me because he was He's like
top three all time for me. So a lot of
celebrities been taking pictures with the books, buying the books
for their kids. It's been these books been circulating a
lot in the celebrity world.
Speaker 1 (42:26):
So it's humbling and now we know a lot of
what you've shared, a lot of the knowledge that really
helps you grow outside of that knowledge. For people like
I have a girlfriend and I told you that's trying
to get into writing children's books. What kind of advice
would you give that person? You could say, right into that.
Speaker 3 (42:44):
Camera, advice for getting to the children's book industry. Create
Always make sure your story has depth to it. Have
a beginning, have a middle, half an end, Have something
that the character has to persevere through, have to learn from,
and that that's what agents look for, that's what publishers
look for. It's not just about writing a cool story,
(43:04):
but your story has to have depth to it. It
has to have something that a challenge that they're trying
to get over, because that's how kids relate because life
is not perfect. So if you write a children's book
that it's just like all cool, but it's no lesson
in it.
Speaker 2 (43:17):
It's just like these books.
Speaker 3 (43:18):
It's yeah, we're teaching you about hip hop, but what
else are we teaching you how to learn how to
counter opposites? We teaching you things that you're going to
learn in school, you know. So always start with a
great story that has to beginning, a middle or end.
You know, you have to have an agent if you
want to get into the big publishers because theyre the
ones that negotiates you get you the best deals.
Speaker 2 (43:35):
You can't do this alone at all.
Speaker 3 (43:37):
So it's create a great story, get an agent, and
really just you know, put your foot on the gas.
You got a network, You got to hustle. If you
really want to get into the children's book industry, let
it be known.
Speaker 1 (43:46):
Yeah, let it be known. And then just from one parent,
I don't know how you feel about when you read
children's stories. After I had my daughter, I didn't. I'm
very picky when it comes to children's books now. The
books that have the most words like drive me nuts,
especially at bed time. I love that you balance that
in the book because there are people that will write
(44:06):
like a whole novel and I'm like, lady, we're trying
to get through bedtime. I don't want to have to
just start making up the story because I don't want
to read these words in the semi dark, trying to
set this mood right.
Speaker 2 (44:17):
Keep it simple, keep it simple.
Speaker 1 (44:18):
And you did a really good job about that. And
that's the only thing I would say. If you're gonna
get into children's books, please not only have a great story,
but please don't do too much with the work.
Speaker 3 (44:27):
And then when you're doing like I did a lot
of tours, like all over the country. So when you're
doing stuff at libraries and schools and things like that,
you want to keep it simple because the classrooms only
have so much time before they got to get to
the next one. So you want something that the kids
can gather real quick when you're doing like tours especially helps.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
Yeah, thank you so much. Penn can in the building
appreciate you. Thank you so much for fitting us in
your schedule. Shout outs to your baby girl. Happy birthday.
Speaker 3 (44:52):
Yes, happy birthday, Gianna Kennedy Monroe. And once again, this
is the dish that I was eating while I was
bro From time to time I still come back to
just to reflecting.
Speaker 1 (45:02):
It's a great dish. I would eat this on a
This will be a staple. And if you're a mom
at Homi, you want to make something under twenty minutes
that's hardy and feeling. This is absolutely superb and you
can throw it with some chicken in your gut. Absolutely
shout out to that, Yes, he's out, guys later for
more eating while broke from iHeartRadio and The Black Effect,
(45:25):
visit the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcast or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows.
Host
Coline Witt
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