Hood Politics: UBR

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Tired of buying books blindly?

Hood Politics now previews books and gives our subscribers a complete, untainted review weekly. Three book enthusiasts will give you their unbiased opinions on ten books each week submitted by various authors. Check for their two cents before you spend your dollars. Each week’s edition will feature a different, beautiful model. Never the same girl twice. Hood Politics is promised to be the urban bible for urban literature connoisseurs.

Think you can give a more precise and in-depth review than what you just read? All active subscribers from facilities all over the U.S. can submit their criticisms. If your criticism is published, you will be paid $200 for your work. Give yourself the opportunity to make $800 a month from your cell! We will post the forty books for next month in the end of this catalog. A $20 monthly subscription grants you an employment opportunity! All checks and money orders for your subscription should me made out to, Much More Than Words Publications 597 West Side Ave. PMB #155 Jersey City, New Jersey 07304 Any authors wishing to have their books reviewed and advertised in Hood Politics, reach out to us via email.

There will be a $350 review fee, but your book will be marketed in over 1,500 prisons across the U.S. territories.

CONTACT INFO: Mmtwbookpub@gmail.com HOOD POLITICS | 3

CONTENT PAGE

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Book Reviews

Pg5 ----------------- Suffer With Me Pg6 ------- Two Masks One Heart Pg8 ------------------ 2 Sided Mirror Pg9 -------------- Keisha & Trigga 2 Pg11 ------ Streets Bleed Murder 2 Pg12 ------------- The Arrangement Pg34-35 ------- Street Dreams and Nightmares Excerpt

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Exclusive Interview

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Model Photoshoots

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Featured Articles

Pg14-19 -------- Crack Rock To Gemstones Victor “Poochi” Rodriguez

Pg14-19 -- Featuring @Aloha.Angel.Official

Pg7,13,20,24,31,32

Pg22---- 2 Cents With Ms. Dime by Dime Cole Pg26 --------- Thug Passions by Reds Johnson Pg29 ------ Mourning Music by Anwar Muslim

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SUFFER WITH ME

-Tyrone Bridges 119320B/ Southern State Correction Facility/ Delmont, NJ You want streets? Suffer With Me. You want suspense? Suffer With Me. With just enough drama to keep you optimistic about giving someone your heart.

Suffer With Me is a good read, with just enough of everything else to make it more than what is considered a “hood book”. From a gangsta changing his life to a woman with an abusive, jealous past that may take what she worked so hard for away. Suffer With Me will keep you guessing and then still have your antennas up even after it ends. You think you’ll know but you have no idea. Suffer With Me. -Tariq Wright 261492C/ Southern State Correction Facility/ Delmont, NJ

SUFFER WITH ME

Wow! Talk about a wolf in sheep’s clothing, with its well-developed plot and myriad of exceptionally colored characters. Suffer With Me grabs and holds fast as it drags the reader through one thrilling turn of the page after another. Suffer With Me is an impressive and shocking joyride/psycho thriller, which not only challenges the notions of what a “true to heart” Urban author’s book should or shouldn’t be, but he has erased the lines in such a way that it will leave his con-

temporaries scrambling to keep up.

In a day where “Urban Fiction” has become synonymous with “grossly exaggerated”, Robert Laboo presents a tale tailored in originality. Suffer With Me is the story of a wayward detective being stalked by a serial murderer. She crosses paths with Benjamin Cooper who is a rehabilitated street figure being tortured by karma. What is most appealing to me is the storyline. “Who’s doing it?” That’s the question you will continually ask yourself throughout this novel.

The author has somehow managed to create a suspense thriller worthy of the time of a James Patterson devotee, while wrapped in a gritty robe of streets. Making it relatable for any Al-Saddiq Banks fan. It has just enough of both worlds to become Urban Fictions first crossover.

This book will win back 98% of the readers like myself who are beginning to lose faith in the genre altogether.

-Just Mii Thoughts/ Southern State Correction Facility/ Delmont, NJ

HOOD POLITICS | 5

TWO MASKS ONE HEART

TWO MASKS ONE HEART

With its takeover plots, all of the shoot ‘em ups, steamy sex, undercover agents and sleaze ball attorneys, one would easily surmise that Two Masks One Heart 2 by Jacob Spears and Trayvon D. Jackson would turn out to be a good read. But not so fast, because neither author seems to have the true imagination and or literary expertise, for all that matters, to spin out what any reader would coin a logical/reasonable method of storytelling.

Together they present

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a book which, for the most part, was all over the place. In short, corny flight, which eventually crashed and burned.

