True Khepera Appears on The Marc Medley Show

As an adolescent, and in his early years as an adult, True Khepra was on the wrong path in life. He performed poorly in school, stole cars, and sold drugs. After realizing that his future was doomed if he did not transform his life, he committed himself to furthering his education, becoming a community activist and better example to his children.  


Now, True Khepra is a writer, author, speaker, and certified life coach with a mission to fight for social justice and share the power of personal development. He co-founded an organization called Extended Black Family Movement, wrote for NSPIRE magazine, and co-founded a youth program called “Liberation School”. 


True Khepra has made a lasting impact through his inspiring speeches at various institutions, including the Essex County Youth Correctional Facility, Pride Academy in East Orange, NJ, Hunter's World Mentorship Program, and many more. He has also had the privilege of speaking to a single classroom of students at Howard University Middle School of Mathematics & Science, personally connecting with the next generation of leaders. Now, he is taking his message to the airwaves with his podcast, Raw Success, where he shares his insights and expertise on achieving success and living a fulfilling life. With a passion for uplifting and educating, True Khepra's words have resonated deeply.


True Khepra's message is rooted in his beliefs that by harnessing the power of the mind and learning to generate and create states of being aligned with our purpose, goals, and intentions, none of us are stuck.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
My guest this morning is True Kepra. Yeah. As an adolescent. In
his early years as an adult,True Kepra was on the wrong path in
life. He performed poorly in school, stole cars, and sold drugs.
After realizing that his future was doomedif he did not transform his life,

(00:20):
he committed himself to furthering his education, becoming a community activist and better example
to his children. Now, TrueKepra as a writer, author, speaker,
and certified life coach with a missionto fight for social justice and share
the power of personal development. Heco founded an organization called Extended Black Family

(00:42):
Movement, wrote for Inspire magazine,and co founded a youth program called Quote
Liberation School. True Kepra has madea lasting impact through his inspiring speeches at
various institutions including the Essex County YouthCorrectional Facility, Pride Academy in East Orange,

(01:02):
New Jersey, Hunter's World Mentorship Program, Let's See That Young Men's Leadership
Academy, and Patterson, New Jersey, and many more. He has had
the privilege of speaking to a singleclassroom with students at Howard University Middle School
of Mathematics and Science personally connecting withthe next generation of leaders. Now he

(01:23):
is taking his message to the airwavesright here on WP eighty eight seven FM
with his podcasts of Raw Success,where he shares his insights and expertise on
achieving success and living a fulfilling lifewith a passion for uplifting and educating.
True Kepra's words have resonated deeply.True Kepra's message is rooted in his beliefs

(01:46):
that by harnessing the power of themind and learning to generate and create states
of being aligned with our purpose,goals and intentions, none of us are
stuck. Ladies and gentlemen, Welcometo the reading go microp phones none other
than True Kepra True. Good morning, Yeah, yeah, good morning.
Good morning with an honored and blessing. Thank you for inviting me, Thank

(02:07):
you for making the trip down becauseI you know, for some reason,
I know True grew up in thearea like not too far from here,
for where the studio is, andI thought he was still around here somewhere.
I forgot he's like a few milesaway. So I thank you for
getting up, rising early, takingthe drive down to come join me this
morning. No doubt, all right, so I just read the bio in
terms of, you know, theway we started, because you know they

(02:29):
say sometimes it's not the way youstart, it's the way you finish.
So I've read here how we started, and you know, want to kind
of like just walk the audience through, you know, what was going on
there? How did you know,how did that bio in the beginning start?
Yeah, so it started. Youknow, I'm from tenth ave and
twenty third. Shout out to myman, my brother d one. We

(02:49):
lived across the street from each otherand he's actually here helping us with production.
And you know, just growing upin a single parent household. And
I say that because all of thesefactors matter, but at the heart of
it, like my book says,the power of choice is based on the
individual themselves. However, I ama byproduct of my environment, growing up

(03:10):
in a single parent household, lowincome and just seeing what's going on in
the environment, in the streets,and I was influenced by that. You
know, I always tell people mymother raised me right. I chose the
streets. And you know, abig influence was definitely money, you know,
wanting more, wanting more in life, and that's something that I still

(03:31):
have to this day. But obviouslyI channel that energy in a more productive,
intuitive, that's intuitive way, that'saligned with divinity. And what I
would say is our legacy as blackpeople. So those I would say,
that's what led me to the beginningof that stilling cars and selling drugs.
And I actually didn't start selling drugsin New Jersey. I started selling drugs

(03:54):
in California. So when I wasyounger, I got sent to Cali to
live a better life, and Igot in trouble over there too, and
so I got sent back to Jersey. But I started selling drugs in Cali.
You know, I was just talkingabout you yesterday. We're interviewing a
student prospective student actually got accepted tocome into the school in September, and

(04:17):
I was sharing your story about howwhat you your role model was was the
brother on the street with the longblack leather coat and money. Yeah.
Yeah, that's my man, likefrom male Street. That was when I
was very young. So I'm sittinghere, like when you said that that
day at the school, what immediatelypopped in my mind was this movie Superfly.

(04:38):
I'm sitting when he said that,my mind immediately went back to that
seventies movie Superfly, and I justpictured it. But I was telling that
young man because he's kind of likein the environment that he's living in.
His mother was telling me, he'skind of doing the same thing. He's
looking up to the guys on theblock. Yeah, as to you know,
that's want to be. And soshe's doing everything in her power to

(04:59):
get him away from that, orat least get him around some people who's
going to steer him away. Sothat was your role model. You go
to California, you start selling drugs, this, that and the other.
But somewhere in there something changed,Yes, yes, yes, what was
then? What would happened there?So a major factor, brother, a
major factor, And it's interesting thatyou mentioned role models. A major factor

(05:20):
to that sparked my transformation was theNation of Gods and earths and the Nation
of Islam. And so ironically,when I came back to Jersey, divine
fate I was. I was seatednext to another young brother named Dasu whose
name is Tyrone Moon, who wasa former member of the Nation of Islam.

(05:45):
And in the classroom, he wastalking about the distance of the Sun
and the Earth and talking this knowledgeof self that that now I call knowledge
yourself. But at the time Ihad no idea what he was talking about,
and I was wondering, how didhe get this knowledge? We're the
same age and he has all thisknowledge. And so from that spark,

(06:06):
I was then interested in the nationof Gods and earth and that wisdom and
learning more about my legacy and whoI am. And it was cool.
It was It was sort of youcan say it was a fad for lack
of a better word, to bea part of the nation and to have
this knowledge, which is another thingthat's important to talk about because and I'm
gonna get back to the question,what do we see is promoted as being

(06:30):
cool or fads nowadays? See atthat time, we're talking about the early
nineties, right, or should Isay mid nineties, it was a time
where it wasn't cool to be dumb. You know what I'm saying. Everybody
was I see you with the ants. People were wearing ants, black fists.
Now we're not talking about the eighties, right, We're talking about transitioning

(06:54):
out of that. They had thesevens, and so I was attracted to
that, and I had some youngmen at the time, like respect the
law peace, knowledge, born,king, civilized. All of these people
are from Pattison, who then tooksome of us young wild kids, teenagers
and taught us knowledge, taught usknowledge of the lessons, and so that

(07:15):
was a that's a big factor ofmy development. Now, it wasn't an
overnight process, you know what Imean. I didn't leave the streets until
two thousand and six. That's whenI you know, I caught my last
charge and I officially left the streetsa loan, I had my college degree,
got my career. But a majorspark my brother, to answer your
question, definitely was the knowledge ofself. And that's important because prior to

(07:38):
that, I just thought, likemy purpose in life this is. It
sounds silly to me now right asa man in his mid forties that I
thought like this, but it wasreally my thinking. I'm just you know,
I'm I'm a dude on the block, like that's that's that was my
destiny, That's who I was meantto be. And when I got knowledge
yourself and learned like, nah,brother, you you meant to be.