-Tyrone Bridges 119320B/ Southern State Correction Facility/ Delmont, NJ

As an avid reader books are my hobby and number one source of entertainment. Nothing brings me more pleasure than a good book. Two Masks One Heart 2, however felt like work. I took no enjoyment from reading this book. The storyline and characters were deplorable. Words usually paint a picture so vivid it’s like a movie playing out in front of you. I didn’t get that in this book. It felt as if the authors had no love for the story they were writing and put in the least amount of effort. Maybe their ultimate goal was to get it out in a timely fashion. If so, they did themselves an injustice. Briefly, the Clarks are a family from Atlanta. The parents were murdered, the son imprisoned, and the daughter became a recluse. Her boyfriend’s a rich drug dealer/hitman. Those are the things that set it apart, everything else is the typical plot of the majority of books slaying this genre. I usually condemn authors for insulting the reader with their vocabulary or better yet the lack of it, Two Masks however had intelligent wordplay, but just because you know all the words under the sun it doesn’t give you the talent to write a book.

If judging a book by its cover meant anything, Two Masks One Heart 2 would be used as a pilot to look at the cover and not waste your time. It’s categorized as a street novel but gives off the aura of a love story instead. It takes place in ATL, supposedly Bankhead, and I can’t tell if a street wise or a non-street wise family by the name of the Clarks are trying to run Atlanta. The storyline has too many characters and not enough story. There’s betrayal from a friend of the family, a girl forced to drop out of school and be in the streets, a brother who’s incarcerated and an unnecessary hood war that doesn’t coincide with the story. It lost my attention. If you want an urban novel that tells the story about the hood, mystery, murder, betrayal, sex and greed, this isn’t it. A predictable, nonmind challenging read with no excitement and mediocre storytelling.

-Tariq Wright 261492C/ -Just Mii Thoughts /SouthSouthern State Correcern State Correction Facilition Facility/ Delmont, ty/ Delmont, NJ NJ

IG @ALOHA.ANGEL.OFFICIAL

HOOD POLITICS | 7

2 SIDED MIRROR

2 - SIDED MIRROR Lots of money and foreign cars. Your everyday, run of the mill Urban Fiction book, right? Not so fast. The creativity and thought process of Brick City Riq takes his account out of the realm of the ordinary redundancy and places him on pace to take over the book world. 2 Sided Mirror has a wide array of characters. From the brains of the operation, Asmar, to the principal driven Lotti, who you instantly bond with. Each character had their own superbly unique personality. No two characters are alike.

As you travel with them 8 | HOOD POLITICS

through their journey to attain illegitimate success, you will witness firsthand the destruction of their infrastructure. Kidnapped loved ones, misplaced trusts and internal strife implode what was set to be the greatest team the streets may have ever seen. But is that the only side of the mirror? I’ll let you decide. This is a great story, a must read! Don’t miss the opportunity!

-Just Mii Thoughts/ Southern State Correction Facility/ Delmont, NJ With a multitude of well-developed characters, superimposed upon a turbulent storyline that chronicles the ins and outs of the drug game, as it’s played out on some of the meanest streets of Newark, NJ. 2 Sided Mirror by Brick City Riq, not only offers it’s readers a meaningful glimpse into the expertise and literary prowess of the author, but it(2 Sided Mirror) made me know on the deepest level that more often than not, things are way more complicated then they sometimes appear… A very realistic and adventurous read.

-Tyrone Bridges 119320B/ Southern State

Correction Facility/ Delmont, NJ After reading and enjoying the same genre for so long, I was disappointed when it became so familiar and predictable. No matter the author, venue or characters; it was the same story. Until 2 Sided Mirror. It changed my energy and view on the genre for the better. Yes, it’s Urban Fiction, but it’s more believable. Like it’s really happening as you read as opposed to just a story that’s readable. If I had no idea of what life in Newark, NJ was about, 2 Sided Mirror put me smack dab in the middle of it or close enough. You think you can control destiny? Think you know the outcome of a fast street life? 2 Sided Mirror will make you second guess those sentiments. Streets are so lovely or so we think! 2 Sided Mirror had me questioning which side of the glass I really want to see myself in. Before you wish for one life, be thankful of the one you already have. Because some end up with no life at all.

-Tariq Wright 261492C/ Southern State Correctional Facility/ Delmont, NJ

KEISHA & TRIGGA 2

In all Keisha and Trigga 2 turned out to be an impressive and enjoyable read, which left me contemplating the outcome long after the book was finished.

-Tyrone Bridges 119320B/ Southern State Correction Facility/ Delmont, NJ Keisha And Trigga 2 was okay, if you’re looking for a love story mixed up into a hitman’s downfall. One thing I felt was typical was, a lot of writers are portraying goons as hitmen for hire. Not a lot of gangsters are patient enough to be so calculated. I understand the effort to change the dynamic of a thug, but it should be realistically based.

-Tariq Wright 261492C/ Southern State Correction Facility/ Delmont, NJ

KEISHA & TRIGGA 2

Can’t say for sure what I initially expected when I picked up Keisha And Trigga 2, but after reading only two chapters I found myself easily caught up in the challenges that the central characters were facing as they struggled to carve out a truce in their own realities. I especially like how the authors delivered up the goods through a creative, aggressive yet clear story trekking method.