(07:59):
So you know, your ancestors arethe mothers and fathers of civilization. They
created mathematics and I was like whatAnd then me being Dominican, right,
I'm not even in tune with noneof this African heritage that I was also
being told. I thought, youknow, being Dominican and African were two
different things, and they're not.It's just a different boat. Stop.

(08:22):
And so I'm learning about history,I'm learning about geography, I'm learning about
science, I'm learning about legacy.And it's also influenced my mind, influencing
my mind to seek for more becausenow I'm like, you know what,
Nah, I'm meant to be asupreme being highly developed, so I need

(08:43):
to carry myself a certain way.And so there was a process maturing because
then you still had the finances.But that always stuck with me and even
to this day. You know,whenever I have a weak moment or I'm
in a weak situation, I'm like, bro, you gotta get up.
Bro, You're supreme. You comefrom the DNA of the mothers and fathers
of civilization. You got to getit together and grow. And I truly

(09:05):
believe that that is our purpose inlife, is to grow and manifest our
higher self. Absolutely, that's exactlywhat our purpose in life is. So
I tell you because we're talking aboutthis whole thing of education and knowledge because
there are there is, I meanknowledge just like anything else. There's good
knowledge and bad knowledge. Indeed,because in terms of in some respects,

(09:26):
you know, doing the thing onthe streets, the drug dealing and this,
and that was knowledge as well.Indeed, all right, but wrong
type of knowledge. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm still friends with the
person who taught me how to cookcocaine. See, that's what saying.
All of that is something that youhad to learn and something that's taught as
knowledge as well. But now yougot into the point where you really got
into what you said, the knowledgeof self. If we can get more

(09:48):
folks to understand reflecting and understanding yourself. One of the questions we ask at
the school and we're in taking theboys is give me three things you love
about you. Give me give methree things you love But and the boys
and even sometimes our adults struggle withthat question because we don't think in terms
of loving ourselves and what do welike about ourselves. We know what other

(10:11):
people say, but we don't everthink about it ourselves. So that's one
of the questions. So now youget to the point of now like the
self knowledge of understanding who I am. The light bulb kind of came on
indeed, and connected with the selfknowledge also came to self love. They
work hand to hand. So I'mglad you mentioned that because even when I

(10:31):
don't know if you remember your call, when I spoke at your school,
amazing phenomenal school, by the way, I mentioned how I wasn't aware of
it, but I didn't love myself. And again, right, if you
ask me back then, do youlove yourself? I would have said yes,
But my behavior, my actions,and my thinking definitely didn't reflect self

(10:52):
love. And I know that now, but you know so it's definitely important.
And I want to also emphasize thatthere were young men and the art
of mentorship, and that's one thingthat I love about your school. And
when I first heard about you,I had to meet you because I see
the importance and relevance of having menin the lives of children. And this

(11:16):
is nothing new. People talk aboutmentorship like it's new. If you study
our indigenous history and just study theway tribes work, you know, just
on a primary basic level, therewas an aspect where you once the child
became of adolescent age, they gotseparated from their mothers, and they would
go out with the older men andlearn certain skills, qualities, and would

(11:39):
even get tested to develop manhood andstrength and to make sure that they become
brave warriors. And so that's somethingthat's lacking in our community now. A
lot of the men are scared ofthe young men, and it's also too
a disconnect, and we need tobridge that connection. So when you see
me, when I what I wearat the schools, how I talk at

(12:03):
the schools, and how I carrymyself at the schools, it's all strategy
because I understand there thinking because Iwas them, so I know that you
have to look a certain way,you have to sound a certain way,
and there has to be a levelof success for them to even listen to
you. No, you're absolutely right. And I was telling true as he
was coming up that out of allthe speakers I've had over the years,

(12:24):
and they connect, they do.My boys, they really are accustomed to
having people come in and pour intothem or pull out of them. But
we're true, I mean they reallythere's a young man now. I don't
know if you remember he kept askingyou about the process. Yes, he
was sitting over to your right,and he kept he to this day was
still the other day when I talkedto him, was talking about that.
For whatever reason, the process stuckwith him, like whenever you told them,

(12:48):
you know, it's not gonna besomething that happens overnight, that it's
a process that stuck with him.Now, I don't know, between now
and him becoming an adult, hemay constantly remember, Okay, it's a
process. It's a process. I'mnot gonna get it. I'm not gonna
be perfect. It's a process.Now, your name is true Kepra.
Indeed, I'm into meanings of names. What's what's the meaning behind that?
What's what's the I know true,But I mean, what's the meaning behind

(13:09):
kepra? What's what does that mean? I love that? Thank you.
So my name is true Mungo Kepra. Mungo is a Swahili word that means
god. And so I wasn't bornwith this name. It was I changed
my name legally eventually. So let'sstart from the beginning. We were given
names that were not ours, youknow. Indeed, indeed, and and

(13:31):
right now I've been hearing people arguethat, so I'm just keeping it basic
and based on the reference and knowledgethat I know. We were giving names
that weren't ours, right, andso my mother gave me my first name
obviously right. It wasn't a slavemaster. I'm not from the eighteen hundreds.
She did her best. However,you know, I believe that when
you know better, you do better. And so that name although my mother,

(13:54):
which is the first name, isconsidered your honorable name because it's the
name that your parents give you.And you know, I wanted better and
I wanted something that reflected me.So the name Truth actually came from the
nation of gods and earths. Frombeing someone I used to I had like
a million questions. That's why whenI speak at schools and like your school
and the children were asking me questions. I love that because it's a sign.

(14:16):
It's a sign for of intelligence.And a lot a lot of people
may think that asking questions actually asign of not being smart. Actually,
no, asking questions is a signof being smart. Yeah, you're seeking
for more, you want to knowmore. Right, So the name True
came from the from the nation,from the nation of gods and earths,
and Mungu is Swahili which means GodSupreme, being. And then Kepra is

(14:43):
comedic and for those who may notknow what chemedic or kimmit is, it's
the original name of Egypt. AndKepra is symbolized and represented by the scarub
and what it means basically, youknow, just to get to the point
to evolve into a higher being,to evolve. So basically my name just
represents me. I'm a seeker oftruth, you know, and true also

(15:07):
mean being true to something, SoI strive to be true and name everything
that I commit myself to. Mungomeans God, which is something that I'm
striving to manifest as far as thinking, and also my presence. And then
Kepra to evolve, always reminder tocontinue to grow. Names are so important.
Let me tell you why. That'sthe one thing we hear more than

(15:28):
anything else. Oh, let meadd this to I chose Mungo. I
chose the word mungo Swahili to alsojust represent the African lineage, you know
what I mean. I had QualitiMungo Kepra, but I said, you
know what, so quali means truein Swahili, And so before I legally
changed my name, I said,you know what, Now, I gotta

(15:48):
pay homage to the nation. Therewas such a huge part of my life
that I'm going to keep the nametrue to pay homage because I knew me
knowing that Truth is not a commonname. When they would ask questions,
you would have to then find outthat it's a reflection of representation of the
nation. But I also wanted toso Swahili is African, Kepra is African.
So that's why I chose those languagesas well. No, absolutely right,

(16:11):
And this is where I was goinga minute ago, and I said,
the one thing we hear more thanany other any of the words,
are our names. I can't tellyou how important naming is. That's why
I have a problem with people thatjust pull a name out of the air.
I'm very conscious and intentional about namingmy youngest daughter. When I was
just talking about who I spent Father'swith. Her name is Niara. That's

(16:32):
why he lei for of high purpose. Her second name was Simone, which
is a great listener. And thenher last name is still Medley. So
when my wife at the time wasexpecting both of my girls, every night
for the nine months we were inname books putting meanings together, and that's
how we came up. My firstdaughter named Aria. That was from my
love of music. Love that.Aria is a love song, usually in

(16:56):
an opera. Usually it's a sololove song. Her middle name is Monique,
which is his teacher. And sothe naming is important. My name
Mark Alan Medley, and people thinkI made it up, but if you
look it up, you'll see thereMark Alan Medley. Mark stands for warrior.
Alan is handsome. Medley's combination ofmany things. So I tell people
I'm a handsome warrior who can domany things. There we go. And

(17:17):
so now I look that up andtranslated into my African name, I have
an African name as well. It'sa Jamu alatte abnebe. Ajamu alade Abanibe
means the same thing as Mark AlanMedley. Love that. So if I'm
saying all that to say, namesare very important. I know folks whose
last name was doctor who became doctors. I know folks whose first name was

(17:37):
art who became art dealers. Iknow we become our names. That's why
it is so important. That's whyI ask you the question in terms of
that you're talking about the history.If I have something here. Those who
don't learn from history are doomed torepeat it. Those who prevent history being
taught fully intend to repeat it.Indeed, So you know, Donald boy
Lajah Mohamad said history is most qualifiedto reward or research. One of my

(18:02):
favorite courts about the Hona boy ElijahMuhammad. But yeah, I definitely think
it's important. You know, Iwanted to say, you know, because
you know, I'm always thinking aboutlisteners and things of that nature. They
might say, well, you know, yeah, how do you know if
your ancestors were from Kenya? Youknow, because of one of my names
is Swahili, or you know,then the last name is comedic. And
so this is the thing, right, we understand that we lost a lot,

(18:23):
right, we lost a lot anda lot was taken, but so
we just do our best. AndI think that this is this is what
it is. You know. Youcan choose to debate over that, or
you can just choose to appreciate thefact that we are honoring our legacy.
And yeah, I my answers maynot be from from Kenya, they may
not be from from kemmy, butI'm just honoring the legacy of the mother

(18:45):
of all continents. That's absolutely right. And see again. And and for
those of you just listening or joining, and I hope you've been with me
since six, but definitely hope you'vebeen with me since seven. My guest
this morning is true kepra True asmany that he's a renaissance man that I
know. That's what I call renderson SOMEBODYO can do many things. And
if you look at his bio,he's doing many things as well as being
an author. And his book isThe Power of Choice. You are not

(19:11):
stuck now. One of the messagesthat at my school, because you're going
to keep you you all know youhear me reference my school all the time.
I'm gonna keep refacing that because that'show I met true. True came.
Matter of fact, let me takeit back a little bit. Whenever
I was out for my mom's passing, there was a substitute principle for me.
It was a young lady who camein to fill in for me while
I was out. She's a viceprincipal and she came in to fill in,

(19:33):
and she was so enthralled and enamoredby the school that she knew true
and she says true and Culture wascoming to her school for something. She
says, I know a brother yougot to go see, and she said,
you got to go to this school. See this brother's So they show
up one day and it turns outCulture, I knew him since he was
a little boy, and I knewhim as a whole as his government name

(19:55):
is. The kids can say andthey come in and we hit it off
right away. Culture comes. Wesaid up a date to talk to the
boys. It was phenomenal. Hesaid, you got to come on the
show. And that's how we gothere this morning. Well, in terms
of a message, he has it. And see again for our people of
color, our black people, becausesee, we can be annoying to each

(20:15):
other in terms of what we don'tdo. I get it, I turn,
I get the history, I getthe psychological piece. I get But
there are some things that we cando regardless of how you started. That's
why I said, regardless of howtrue started, it's where he's going and
ending up. And it makes hismessage that much more powerful. Because again
with my boys, when they heardtenth and twenty third, they were in

(20:37):
damn. They know the neighborhood.Yep, they know that they know the
neighborhood. So you know, interms of like going out delivering this message,
what challenges have you faced, especiallyfrom our folks, if at all
you know a major challenge, Iwould say that I face it's more personal.
It's really just figuring out how toprofit off my purpose. And there

(21:02):
was some mental blockages that I havewithin self because I had it that almost
like this preachers. You see howpreachers, Uh, there's some preachers.
Let me say, some preachers takeadvantage of the community when they're saying a
word. And I almost put myselfin that same category, meaning that it's

(21:23):
wrong to profit for helping the community, which is totally false. Right,
because your purpose, your gift,you should profit off of that. You
should it should sustain you so thatyou can do more of it. So
I would say, you know,one of the biggest challenges that I personally
had was that the other thing,the other my own mental blockage is the

(21:45):
imposter syndrome. So you got torealize nowadays, right as a man in
my mid forties, people say,oh, you're your your articular, you
speak well, you're so smart,But in my head, I'm still that
high school person that was struggling inthe Eastside High who didn't even graduate in
time, you know what I'm saying. So a lot of it was just

(22:07):
my I was getting out of myown way, which is why I preface
the title you are not stuck,right, because a lot of it is
just us and I would And theother challenge is I started a family at
a very young age, and Istarted my purpose much later in life.
And so just juggling everything, youknow, full time job, what I

(22:30):
think is my purpose, a family, you know, my individual self care
as a man, and what Ineed to do for myself, those things
get challenging. But I would sayall of this would go away if I
made money as a speaker, ie. A writer, because then I
can focus more on what I callmy purpose in life. Like I believe,

(22:55):
you know, I'm not like areligious man or anything like that.
But there has to be a reasonwhy I survived. I survived, like
you know what I'm saying, Liked One's in the studio now, Like
where we're from, we've been througha lot, shootout fights, all types
of things, you know what Imean, So there has to be a
purpose behind it, and so I'mjust striving to figure that part out just

(23:15):
being honest and a hundred with youas they say, I'm glad you just
said that about honest and a hundredbecause one of the things that I find
in general is when people are transparent. I think one of the reasons the
boy is connected with you because itwas in some respects your story is many
of their story right now, andto listen to you and say, wait
a minute, one day, maybeI can't get out of this. Yeah,

(23:37):
I think the transparency is really key. Have you found being transparent like
that to work against you? Youknow, it's funny. I used to
be ashamed of my story, especiallylike when I first got out the streets
and I started my career, Iwas a little embarrassed of being, you
know, a felon, of beingsomebody that you know, because it was

(24:00):
tough for me to get a jobat first. I was one of the
last ones that graduated from school.So I always felt like almost like people
could see who I really like,who I was right that they can see
like, yo, this is astreet dude in a uniform. Really,
you know what I'm saying. Scrubsto be exact, And so I wouldn't
say it worked against me, Iactually say that it's my superpower. And

(24:22):
I learned that later as I startedto speak my story more and realized that
people were inspired by it, thatpeople gravitated towards the message, and they
would even say, like, bro, you need to write a book.
And just for the record, mybook is in an autobiography that's gonna come
later. But they would say,Bro, you gotta write a book,
you gotta tell your story, orYo, you gotta talk to my son,

(24:42):
you gotta talk to my nephew.And so I started to realize that
nah, man, being real isthe superpower. And I'll say this too.
I call this the Eminem formula.Eminem is a white rapper from Detroit
and in the movie eight Mile,I don't know if this is a true
story or not, but in themovie eight Mile, when he was battling
someone he was telling he basically exposedeverything wrong with him so that the other

(25:07):
person who was battling him didn't haveany animal. So I already told you
I'm I'm a felon. I alreadytold y'all sold crack. I already told
you I grew up in a singleparent household. So there's nothing that you
can even that you can hold againstme or even use against me, because
I said it, I put itout there already. You're absolutely right.
You owned your own story. Indeed, because once you own your own story,
you're right. Nobody I said it. You heard it. You heard