Predictable Read. Keisha and Trigga’s story read like the hundreds of other books written in this fashion. Trigga is the toughest killer in the whole book, who fears nothing. Although there is nothing that makes Keisha special, she’s the only one who can capture his heart in his entire lifetime. The dialogue is insulting to the reader. It’s as if they’ve attempted to just fill the book with enough words to get them through the project and then allude to a third installment of this subpar work. It lacks creativity and was a boring read.

-Just Mii Thoughts/ Southern State Correction Facility/ Delmont, NJ HOOD POLITICS | 9

SINCERELY YOURS

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STREETS BLEED MURDER 2

farfetched. As far as family getting caught in the mix, that’s the most repetitive storyline in books I’ve read.

Over the top gun fights and unrealistic situations are too typical and too easy to write about, which left me uninterested. I feel authors are trying to live a surreal lifestyle through their characters. Very unattractive. Be creative not redundant.

-Tariq Wright 261492C/ Southern State Correction Facility/ Delmont, NJ

STREETS BLEED MURDER 2

Karma is real, remember never start a life of crime and killing if you have something to lose, right? Well, this was the typical story of gangsters doing just that. In Urban novels the writer should try with the best of his/her ability to capture the mind of the reader and make them feel as if it’s truly happening. This story didn’t do it for me. With guys giving back prison time only to come home and kill everyone seems

My opinion on this book varies in different areas. In certain parts I applaud the authors ability to make the reader feel his characters’ pain. Then in other portions I frowned at his lack of technique in making some scenes seem realistic. Gangsta’s family members are shot and he becomes an invincible one-man army. Throughout all the twist and turns in the plot I was there, yet the climax failed to grab me. Jerry Jackson is talented enough, in my opinion, to have written a better story. Yet he felt compelled not to challenge himself and instead put out a novel similar to the other Urban Fiction novels that plague the bookshelves. Instead of raising the bar creatively, he stuck to the norm. Writing is an art and with the exception of a few authors, the rest are sharing the same picture and deeming it one of a kind.

-Just Mii Thoughts/ Southern State Correction Facility/ Delmont, NJ HOOD POLITICS | 11

THE ARRANGEMENT

woman scorned, it will make you see how we become prisoners of our own mistakes. In the end the plan works out perfect for everyone or does it? You decide. As for me it was a different read and a liked one. I was amused to say the least.

THE ARRANGEMENT

A man with three baby mommas, one being the wife along with two others who wish they could be.

Swindled into a scheme meant to make a self-centered, controlling man content or was it that?

Scientist placed in the mix makes it seem like an experiment stumbled upon or was it planned? Anyway, it was a nice way to exploit the drama that follows a man’s open and carefree sex life with a twist that will somehow shock you.

With a hint of mystery, greed, sarcasm and a 12 | HOOD POLITICS

-Tariq Wright 261492C/ Southern State Correction Facility/ Delmont, NJ Once in a while a person stumbles upon a book which not only confuses them, but also leaves them wondering how in the world did such a work get published? For me that book was Shay Gray’s The Arrangement. Which from the very offset provided one inconsistency after another. As lofty as the concept behind The Arrangement was, the storytelling lacked any real measure of continuity and therefore placed too great a strain upon credulity. It is because of the author’s inability to deliver on these core ideas which govern proper storytelling, I was left with the conclusion of

feeling like we both (the author and I) had bitten off more than we can chew…

-Tyrone Bridges 119320B/ Southern State Correction Facility/ Delmont, NJ This book began with so much promise that it fails to deliver throughout. The Arrangement is plagued with an inconsistent storyline. As the plot thickens, it seems the author only succeeds in confusing herself. The characters lack personality. They’re underdeveloped and therefore render themselves ineffective. You can’t empathize with their circumstances because they are so far from being believable as real. It’s apparent that Shay Gray has talent. This novel is just not a flattering representation of that talent.

-Just Mii Thoughts/ Southern State Correction Facility/ Delmont, NJ

IG @ALOHA.ANGEL.OFFICIAL

HOOD POLITICS | 13

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

CRACK ROCK TO GEMSTONES

JIMMYSODOPE- How did a Puerto Rican rise to power in the Russian and Jew dominated jewelry business. The story of Victor Mendez aka Poochie the Jeweler and the Tajia Diamonds empire is one of sacrifice and faith. Tajia has done pieces for 50 C e n t , Robinson Cano, Fernando Tatis, Daddy Yankee, El Alpha, Jim Jones, Robert Eastern, Danny Garcia, Adrian B r o n e r and so many more. Now based in New Y o r k City, the journey begins in Newark, New Jersey...

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Victor “Poochi” Rodriguez You know, people talk about how bad the hood is and how people don’t make it out to here. Fortunately, I was blessed to grind hard and learn.

One thing I got to always thank God for is N e w a r k , BrickCity. You learn the good, you learn the bad.

But if you have a little bit of book smart and you have street smarts, you can actually succeed far in life. That’s what a lot of people don’t understand. We’re blessed. Even though the hood is bad,

and a lot of people don’t make it out the hood, Our youth is getting killed from from gun violence and, it’s sad because at least us growing up, we had different morals. We had different aspects of life you understand? Like, we were able to go outside and play. We used to be right there on 8th street balling all day all & night. It used to be one or two in the morning, we just play b a s ketball, hang out, just make jokes, play around and just just enjoy life. Now these kids nowadays are always on computers, on the phones.

They don’t go outside.

They don’t even know what it is to go outside and play or play with their friends or enjoy life. So it’s nowadays it’s crazy. And then when the kids do come out, all they know is trapping and hustling. And, oh, let me shoot this person or let me kill this person to be a gang member. A lot of these kids don’t know what it is to have a childhood.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

JSD- Role models are one the things that Newark has yet to have in surplus. Since the student is at mercy of the teacher, generational trauma gets passed around like a black and mild smoked down to the plastic.

There are a few outcomes that can manifest from a troubled childhood but two are most common, the child follows i n the same path of des t r u c tive habits taught by elders and other influences. The other common outcome is the child can learn from the mistakes of the people in their environm ent .

VR- I was under the middle child. I wasn’t the youngest. I still have three younger brothers and sisters under me. But it was there’s eight of us and total. So I got to learn a lot from them. I had a brother who all his life was either stealing cars or robbing. Then he got with a girl ended up on drugs and I saw his whole life just

go crumble, you know, on heroin, breaking him down and doing prison time. He’d come out for a month or two & to go right back to jail.

I saw my other brother who was so book smart that he tried to do too many things at one time in college and end up going crazy. You know, my other brother was smart, but always wanting to be built and bulky and on steroids. So all that taught me on what not to do.

Because they taught me that there’s many routes in life, you could go and it’s fucked up. My sister was trying to do her thing and she had a child at a young age and she was struggling to find jobs and work. So all this this just made me stronger.

JSD- Now more than ever, financial literacy is the topic of discussion.

Victor was fortunate enough to grow up in a family business but that didn’t mean the education came easy. Victor’s father owned a grocery store in the west ward of Newark. The Mendez corner store was a staple in the hood. Back when a bag of chips was 25 cents. We couldn’t wait to go to the corner store before school. Victor’s experience was different.

VR- I had my mother & my father. My father was a person who had a lot of wives and a lot of children, right. So my mother was my mother and my father for many years. My father started coming into my life

HOOD POLITICS | 15

CRACK ROCK TO GEMSTONES INTERVIEW CONTINUED

when I was already a teenager. I got to be with him for the first year or two. And then he ended up getting cancer, and started getting sick.

And it got to a point where I used to have to run the store for him and help him out. But at the time, he had all these different wives trying to work in the store. So everything was kind of weird the way things were. One thing I always thank my father for is for me to be a better father than what he was to my children. Because I was probably five, six blocks away from him, and never got to see him.

He always used to be partying and drinking, wanting to be with his girlfriends and stuff like that.

So it was sad, growing up but my mom’s held everything down for us. And it got to a point where my mom has always told me like look for your father, no matter what he does in life, you know, always be there for him and me. I’ve got a great relationship now.

I love my father and even though it took us years to get that bond, but like, I love him, you know, and I’ll do anything for him now.

I cherish every moment I spend with him because he’s getting older. So, you know, I try to have my kids call them all the 16 | HOOD POLITICS

time speak to them. But the store taught me a lot.

The store actually brought me together with my father’s side of the family with my cousins and my aunts and uncles. And I got a great relationship with them. Like, you know, I think, now, it’s crazy, cuz I grew up on my mom’s side of family, but I’m closer to my father’s side of the family. You know, all my cousins and my uncles, they all love me, I love them. And business wise, it showed me how to run a business because me at a young age, I used to have to open up the store and close the store on a weekends. I’m like, 14 years old, trying to kind of run a business, I didn’t know what I was doing.

But I got the hang of it.

And it taught me how to how to manage money, how to control money, how to invest the money, how to make new orders.

So that was a great thing.

JSD- There’s a day in every mans life where nothing is the same as it was a moment ago. This is the point where a boy becomes a man. No way to gauge exactly when it happens. When that time comes, the only thing that can save a boy becoming a man is his faith in the higher power and the faith he has in himself

VR- After my father sold the store and everything.

I’m like, 19-20 years old, you know, running the streets.

Me and my wife had a kid.