(25:30):
it from me. You didn't hearthat in the street. You didn't hear
that as gossip. But those arethe listening audists. Whenever I have a
guest on the telephone, you knowI do not take calls. But however,
when I have a guest in thestudio, if you got a question
for True, you're listening, thenumber is nine seven three seven to zero
two seven three eight. You cancall in ask True a question. I
get you on the air quickly.Do be courteous and kind. You know

(25:51):
there might be others who may wantto call as well. So the number
is nine seven three seven to zerotwo seven three eight. You can call
in and you can ask True aquestion in terms of what he's talking about.
Because see again, the brother istransparent. There was one thing that
now I can honestly say, outof all my guests speakers I've had,
there there's one thing you said thatI had never heard any of them say

(26:12):
when you said, brothers, marryyour women, when you got into you
like, you know, respecting,when marry your women, your family.
The family is the army. Sofar and so on. Now that line
we had not gone down with theboys talk a little bit about that,
indeed, So just from my observationand being a product of a single parent
household and a home that's broken,and then me repeating that cycle, you

(26:33):
know, having two children from anotherwoman and meeting another woman, so my
wife, and now we have ablended family. I've experienced from living it,
and also have observed in our communitythat one of the biggest plagues that
we suffer from as a community isbroken homes, and it's tearing us up
on every level. And so Ithink that that's one of the main remedies

(26:59):
that we can do as a peopleis just create strong families. And we
can only do that if the brothers. Now, I'm a man, so
I'm gonna speak to the men.If the brothers start marrying the woman,
stop having babies all over the place. And again I already told you I
gotta baby mother. So I'm tellingyou not from like telling you what to
do, but I went through it, and so just take my words that

(27:22):
say, Yo, that brother knowwhat he talking about because he'd been through
it. And I've seen people manlike lose their sons because of that,
because they're not in the homes andtheir sons get swallowed up by the streets.
Yeah, let me tell you aboutthat was so important because again,
one, it was authentic. Secondly, like you said, it's a shame
for people when other folks are tryingto help them understand, don't fall in

(27:45):
that same pothole I fell in,right because if you're falling there, first
off, you may not be aslucky enough to get out as I was,
and it may be worse for you. But it's a shame. There
are folks who they have to experiencewhatever the negative is in order for them
to believe it. In other words, you're telling them that should be enough,
But for many it's not. LikeI tell people, like, divorce
is no joke. Right now,I'm in my second divorce is painful.

(28:07):
It is painful. I would notrecommend that for anybody, And I get
it. I'm not saying anybody haveto be miserable or be abused, But
at the same time, people makelight of marriage and divorce and breakups and
as you say, baby moms andall. And this is the thing,
what we as adults don't really realizeis the impact that it really does have
on the children. Because children,they don't know how to express what they're

(28:30):
going through. So when they're gettinginto like these broken homes and broken families,
it impacts them so much. AndI just had this conversation yesterday.
Our kids are going through things athome, and then we expect them to
come to school interested in two plustwo weeks before they care less because they
mom just got her wigs fun lastnight. What cause we don't realize that

(28:51):
the actions of us as the adults, how much it impacts the kids because
they don't know how to express it, and they may not and many times
they will internalize it and think theywere the cause. Yeah, and I
dare say that it's traumatic. It'sa traumatic thing. And I want to
add too, another reason why wecan say that it's important. If you
look at what the colonizers did withthe slave masters did one of the first

(29:18):
thing they did was split the families. Right, So, as crazy as
this may sound, and as extremeas this may sound, us marrying a
woman is an act of war.It's a battle cry. Yeah, to
regain our supreme families, our happyfamilies, our abundant families and love and

(29:38):
joy and another thing too. Alot of people want to say, well,
you know, I turned out allright, no doubt, and I'm
happy that you turned out or right. But just consider if you turned out
all right, how would you haveturned out if you had an intact family?
You know what I mean? Like, consider how much better or more
right? We don't know. It'ssomething that you can ain't quantify because and

(30:00):
then every child takes it different.But it's the damage that's done. Or
let me say, the impact that'sdone is something that you can't even quantify.
Oh, you're absolutely right. Andthe thing is it becomes exponential because
now the impact and the damage thatwas done as a child as an adult,
it manifests in a different It manifestsin them not being able to hold

(30:21):
relationships. It manifests with them beingabusive. It manifests with them being unmotivated
or depressed, or you know what, I ain't got no time for education.
I won't hear about no knowledge.I've done. It manifests in a
lot of different negative ways. Yeah, and let me say this too,
that we the older generation and nowI'm stepping into that generation myself. We

(30:41):
have a responsibility to train the youngpeople because a lot of us weren't taught.
And the most important thing the artof relationships. You know, how
a man is supposed to conduct himself, how a woman is a conduct supposed
to conduct themselves. So also too, we're doing these things with no knowledge,
you know, a man and womancoming together with no knowledge like no,

(31:04):
no, no, like no exerciseshow to relate to each other or
you know, like even simple thingslike listen when a man does this,
don't trip? Is just this oreven this the roles and responsibilities, right,
like we gotta like I know,people like you know, just this
is this whole thing of like youknow, like there's no roles anymore.

(31:25):
There's no anybody can do anything.And that's true. But just because you
could doesn't mean you should, right, and I think that even that like
adding some structure like as a man, this is my role. As a
woman, this is your role,and then we figure out right. You
know, Baba Baruti who's out inAtlanta, he roll like a million books.
He's you know what I'm saying.One of the elders. He he

(31:45):
always talks about we're not the oppositesex, We're the complimentary sex. So
we compliment each other, you know, like my strengths, your weaknesses.
Your strengths, my weaknesses. Andthen we figure out like my wife at
home, she manages the finances,my check everything goes to her. And
because she's better at it, she'smore organized, she's more detail oriented.

(32:06):
So, you know, even somethinglike that, And so I'm not ego
tripping off of that at first.I was at first at first, when
we first met, I didn't evenwant to merge our finances ignorance, you
know what I mean, like nah, nah les, you know I had
to. I had like the singleman, you know, you know,
single parent, single everything mentality.So that's another thing too, that these
these broken homes do they again indirectly, none of this is happening consciously,

(32:30):
you start to think that it's okayto think a certain way, you know,
sidebar. But I think it's relatedwith my good friend Ron. We
were talking, We're having a conversationabout suicide, and one of the things
that he said, because he experiencedsome suicide in his family that when one
family member does it, it sortof spreads because it starts. It's almost
like other family members think that it'sokay to go out like that. So

(32:52):
yeah, I mean, you're absolutelyright. And see, see again,
we were talking about this whole thingof knowledge, of understanding of you know,
because in order to make choices,you got to have some information.
You know. In education, we'realways talking about using data to inform our

(33:13):
instruction. We're always talking about usingdata to make our instructional decisions. But
in life, you need to havesome knowledge, like he just said,
you kind of need to know somethingabout what it is you're making a decision
about it. And a lot oftimes we are flying by the seat of
our pants. We're just doing anyold thing, any o thing go.
And so now when I get abrother, come into the school, because
in my school we get a chanceto have real talk like this all the
time. And the other schools aroundthe district, because they're large, they're

(33:36):
big, they're not designed to dothat. My school was designed to do
that. So Mike, students geta lot of what exactly what me and
True are talking about. Now,this is what they get pretty much on
a daily basis, So there reallyis no excuse for them not to make
nothing of something of themselves. Becauseone of the things funny he's talking about.
You know, we talking about themen, because I always said,
if I ever wrote a book themen would say, brother, you ain't

(33:59):
no man turning your bone. Becausethere are certain things in my mind that
men cause a lot of the issuesof what we're doing. I mean,
we really do. We know,we won't admit that, but we are
the cause of a lot of theissues. And I know for a fact,
if I wrote the book on thebrothers, they like turning your bone,
man, turning in your bone.One of the things we talked about
during it was and I had thisconversation again, y I said, they