When my daughter was born, she came out the womb dead. I dropped to my knees. I was crying, I was asking God for forgiveness for everything I’ve done in life, you know, everything I’ve done in the street. I was like, God, you give my daughter another chance of life, I’ll change my life around.

The doctors tried to bring it back to life and it took like 10 minutes to bring it back to life. God actually let my daughter live. Even though she was in NICU for a whole month and inside an incubator with tubes down her throat, I was the happiest man in the world just to see her breathing JSD- Growing up in Newark you learn how to appreciate every win. No one victory is greater than the next. The cost of success sometimes can seem so expensive that some people aren’t willing to invest their last for a better tomorrow. Vic was ready and willing to sacrifice everything for his future.

VR- I started looking for a job. So there was a pawn shop right across from my father’s store. I was like,

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Look, man, I’m good with business. Let me run your business. Give me $150 a week and I’ll work from nine in the morning to nine at night, seven days a week just to pick up your business. And they’re like, ‘are you serious for $150 A week?’ I’m like yeah, just because I need to buy pampers and milk for my daughter. The first year was tough to start. Around five months later, I ended up getting another job.

I applied for a security guard at the Board of Education. So in the mornings, I asked my other man, like, Yo, can you run to the jewelry store for me in the mornings till I come out at two o’clock. And then I’ll work from two o’clock to nine o’clock. I worked for a month as a security guard.

The jewelry business started going down because my boy wasn’t opening up the shop for me. He’d lift up the gates and then bounce to run the Streets.

So I had a choice, either give up the jewelry business, right? And work as a security guard for 25 years, get my pension, retire and have full benefits or still see the vision through that I saw in the jewelry business. Getting paid $150 a week but I can build an empire for my family. I quit security guard job, which I was going to be making for about four hundred

and some change a week to work for $150 a week.

My wife went crazy. She’s like, ‘Yo, what’s wrong with you? Are you crazy?

We need this money!’ I said I got a vision, just follow my vision. And that’s one thing, I’ve always followed when I believe in something. I go with it.

I always follow my gut.

JSD- After Poochie rededicated himself to the jewelry business his fortune began to change.

He negotiated a pay raise of an additional $250 per week. Then one day he made a sale that got him a $10,000 bonus. He put that money to the side and kept on hustling. A couple weeks later, another huge deal comes in and he earns another $10,000 bonus.

That’s when he moved his wife and daughter to their very own apartment. Life would never be the same again...

VR- The first two years of me working, I made so much money for the people that they retired and moved to Florida.

Every week I was sending them about $9,000 to $11,000, and I was just taking my $350. After a year, he started giving up to like $500. So they end up coming back to town.

They took me out to eat it. They said they wanted to talk so I’m thinking they’re about to fire me. I started going crazy. So at the time, it was a lady who had the business. And she’s laughing and laughing. I’m like, I can’t believe you find this funny. And I’m just keep going and going and going and going. She tells me ‘shut the fuck up already’. So she’s like, Look, man, you made me so much money these last two years. And I had this business for five years and my family screw me for the first three years. You then are not family. You made me so much money these last two years that I’m good.

So that’s why I’m retiring. And I’m like, so Okay, so who you want to get a business to before I could work for them? She’s like, I’m actually giving you the business. Bra started crying. And I’m like, Nah, you can’t give me the business because I don’t want to hand out to me. I’ve always been like that. I don’t like handouts. Let me work for mines. Let me put into work. Let me do sign. But handout, I’m not taking.

JSD- Victor attempted to be partners but the owner of the jewelry store had her mind made up.

Poochie’s hard work, HOOD POLITICS | 17

SPECIALROCK PAGETO INFO CRACK GEMSTONES INTERVIEW CONTINUED

honesty and sacrifices made this woman wealthy in a matter of two years. She informed him that her family had been ripping her off for years and a stranger came in and changed her life, for pennies. She refused to be partners but agreed to sell the business for $18,000 which could be paid in installments of $100 a month and one other condition; Vic had to promise he’d buy a house and move his family out of the hood.

Victor paid her $27,000 in the next 14 days and never looked back.

VR- At the time while I was working the business, a kid named Robinson Cano, who used to play for the Yankees and now plays for the Mets, He was a friend of mine.

So he’s like ‘yo Pooch, when I make it to the big leagues. You know I’m going to bring you all the ballplayers.’ He really kept his word because he ended up getting to the big leagues. He was making money. That’s when Jay Z opened up his company Roc Nation Sports. Robinson Cano was his first client ever. And he got him a $250 million deal for 10 years. Cano broke records with that one at the time.

I was selling jewelry, 18 | HOOD POLITICS

He was just bringing me all the ballplayers.