(34:21):
with some students as well, becausethe young man that I was interviewing,
he was there with his mom,and I don't know what it was something
I said and he started tearing up, and I said, young brother,
because he's only fourth grade. SoI'm glad to see you crying. I
said, I need you to understandit's all right for brothers to cry,
for men to cry. You talkedabout that that whenever you were there,
talk a little bit about that,Like it's all right for a big buff

(34:43):
brother if he want to tear up. Yeah, definitely. I cry all
the time. Man. I almostcried on my way here because I was
thinking about how, you know,I'm just so grateful that my good friend
d One, you know what Imean, I keep mentioning his name.
He's with me now, he's frommy block. We live across the street
from each other. And I wasjust thinking about our friend and how like,
man, like this brother, likehe woke up, you know what

(35:05):
I'm saying, woke up early inthe morning to meet me here. He
didn't have to do that. AndI'm just so grateful to him, you
know what I'm saying. And dOne, you're right here, so I'm
actually you know here, d One, I am just so grateful. Bro.
Like that that made me tear upwhen I was on my way here.
Bro, Like damn, like youknow what I mean, like that,
like wow, like he didn't haveto say yes, you know what
I mean, he's here helping mewith production, taking pictures. And so

(35:28):
I say that, and I don'tagree with this whole thing that's happened.
I'm gonna just call it a thingthat's happening where man, you have to
be more soft, you have tobe more in tune with your feminine.
So I get the get out ofhere with that man. No, No,
you know what I'm saying. WhatI tell men that crime still means
you're strong. You know, it'sactually means that you are very strong.

(35:52):
You know what I mean, becauseyou're not afraid to show that side of
you. So I can tell youmy man d One is a very tough
guy, you know what I'm saying. The time in prison and everything tough
as hell. When the toughest manI know, and I'm here telling you,
I cried, you know what Imean. I cry a lot,
and I cried thinking about him.And you know he's not going to judge
me for that, and if hedoes, then that's on him, right,

(36:13):
But I know he's not. Sowhat I'm saying is that I think
that the narrative of men cannot showtheir express excuse me, express their feelings
no more one with women. Likewhen I first met with my wife,
it felt weird holding her hand inthe park, like I just felt like
that was for suckers, like youknow, and so just think about the
headaches or the problems that we havein relationships just because we're not in tune

(36:37):
with that. And again I'm notsaying that does not mean that you are
soft and it doesn't mean you haveto get in tune with your soft side
because you're holding hands with your woman. It's just not being afraid to show
you and express your feelings for someoneabsolutely, because see that doesn't take away
from manhood. That does not takeaway from you being a man. And

(36:58):
I want to say this too,men love and care deeply. That's correct,
So you know, yeah, that'sthat's just want to say. So
that's that's my thing, and I'mpromoting and also too, like expressing your
feelings is healing, you know right, Yeah, it heals the relationship,
It heals you expressing it, LikeI feel better when I cry. And

(37:19):
I told the boys, matter offact, it was after you spoke.
I think it was that afternoon whenwe were doing the debrief and we talked
about that part and I told himthere's sometimes some of them can say something
in a way that will tear me. I said, you might come to
my office and the way you saidthank you well, the way you ask
for something, or the way youexplain something that might tear me up.
I says, you need to understandhe has your principle. Yeah, I
cry too. As a matter offact, the older I've gotten, the

(37:42):
easier I cry so. But I'mlooking at the book now because you said
it's not autobiography. Yes, yes, did you ever think, with everything
going on that you be an author? You know what I tell you a
crazy thing when I was I'm tryingto get the exact age. I might
have been like eleven, or Imight have been ten or eleven. I

(38:05):
remember having the idea that I wouldwrite a book one day. However,
throughout the years, you know,as I got older and you know,
started feeling and doing bad in school, I didn't think I had the capabilities,
and I also felt like I wasn'tworthy, Like I felt like,
you know, who am I?You know, like you know I'm struggling
financially. You know, I haveproblems in my life? Who am I

(38:28):
to write a book. But it'snot about who you're not or what you
don't have. It's about who youare and what you do have. And
all of us are successful in sometype of way, and it's about just
speaking your truth. So to answeryour question, I did have the thought
about because I fell in love withreading. So when I was living in
California, my stepmother, her nameis Loupe. I love you, Loope.

(38:51):
She's the one that got it,got me into reading. She it's
because of her that I read theautobiography of Malcael Mexic. When I was
twelve years old. I would getpunished. So you know, I was
a bad child, like I said, and so you know what I'm saying,
my mother, my mother would beatme, like my actual mother would
beat me, but my stepmom andCALLI. She made me sit in my
room on something like what I sayon some white people stuff like you know

(39:12):
what I'm saying. I wasn't usedto that, like go in your room.
I was like, what going myroom? You know what I'm saying.
And so I had books in thatIn that room, I had books.
And so I fell in love withreading. And I'm so thankful with
it, believe it or not.Like from being punished is how I fell
in love with reading. And thenand then later on in life books now
I'm talking about personal development books.They contributed so much to my personal development

(39:37):
that I almost felt indebted to giveback to the universe and space of writing,
knowing what it can possibly do.And so like my book, I
strategically designed it it and wrote ita certain certain way. And like for
example, last week, a friendof mine, she read the book and
she was like, you know,it's it's it's basic. It's very basic.

(39:59):
And I was like, I'm I'mglad because that's how it was designed.
Because I wrote the book for peoplewho don't like to read. I
wrote the book for people who don'twant to go get a dictionary, because
I know that when you do that, you're a reader. Like me.
I would do that if I read, if I'm reading a book and it
has a word, but other peoplethey'll get turned off by that. So

(40:21):
I purposely I also too, notbigging myself up or nothing like that.
But I heard that a sign ofintelligence is making a complicated, complex thing
and making it simple, correct,So I challenged myself to turn these complex
concepts of personal development into something simpleand basic. But it was designed for
my brothers. My brother d one, he spent time in prison, you

(40:44):
know what I mean, And Iused to write to him. I wanted
something like maybe him and that populationcan read as well as now, it's
not so basic where a scholar orsomeone who's not in academia won't respect it
either. So I wanted to getso it's basic enough where anybody can read
it, but it's not so basicwhere like if a professor reason it was

(41:05):
like, yo, this man gotsomething to say. There you go.
And I noticed you start the bookup with thank you. And people don't
realize how big gratitude is. AndI notice that's the first thing. Thank
you. Yeah, that's when Ifirst wake up. Those are the first
two words that I say to myself. I know, that's right. Same
here, same Literally, I openmy eyes, thank you, Like I
look around, like, okay,I'm still here, thank you. That's

(41:25):
exactly right. So I'm looking atthe table of contents. Thank you,
dedication, preface. Why I userappers quotes, How to read the book,
Get back in the driver's seat.Fill your life with fulfillment the costs
versus the benefits. Maximize your beingthrough the power of intention. Perception is

(41:45):
projection. We see what we perceive. Communication the bridge to it all.
Drink from the well of your resources, know the ledge, knowledge, or
fall into the pit of it.Ignorance. Yeah, I got definite nation.
All right. Now, honor yourchoices by doing your best, adapt,

(42:05):
strive and evolve. The dots connectlater, Clarity of purpose, gratitude,
attitude, the story of identity,break through the wall of fear,
empowering narrative, Marouki's story, Yeah, the butterfly effect, the recipe,
the gap, data for life.Play your part, connect with the whole.