And little by little, I started picking up picking up picking up and he actually told me “if you want to continue to become successful, you gotta leave from Newark and try to open up in New York City Time Square in the diamond district. I’ll help you, guide you. I’ll show you the way but trust me, you open up there. You’re going to make a lot of money out there. People don’t want to come to the hood, especially ballplayers to Central Avenue and 9th Street.’ At the time it was hot. So, you know, even know when he was out there. He’s like, ‘What the fuck? You got me in here, man. I gotta get out of here, man. I’m worth 250 million. They’re gonna kill me.’ So, you know, I ended up listening to him. I followed his lead.

And opened up a little office in Times Squares JSD- Tajia Diamonds was a growing brand with major connections and STILL had to fake it even though to the outside world they already made it.

jewelry. Like, ‘Yo, let me see what you got’. And I used to tell them I don’t have Jewelry here, They would say ‘you’re a jewelry, what you mean you ain’t got no jewelry?’. I do everything to custom orders. So then they’d be like, ‘nah, I’m good’. Then go somewhere else. I used to be like, “Cano. I’m getting killed with this”. He was like, “Yo, just tell him that you do stuff for me, bro.

I’ll keep sending them to you. Show them the jewelry you did for me.” So what he did was he sent me all his jewelry so I could start showing the clients. Like yeah, I got this, I got that. I used to have to lie and be like, I I got this chain. How much 50,000 I want it now. Sorry. Because I just I just sold this to such and such. And he’s he’s coming to pick it up in a few minutes. But if you give me a week, I’ll make you the same chain. So I used to do it right away. But the truth was, it was all Robinson Cano’s, jewelry and he just let me borrow it for a couple of weeks to just try to build my empire. And that’s what I did. I was faking it till I made it you understand?

VR- And then I was trying to try to take orders and stuff like that. But it was crazy. Because the ball players wanted to see the

JSD- Success is often cloaked in failure. The ability to see beyond the current moment while

SPECIAL INTERVIEW PAGE INFO EXCLUSIVE

being fully present in the now isn’t the most common trait amongst humans.

Victor saw his vision through yet somehow it took 20 years for him to realize where he now stood.

VR- A lot of people don’t have that strength. They fall once or twice & they think they’re a failure. I’m not going to do it anymore. No, man, get back up and do it. It took me 20 years to say, “Yeah, I’m the man now in the jewelry business.” Yes it took me 20 years. But I believed in myself, no matter how many times I failed or how many times things was rough for me.

I believed in this vision. #JimmyWroteIt

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@ALOHA.ANGEL.OFFICIAL

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SINCERELY YOURS

HOOD POLITICS | 21

2 CENTS WITH DIME

2 CENTS WITH MS. DIME

WRITTEN BY DIME COLE

T

his weekly series will feature various ranges of real-life events with my own 2 cents added to it.

We can agree to disagree on these things, but what makes this series interesting is that this is a interactive series. You’ll be able to email at Mmtwbookpub@gmail.com with 2 Cents with Ms. Dime as the subject line to tell me your thoughts on it.

I’ll try to reply to as many emails as possible on this.

With me doing so I’ll also pick one person 2-cents and speak more about that on my next series.

This week we’ll be discussing a case that may be familiar to us all, a love triangle. Now look, I’m pulling facts on this but keep in mind this is my own 2 cents and you can’t judge me unless you put a judge in front of me okkkkuuurrrrr. Now we going to get into this, it’s coming from New York.

Now to me personally, New York and New Jersey have a lot of similarities.

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While some places are more so like upper class bougie areas, you also have some rough, mean, gritty, belly of the beast areas! Now correct me if I’m wrong, if you can survive NJ or NY you can survive ANYWHERE! See I’m getting off topic a little but I need y’all to get in tune with me we getting there.

Now, I shouldn’t have said love triangle, maybe more so a real-life fatal attraction.

On March 9,2022 “A jealous gunman, targeting his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend on a Chelsea street, instead killed an innocent friend of his intended victim in a lethal late-night burst of gunfire, police said Wednesday.” (Credit to New York Daily NewsNicholas Thomas) Now here it is Baller Alert on Instagram revealed I quote that the same individual who is currently the suspect, “Tyrell Rodgers”, was also charged with robbery over an incident earlier this year. Where he allegedly pulled a gun on his girlfriend, while she was holding her child, over a dispute about her phone.

Now we all know well if you don’t know I’m here to tell you a persons

phone can reveal a lot.

Not sure what was in her phone but I’m happy she or her child weren’t harmed that’s first and foremost.

Now word on the street, aka Instagram comments, basically revealed that it was a love triangle.

2 CENTS WITH DIME

Where she was with her boyfriend than with the ex boyfriend than back to the current boyfriend. Before y’all fellas try to judge her we not doing that! Y’all do it all the time. We not doing double standards today or any day at that! I just

personally feel this is really an unfortunate situation overall because here it is he intended to go ahead and kill the ex boyfriend but instead Wounded the ex and killed his friend.

Here it is I hate to say this but, I’m going to be real.

The boyfriend is going to jail, he’s currently in police custody so that’s that and guess who still has a chance? The ex-boyfriend.

Now was it worth it?

To me? No, absolutely not.

An innocent person killed for something that had nothing to do with him honestly that’s always how it goes. That saying bullets have no name is true. I chose this story this week to start off because we all have possibly been in a love triangle, rather if you wanna be honest about it or not. Me personally, I just couldn’t live with someone being hurt behind me.

But this is coming with age, because back in my high school years I found it amusing. But nothing is funny about losing your life or your freedom.

Now what did you guys think about this?? Please email me on this I would love to get your thoughts, insight and comments on this. Keep in mind its more to the story but since it’s still under investigation this is all I could share. Until next time…….

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THUG PASSIONS

SHADES OF RED FROM He grabbed a bottle of The DJ lowered the muMoët Hennessy and took sic for a brief break while THE AUTHOR OF that shit straight to the head, not giving a fuck about how hard the shit hit him.Trell was in his fuckin’ bag, but still was sober enough to be on his A-Game just in case a pussy ass nigga tried to catch Him lackin’. His whole crew was in CENTER FOLDS Strip Club that night and if anybody tried him; a muthafucka was getting put a on t-shirt.

“What’spoppin’Damu!”

THUG PASSIONS EPISODE 1

WRITTEN BY: REDS JOHNSON Shorty was eating big dick in the back of the club while a line of niggas waited for their turn. Spit and nut dripped down her chinas she kept her eye locked on the one she wanted the most…

K e n t r e l l “ T r e l l ” M o s e l y.

Trell bopped his head to the beat of YG’sSuu Whoopas he threw up his set Sex, Money,Murda also known as SMM 26 | HOOD POLITICS

the dancers that had just gotten off stage headed to the back to freshen up.

“Aye, while the ladies air those asses out, fella’sI’ma need for ya’ll to get ya rich asses to the front for this next one comin’ to the stage, and if ya lucky she might just hit you wit’ that gawk-gawk, spin around, shake and break the ice five thousand!”

“That’s LaLa over there wildin’ out?” Lay Low shook Lay Low,Trell’s right hand his head. man had slid up on him.

It wasn’t surprising to Trell Trell nodded his head but that it was around 2am kept his attention elseand Lay Low was just now where.LaLa was his ex, popping up on the scene. and he made the mistake His name spoke for itself, of wifin’ up a hoe when and that was one of the he should’ve kept his eyes main reasons that him and strictly on the paper.He’d met her at the very strip Trell was locked info’ life! club he was standing in, “Ain’t nothin’ but that five and no matter how much poppin’ my g,”Trell dapped he took care of her, loved him up before passing him on her and cared for her, the bottle of Moët. Lay Low she just wouldn’t leave took the bottle and stood the pole alone. Fuck for up against the wall while the streets, she was for the peeping the scenery. It community. was definitely a vibe nonetheless, but one could tell “You know she next right?” who the bums and ballers Lay Low glanced over at was up in that bitch.

Trell. “You tryna dip out?”

“Yeah, let me go take a piss

THUG PASSIONS

real quick,”Trell pushed himself off the wall and headed towards the back where the bathrooms were.

kids and her throat was the daycare.She made sure to lick him clean before pulling his briefs and joggers up before getting up, planting a kiss dead on She twirled her tongue his lips and walking away; around the head as she leaving him stuck… looked him in the eyes and then took him in her mouth whole making sure to touch the little dangly thing in the back of her throat.

in one swift motion.Good thing he had his hand on his glock because LaLa wasted no time pulling his dick out and sucking it.

When he got to the door of the bathroom he could feel a presence behind him so he slowly reached in his joggers before hearing a slight chuckle that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and sent chills down his spine.

“Fuck,” he hissed.

“So you gon’ shoot me now lil daddy?”LaLa cooed.

LaLa pulled back so his dick could make a smackHe turned around and ing noise as it plopped looked down at her choc- out of her mouth. She olate,five-foot-one frame. took both hands and did The lights were dimmed, a slow, twisting motion but he could still see how while flicking her tongue crazy her physique was back and forth as she jerkin the skintight diamond ed Trell’s dick just how she g-string outfit she wore. knew he liked it. She then She walked up on him and cupped his balls, and took grabbed his chin gently him back in her mouth bringing his six-foot size while still looking in his down to her level.She had eyes. She massaged his just finished sucking the balls all while deep throatmeanest of dicks in the ing him; not even flinching back and he didn’t give a by his thickness or length. fuck.LaLa had his fuckin’ LaLa was the true Throat heart and his dick was Goat.She felt Trell tense up rock hard at that moment. and she sucked faster until She pushed him against she felt a warm, but semithe wall and got down on sweet taste fill her mouth her knees while pulling his just like the old days.LaLa eight-and-a-half-inch dick didn’t hesitate swallowing Trell’s nut. Those were her out of his black joggers