(42:27):
You are not a tree now.I know when we were at the
school, you had an acronym.Yeah, you shared that with the boys
as well. That's right, allright, So talk to me a little
bit about putting this together. Whatwas it like? Man, it was
a germ. So you see thebook in your hand and you look at
it and the size of it andeverything like that. No one, this
wasn't the original book. This wasthe manuscript. Was crazy. The manuscript

(42:51):
was is the size of my damnbody? The manuscript? So it was
writing this book is health was apersonal development lesson, you know, and
in realizing, like you know,number one, I had different editors.
I took a course, uh it'scalled the Speakers boot Camp that also had

(43:15):
you know, lessons about writing abook. But it was just something that
also too. It taught me,didn't teach me structure. I had structure
already, but it required structure,It required structure patients. And there was
a time where I stopped because Iran out of resources. So I ran
out of like I did my partpart, but then you know, I

(43:35):
didn't have any more money to investin it, and so it's just it
was a journey. It was.It was definitely a journey. And then
I had to get out of myown way. And then you know the
interesting thing too, right, Sothere was the book was done. This
part is interesting. The book wasdone, and I submitted it to the
last editor, and then I wasreading it again for myself just to approve

(43:57):
it, and I was gaining lessonsthat I needed in that moment. So
it's almost like did I write thebook for me? But then I had
this weird moment with it too,like once I separated from it and read
it again, I needed my ownbook. It was an interesting moment.

(44:19):
Yeah, but it was a journey. And what I tell everyone, just
get started. That's the most importantthing you can do. And then once
you get started, and I'm actuallythinking about creating a course because I'm getting
asked so much about writing a bookthat I was like, maybe I should
put something together. But yeah,just get started, and just know that

(44:40):
because I don't know what to say, I don't know where to start.
You start in the middle, firstbeginning whatever, say peace, and you'll
be surprised how the mind just startsto pour. Absolutely right, because see
again, you all know this isthe reading circle. This portion is when
I normally interview authors. Now Ihave had folks who were not authors,

(45:00):
but it happens that true Kepra isnot only a speaker, but he's an
author as well. They also havea day job. Yeah, and with
all of this, he also fivechildren and a wife. That's right,
he's getting it all in. Butsee again, the reason that I love
it because see, historically, andeven to the point where folks are trying

(45:22):
to take us back to people tryto act as if black men don't do
these things. And the truth ofthe matter is black men do. There
are successful black men out there.There are black men, whether they came
by way of having a record andthat they became successful, or they became
successful through regular processing, they areout there. There are folks that are
trying to make everyone see that everybodyis a criminal, that everybody's a killer.

(45:45):
They are all. It's just nottrue. And so when I get
someone who I laugh when I heardyou say a couple of minutes ago,
being so articulate, because depending onwho's saying that, because my thing is,
I expect you to be articulate.I mean, but a lot of
times when that's being said, it'sbeing said because I didn't expect you to
be articulate. I shared with youwhenever we were in the parking lot that

(46:07):
I worked for at and T forfifteen years. I started ETD. I
was in my twenties, but I'vealways been able to speak well, and
so I had to give presentations.I'd be giving presentations to presidents and vice
presidents and directors and this that,and and they were always come to me,
Oh, you're so articulate, AndI knew I was behind that.
It was a compliment, but itwas a backhanded compliment because sometimes they would
follow, oh, you're not likethe others. Yes, I am just

(46:30):
like the others. So so sometimesthat that commentary is a backhanded compliment.
But the truth of the matter is, and again going back to my boys,
I expect you to be articulate asan African American man. Yes,
you ought to be able to expressyourself. You ought to be able to
say what you need to say.That's why if you notice when they were
when you were there, when theyasked you a question, they stood up,
right, that was That's part oftheir tur that's part of our education

(46:52):
there. If you're going to standup, you're going to project you're going
and so so yeah, we gotto get in tune with our original narrative
because like how you said about likethe speaking right, so like some people
say, like like color people timeright, like as if it's as if
if you are melanated, it givesyou an excuse to be late. And
what I tell people when they saythat, I'm like, Yo, you

(47:15):
invented math, you invented time.What are you talking about? You know
what I'm saying, CPT. Idon't adhere to that. No, exactly
right, you know what I mean? Like no, I and so like
you, I expect you to beon time. And we're gonna have a
what I mean, are We're gonnahave a problem. You know, I'm
just gonna like I'm gonna know whoyou are now like all, this person
not a punctual person, correct,And for me, that says a lot

(47:37):
about you and also says a lotabout your respect for other people. Now
you have to now I can tellyou. You all know I was on
the air whenever he texts me andhe called me, and I told you,
I said, my guest is outside. Now he was right on time,
exact matter of fact, he wasa few minutes ahead of time.
What I told, I told himbe here by six thirty. He was
here by six thirty. But it'sabsolute right. It's the same thing with
back to the articulation again, Ohyou talk white like, whoa whoa,

(48:00):
whoa whoa. First off, letme let me let's unpack that for a
minute. What are you really saying? This comes from a black person,
by the way, of course,Oh you talk white like, So what
do you say? Now, don'tget me wrong. I understand dialect,
I understand vernacular. I understand youknow, yo, if you want the
block with your boys and you wantto talk like that, I understand code

(48:20):
switch and I understand all of that. But to sit there and ascribe doing
something in an excellent manner and firstoff, tag it to or associate it
with white. That's part of theproblem because all white folks don't do everything
correctly. It's a disrespect, right, All white folks don't do things in
a proper manner. So for youto sit there and ascribe talking proper to
white I have a big issue that. The other thing is, well,

(48:43):
what are you saying about yourself?Are you telling me that black people ought
to be just chucking and jiving allthe time? That we ought to be
talking tail backwards? If I wasn'ton the air, i'd say a doubless
backwards, but I won't. Sowhat are you saying about us? What
are you? What are you?Did you really give some thought to that?
Or you talk white? And it'sthe same thing with CPT right right,

(49:06):
it's the same. So you've alreadybeen brainwashed believe that we should be
doing something in a less than excellentman. And that's why I appreciate the
knowledge of self aspect because for me, that's what it did. It taught
me that I came from excellence andI should be manifesting and expressing that.
And so that's it's a huge partof the reason why I carry myself the
way I carry myself and it translatesto everything. You know that even like

(49:30):
I believe right, So I don't. I don't think we're all supposed to
look the same, but I amsupposed to be the best version of myself
with my body. And about thespeaking and articulate part, I want to
tell people that I worked on myself, like I didn't always speak like this,
like you know what I mean,d one is here. You know.
I used to say the N wordlike I no longer say the N
word. I say that the Nword was every other word I used to

(49:52):
curse. I strived not to curse, you know. And then I purposely
just increase my vocabulary. I justI realized that when you learn words,
you learn almost like different worlds,you know what I'm saying. So in
addition to that, like I wantto be in the know, So I

(50:12):
don't want anybody because I know thatpeople can use language. And that's why
you need to hire a lawyer toread a contract, right, A contract
isn't anything but a document with words. So why do you if you can
read, why do you need tohire a lawyer? Because these words on
here would trap you up? Someask correct, and so me me knowing
that. You know, I justwant to be as educated and as lightened
as possible within my own world.Now, I'm not a surgeon, right,

(50:35):
so you know, whatever words thatthey use when they're doing doing surgery,
those words really are not relative tomy life. But if it's in
my life and everything that I'm upto, I want to know what's going
on. That's absolutely right. Soagain, if you've listening to us,
I'm gonna say it again. Ihope you've been with me since six,
but certainly if it wasn't with meat six, that you joined to me
at seven, my guess this morningis true. Kepra having a wonderful conversation

(50:59):
about a logical things. He isthe author of the power of choice.
You are not stuck because a lotof us get into situations and then you
think it's gonna always be that waythat we're stuck there. You know,
I want to bring up to anotherdon't lose your thought please. Another big
obstacle that I had was concerned aboutwhat people would think. No, I'm

(51:22):
not gonna lose my trains and you'regoing right down it. Oh wow,
wow wow? Why it's connected?Then? Yeah, I you know,
because I want to say that becausepeople, you know, whenever you do
something, especially now in the socialmedia ever, a lot of us are
concerned. I'm putting mind you,I put myself in that, so a
lot of us are concerned about peopleliking it or how will people receive it,

(51:44):
instead of just being like, yo, I did my best and this
is what it is. And soI would say that that definitely has held
me back, not only just withcreating products and services, but just in
life, being so concerned about whatpeople will think instead of like just focusing
on doing my best. And sodon't be concerned about what people think.

(52:06):
Don't be concerned about none of that. Just do your best and make sure
you create a quality product. Andthat quality product is also you as an
individual. And see, this isgoing back again the excellence, and one
of the things that I promote andteach is always striving for excellence and to
be the best. Now, ifyou don't get there, you're still going
to be further than you would havebeen had that not been your goal.

(52:29):
All right, but we should alwaysbe striving to be the best because,
as True just said, we camefrom our story is not just the slavery
story. No, it's not justthat. Right, that's a piece of
our story, but it's not theonly piece of our story. And that's
the piece that's always emphasized. Therewas a whole lot going on with us

(52:52):
prior to slavery. Slavery was apart in there, and then of course
we had everything else that came witha Jim Crow. So that's a part
of the story, the only partof last week, because I was texting
him from Washington last week. I'mdown there at the African American Museum of
History and Culture. And man,like I said, there was nothing,
and I said this earlier in thesix o'clock hour. There is nothing and

(53:15):
nowhere or anything created or done wherewe were not. That's right, nothing,
there is nothing. But yet youhave folks who are trying to erase
or trying to pretend as if theywere the only one who did anything.
It's not true, and black folksneed to understand it. And again naim
Acbar in his book Breaking the Changeof Psychological Slavery Classic, he talks about

(53:37):
how we need to be just ascomfortable promoting ourselves because there is nowhere the
Europeans, the eurocentrics Caucasian folks donot go where they're not surrounded and see
their greatness. We have to getto that same point and not be ashamed
of it. And also, ifI may add to that, understand that
it's your responsibility, not relying onthem to do it for other people to

(53:59):
do it. You have to doit. Correct. Absolutely, I think
that we as a people spend alot of time crying and whining about what
they're not doing for us instead ofjust focusing on what we're not doing for
us and what we can do correct. I say, that's why I'm gonna
take it back to the powerful choice. We still have a choice. Regardless
of what folks do or don't do, you always have a choice. That's

(54:20):
where I was trying to go withyou that day at the school, because
the boys just declare out they don'thave a choice. When it comes to
them they get hit that they haveto get that hit back. If you
notice, right, the very firstquestion I asked them when I started,
can you do anything within your powertoday to improve your life? They all
raised their hand. I said,you just showed and proved that the choice

(54:43):
is yours choice. It's about choice, it is about traice. Now I'm
not saying I know what. Theyare socialized and telling them home, somebody
hit you, better hit him back. I get it. I got that.
And in some instances, yeah,that's true. This is what I
always caveat them. If you arebetween the school and home and you get
attacked, yeah you gotta you gottago for what you know. In the
school building, We've told you,we got people here that will do that

(55:05):
for you, so you don't haveto take it on yourself. So in
the school building you have a choice, all right, you know what.
And I've even told the kids.If you tell your classmate brother, you
know, I want to tighten youup because we in this building. I
won't you made a choice like backin the day. You're all right,
the three I'm gonna see you,you know. And the science is right
to show some compassion to those youngmen. A lot of times, right,

(55:30):
they don't know how to express themselves. They don't know how to express
their anger, they don't know howto problem solved, they don't know how
to conflicts solve. And I thinkthat it's it's something that they have to
be taught, especially when in theirenvironment, this is what they learn to
survive, you know, And andit's that's right, yeah, you know,

(55:52):
like I realized, right, Itell my wife and I we joke
about this story that I told you. One day I was I was in
the gym, right, and Isaw these two white boys in the locker
room. Right. They were ineach other's face, calling each other all
types of curses and mothers like,like spitting all types of things in each
other's face. Right now, onepunch was thrown, and I remember being

(56:15):
in the locker room shocked, likewhat in the world, like, because
where I'm from your fam, that'swar like a quarter a quarter of that.
But you know, they know,that's that's how we're raised. And
I don't think there's anything wrong withthat. Man. And like Baba said,
right in the right setting, ifyou're outside in the battlefield, you

(56:36):
know, you got to defend yourself, no doubt. You know what I'm
saying. Listen, I'm a martialartist. I'm all about defending myself.
You know however, though, likeand let me just say this, when
I was in school, it wasn'tlike I was practicing this, but just
learning. You got to learn therules and regulations of a situation, because
what happens is if they don't learnthat in the school, they'll be at
work knocking somebody out. That's correctbecause exactly because like yo, this ain't

(56:59):
the place of time for yeah,so indeed I'm with you now it is.
And see again, that's the kindof a lot of the conversation the
true and I have in this moreis exactly what he explained and shared with
the students, and they connected becausethis is how tell me, I bring
in so many people because I wantto expose them as many people because I
never know which is the one thatthey're gonna say. I want to be

(57:20):
like that. You know what's interestingabout that, biba. So for those
who dont know what baba means,you know, in our ways and in
our tradition, baba means elder.It means somebody you respect, you admire.
So mister Medley, he's someone thatI respect, I admire and also
he's doing like big things, sohe earns that title within our tradition baba.
But so with that being said,I did the same thing for my

(57:43):
son, like I exposed my sonto all and still exposing him to all
types of men. Obviously men thatI trust all types of men because I
understand that it may not come fromme. I'm his dad, right,
So but however, if he canjust get the message, And like my
son is athlete, I'm not anathlete, you know what I mean.
So listen, it may take anathlete to tell him. As long as

(58:05):
he just gets it, that's allI care about. Correct. And that's
exactly because I told the boy.I said, because for the most part,
every speaker that comes in you allsay the same thing in a different
way that we see every day.And I said, if you didn't get
it from me, but you gotit from truth, ay man, as
long as you got it. Yeah, In martial arts, one of the
biggest things in martial arts is wecall reps. Right, You repeat a

(58:30):
mood, repeat a mood, repeated, repeat it, repeat it, And
what happens is eventually it becomes apart of you so much that you don't
have to think about it. Somebodytouches you a certain way, you automatically,
you know what I mean. So, yeah, repetition is great,
and repetition in many different ways becauselike you said, it lands different every
time, right, Yeah, Soyeah, they I said, I never

(58:51):
know which one gonna be the one. So it was like, when Truth
finished, I said, Truth mighthave been the one. Now they might
be somebody else coming, but Ido know they connected with his message,
that whole notion of the process ofyeah, you're gonna make mistakes, Yeah
okay, but you're gonna own upand take accountability for the collection you gave
him. Then agronym. Talk alittle bit about the acronym. Yeah,
So it's the acronym is RACKS,and it's trademarked and something that I came

(59:15):
up with. It means the Rstands for responsibility, the A stands for
action accountability, the C stands forclarity of purpose, the K stands for
keeping your commitment, and the Sstand for self development. So if you
look at all of those things,all of those things are aspects of my
life that I use to get whereI am today and that I'm still using

(59:36):
to get and elevate in my life. Taking responsibility and ownership for your life,
that's something that I had to do. You know, there's only but
so long that I could blame mydad for not being in my life.
And my dad and I have agreat relationship now and it's actually because I
finally just took responsibility and ownership.And actually him not being in my life
actually helped me because it made mea better father because I know what not
to do. Action accountability. Ihad to be accountable for my actions.