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MOURNING MUSIC

“I WAS 17 LOCKED UP IN A CELL, GOT WORD THEY JUST KILLED O/ I WAS CONFUSED, O WAS THE GOAT HOW THEY KILL HIM AND HE STAY WIT’ HIS POLE…” -KING VON

the streets. Where people are taking to social media with wanton acts of violence. On March 10, 2022, a popular TikTok duo Allie and Consuela Jones, dubbed the”famous twins” were arrested. They took to social media in Mobile, Alabama and filmed a fight that would lead into a shooting that left two injured. After the shooting they still refused to turn the camera off as they pursued another vehicle. Never considering the harm

BY ANWAR MUSLIM the footage could do to In an era when drill music their future. They were has become the predominant soundtrack to the Urban geography worldwide. King Von speaks from beyond the grave in his post-humous album “What It Means To Be King”. It’s swiftly approaching two years since the extremely talented Chicago rapper was tragically gunned down in Atlanta. Yet his music is still laced with all the ingredients that sealed his untimely demise. Upon his death it was speculated that he was responsible for the death of Gakirah “K.I.” Barnes and a slew of others. My question is, is this only music? It seems the drill scene fuels the current unruly nature of

MOURNING MUSIC

both charged with 2nd degree assault. A charge, which you can tell from their mugshots, meant little in comparison to the fame the charge would gain them. This is just another example of how the drill and social media age coincide and form a dangerous recipe of negligent behavior. Some end in death while others end in jail. Either way, tears will be shed because someone will be missed. I hope you enjoyed this weeks edition of mourning music.

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THE POPE

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STREET DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES EXCERPT

S T R E E T DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES E

X

C

E

R

P

T

Hours Later It’s after midnight and Darryl just finished the remainder of the work he had bottled up from the last flip. His plan was a success, except for the money the cops took from him. That minor setback he plans to fix by putting a few extra hours in on the night shift. That’s the very reason why he’s still up right now, bagging up so he can use all of tomorrow to catch up.

ing she must like him. If not, why would she even waste her time with him?

Once she left, he felt used and promised himself he would never allow her to use him again. She hasn’t called him since he gave her the money earlier, making him angrier. He can’t understand how she can take a grand from him and forget about him right after. He can’t understand her mindset, and that bothers him.

He sat back impatiently, waiting for her to call. After four hours of not hearing from her, he reached out to her by calling her house. He didn’t get an answer. He called again and again. Eventually, his once every half-hour calls turned into two calls every half hour. Darryl has been calling for the past three hours now. Getting no answer has him furious. He understands Driving all the sales to Unk helped him they are not a couple, and she may feel keep his hands clean. It also helped she owes him nothing, but as a friend, he make the rest of the dudes on the block feels she does owe him common courtesy. hate him even more. Normally between Darryl running back and forth, they Darryl turns the corner to Sunday’s could steal a few sales by saying he isn’t block. He looks up at her house to out there. With him standing there all see if the light is on and is shocked day, they can no longer do that. He cor- to know it is. The light tells him she is nered the market, making it almost im- home, which means she’s intentionalpossible for them to generate a dollar. ly ignoring his phone calls. But why?

Darryl has many thoughts on Sunday’s behavior earlier. He played back in his mind how she behaved, the words that came out of her mouth, and even her ungratefulness once she received the money. As he ponders his thoughts, now more than ever, he realizes Sunday is not the woman for him. He’s starting to wonder if she cares for him the least bit. The fact that he’s sure she has men waiting in line that are willing to give her the world makes him stern in believ 34 | HOOD POLITICS

He’s in a state of confusion at this point.

He cruises further and what he sees clears up any confusion. The Mercedes that belongs to Sal sits parked directly in front of the house. Darryl’s heart sinks to his gut. No wonder she can’t answer, he says to himself. She’s told him time after time that the two of them are done, but he sees differently. After seeing how Sal reacted after the skating rink, he never truly believed her, but he can’t understand why she lied to him.

STREET DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES EXCERPT

“I’m about to get to the bottom of this,” Darryl blurts out. He reaches under his seat and grabs hold of his revolver, and he tucks it neatly into the waistband of his jeans. He peeks up at her window, slams the gear into Park, and opens the door.

He makes his way to the house. He steps on the porch, and just as he’s about to press the doorbell, Sheed’s voice sounds in his head. “Over a bitch?” Darryl stands with his finger on the bell. As much as he wants to press it, he doesn’t.

Sheed’s words, coupled with the fact that he doesn’t want to disrespect her mother’s house, ringing the bell at this time of the night causes him to refrain.

He walks back to his car and hops in. As he drops the gear into Drive, he looks up at the window again. After a long stare, he pulls off. The feeling in his chest tells him he’s in a place he wasn’t even aware of. He realizes that he has feelings for Sunday he didn’t necessarily plan to have.

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