(01:00:00):
It's been very difficult for me evennow. There's just still certain jobs that
I can't get because of my record, right, And yes it makes me
sad, and you know, I'veeven cried about it, but I have
to be accountable for my actions,even though I'm like yo, I was
in my twenties when I made thosedecisions. Damn. But action accountability my
man. Clarity of purpose, purpose, you know, being clear about who

(01:00:21):
you are and who you're not andwhere you're going is so important because like
I told the children, what Itell the children, your path is laid
out for you, right. Sofor example, for me, health is
very important. So there's certain thingsthat I'm not going to do because my
purpose is laid out and even myhealth has a purpose, you know,
Like I'm a man, I haveto protect my family. I got daughters.

(01:00:42):
I got to protect my wife,my daughters. And in addition to
that, when I go and speakwith the young men, Right, I
have to be a model of whatto look like. You know what I
mean. I'm not I don't havean eight pack. I'm super shredded,
but I'm muscular, and they knowlike this ain't a man to play with
looks strong, right, because that'swhat I want them to be. What
I look like to tell them noneto be strong and I'm weak or out
of shape or fat. Right.So everything in my life has a purpose,

(01:01:05):
right, I'm playing chess with life, and it really gives me freedom
because it tells me what to do. My purpose tells me what to do,
and my purpose tells me what notto do. And so in the
key keeping your commitment, one ofthe I think that one of the key
aspects of my success and where Iam now is because I'm someone who keeps
my commitment. Now am I perfect? Absolutely not. Now. What happens

(01:01:27):
when I don't keep my commitment.You'll get communication, You'll get apology,
You'll get how can I make itup to you? Right, because you
know, life happens. And soin the self development, I always say
self development is last, but itprobably should be first. It's really about
just developing yourself and understanding that yougot more to offer. You always have
more to offer, You always havemore to grow. And whenever whatever it

(01:01:47):
is that you don't like about yourlife, do something about it. All
right, Well, we have comedown to the end. I tell him
it runs a little bit over eightwe you know, we go an hour
sometime we go over in our conversationbeflow on, But we've pretty much come
down to the end of our interviewin terms of what I do for the
last few minutes. You get anopportunity to promote, just get it.
You can promote and shout out anybodyyou want. The only thing you cannot

(01:02:10):
say is a dollar amount you canthey can discuss that with you when they
call you and get into contact withyou. But websites, books, folks,
you want to shout out, likewhat is it? D D one
D one culture all enough, anybodyyou want to shout out, your mom
and anybody you want to shot.You can do anything you want to do
it for the next few minutes exceptgive a price. Indeed, got you.
But first and foremost, I wantto thank you, Biba, thank

(01:02:34):
you for having me on the show, and thank you for everything that you're
doing in a community like I alwaystell teachers this, and I know,
you know, we're running out oftime here, but we always tell teachers
as a parent, like I understandthat you're not appreciated, not undervalued,
and not paid enough. So notonly are you a t an educator,
you're running a school and that schoolis amazing. Like I'm not just telling

(01:02:59):
you this because he's here. Itold d One this when he was in
a parking lot and Bible couldn't evenhear me. Like, what this man
is doing in the community with hisschool is amazing, is amazing, And
you're saving lives, whether you knowit or not, you're saving lives.
You're improving lives. So that's firstand foremost. I also want to send
a huge shout out and thank youto my family because when I'm out here,

(01:03:21):
you know, my wife, she'shome with the children. You know
we have and we still have.We got three big ones and two little
ones. She does a lot ina home and the things that she do
that she does in the home allowsme to do my purpose and strength and
able, Like while I'm here,she's running around with two children getting them
right right. So that's another thing. I also want to send a huge

(01:03:42):
shout out to the brother that's inthe studio with me right now, my
brother d One Man. We liveacross the street from each other. On
tenth and twenty third, my brothercame here, woke up early to meet
me and to help us with production. And I'm just so grateful to you,
d One love you. I appreciateyou, and also everybody who has
invested in me. And people saythe worst support. Maybe it's my ego.

(01:04:06):
I don't like the worst support.Right, You're not supporting me,
You're investing in me, You're investingin the message, You're investing in the
movement. So whether you bought abook, whether you bought some merch from
me like the pick, commented ona pick, or even offered some criticism
or some constructive feedback on how Ican improve myself for any of my products,

(01:04:29):
I'm super grateful and just. Inever will call myself self made.
I know people say that true isnot self made. I've had too many
amazing people in my life, thosewho invest in me and those who took
time to teach me things and offerthe platform like you did, so I
will never be self made. I'mcommunity made. So thank you to the

(01:04:51):
community and everyone who looks out forme and invest in me. How can
you find me? So my igis true to r u E speaks power.
So that's all one. That's myInstagram. Drop me a dmm.
Let's let's communicate the power of choice. You are not stuck by true Kepra.

(01:05:12):
You can find that on Amazon.Literally go to Amazon put the power
of Choice and then my name tr u E Kepra k h e p
r A true Kepra, And that'show you can get the book. I
also have a podcast. The podcastis called Raw Success. We're available on
all streaming platforms. You can findus on YouTube. You know, just

(01:05:34):
again the same thing. Go tothe search bar Raw Success Podcast. You'll
see a picture of me. Checkus out, listen. If the information
isn't for you, at least giveus a try. If it's not,
it's all good. You don't haveto don't feel like compelled to subscribe and
any of that. Like I staid, I tell people like, don't feel
like forced to have to buy anythingfrom me. That's not how I roll.

(01:05:57):
But what I do say is thatif you like something, or if
you are a reader, or ifyou do wear hoodies, right or if
you do watch YouTube. Give mea chance. That's all I ask.
Give me a chance. And soyou know, as I mentioned earlier,
one of my biggest hurdles was turningmy purpose into a profit. And fam,
I know everybody probably says this,but I'm the real deal. I'm
a man of the community and Ireally just want to empower young men,

(01:06:23):
young children, and just to bethe better versions of themselves. So anything
that you do in terms of mybusiness or any endeavor of mine, that's
always my intention and always what I'mstriving to do. So check me out,
stay in tune with me. Let'sget it peace all right, man,
Again, I thank both of youso much for cries on early.

(01:06:45):
Like I said, you came outof Mars County. That's a few miles
away. I know that commute,I know what it's like, eighty two,
eighty seven, that whole area.And again I said earlier about the
name is the one words that wehear more than anything else. Worn't you
hear anything else? And the reasonI'm saying it because the brother's true.
He lives up to his name,he speaks the truth, he dies.

(01:07:08):
I mean, we didn't even getinto him. We could if I extended,
and I might because he was justtalking about D one at the school.
He brought another friend of culture andhe talked about how important it is
to have other brothers in your lifethat you can go to. Indeed,
the whole notion of mentoring and justbeing able to somebody you trust, somebody
that once you tell them, nay, your business is gonna be in the
street. But another brother you cango to. Yo, man, I'm

(01:07:29):
struggling with this, yo, man. This is really weighing me out here.
Yo, yo yo. Somebody thatyou can do that with. And
he's he has that because I seehow the love he's showing for D one
here and again brother said he'd bethere, he was here. We were
standing out in the parking lot.He said, he say he be here
in two minutes. Said let's stayin a lot. A couple of minutes.
He pulled out, He's been inhere the whole time. And if
I want to say this too,I originally told D one six forty five.

(01:07:51):
So D one was early two.Absolutely, So we I appreciate that
as well related to as many asfar because I know for me, I
recorded, I archive it on myYouTube channel. It'll be on all my
social media sites, all of themLinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok,

(01:08:12):
I mean, you name it.It's gonna be on there, so yeah,
shared out far and wide. Iappreciate the fact that you all came
up this morning. We're gonna haveto do it again. You do some
more work or either another book orwhatever have you. Getting back up all
right, just get it all right, man, Thanks so much. Yeah,
my honor and pleasure.