STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON: My Untold Story


Book Description

You're now about to witness the story of a little boy who was born and raised in Compton, California. His journey began as a young man who grew up poor but would eventually evolve to become part of the "World's Most Dangerous Group." They would be known as one of the most influential groups in the history of hip-hop music. What's their name? N.W.A. His life would take him to the highest of heights in music to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His story will take you on a rollercoaster ride, starting from the beginning of his music career to the rise and breakup of the group. He will also share some of his private moments in the final years of the life of his friend, Eazy-E. This is the untold story of Antoine "DJ Yella" Carraby, who's coming...Straight Outta Compton.




Original Gangstas


Book Description

"Raw, authoritative, and unflinching ... An elaborately detailed, darkly surprising, definitive history of the LA gangsta rap era." -- Kirkus, starred review A monumental, revealing narrative history about the legendary group of artists at the forefront of West Coast hip-hop: Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, and Tupac Shakur. Amid rising gang violence, the crack epidemic, and police brutality, a group of unlikely voices cut through the chaos of late 1980s Los Angeles: N.W.A. Led by a drug dealer, a glammed-up producer, and a high school kid, N.W.A gave voice to disenfranchised African Americans across the country. And they quickly redefined pop culture across the world. Their names remain as popular as ever -- Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, and Ice Cube. Dre soon joined forces with Suge Knight to create the combustible Death Row Records, which in turn transformed Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur into superstars. Ben Westhoff explores how this group of artists shifted the balance of hip-hop from New York to Los Angeles. He shows how N.W.A.'s shocking success lead to rivalries between members, record labels, and eventually a war between East Coast and West Coast factions. In the process, hip-hop burst into mainstream America at a time of immense social change, and became the most dominant musical movement of the last thirty years. At gangsta rap's peak, two of its biggest names -- Tupac and Biggie Smalls -- were murdered, leaving the surviving artists to forge peace before the genre annihilated itself. Featuring extensive investigative reporting, interviews with the principal players, and dozens of never-before-told stories, Original Gangstas is a groundbreaking addition to the history of popular music.




Transformed


Book Description

What would it take for one young Black man not only to rise above statistics but also become a Navy SEAL, actor, entrepreneur, writer, and successful husband and father? In Transformed, Remi Adeleke takes you back to stories from his childhood, from living as Nigerian royalty to losing his father early in life and being stripped financially of everything by the Nigerian government. Following his father’s death, he and his mother and brother relocated permanently to the Bronx where his single mother struggled to provide for the family. Statistics tell us that African American males who grow up in a single-parent household are nine times more likely to drop out of high school and twenty times more likely to end up in prison than any other demographic. While it would have been easy to believe that he could never beat those odds, Remi Adeleke refused to fall victim to that premise. Sharing his incredible journey through the struggles of his life, Remi doesn’t shy away from his illegal activities as a young man that threatened to derail his future as a Navy SEAL. He shares: How perseverance transformed his life despite all odds How taking ownership of his mistakes and shortcomings led him to success His hard-earned wisdom gained over years of struggle Belief that the adversities, trials, and tribulations he went through were specific moves by God At every turn, including throughout his naval career, Adeleke found a way to overcome the odds, even when it didn’t make sense. Remi Adeleke’s journey of following God’s voice, rising above statistics, and experiencing true personal transformation will inspire and move you.




Murder Rap


Book Description

An account of how a police detective lead the task force that exposed the facts behind the deaths of rappers Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur.




Compton Street Legend


Book Description

The infamous Suge Knight, former Death Row Records CEO, and Keffe D are the only living eyewitnesses to the deadly confrontation on the Las Vegas strip between the occupants of our two vehicles. A violent confrontation that led to the deaths of two of Hip-Hop's biggest stars (Tupac Shakur & Christopher 'Notorious B.I.G.' Wallace) and changed Hip-Hop history forever. There's a strict code on the streets. One that real street players live, kill, and die by. Compton Street Legend reveals the street-level code violations and the explosive consequences when the powerful worlds of the streets, entertainment, and corrupt law enforcement collide. More than twenty years after the premature deaths of Tupac and Biggie there have been numerous TV specials, documentaries, books, magazine and newspaper, and social media dedicated to the subject. But at the end of the day, none of the private investigators, retired police officers, informants, Hip-Hop heads, actors, or academics that have weighed in on the topic truly know what happened and the reasons behind it, because none of them were there. Duane 'Keffe D' Davis, a native of Compton, California, admittedly lived most of his life as a gangster; a real gangster that did the shit that real gangsters do. He rose up the gang-banging ranks to become a shot-caller for the notorious Southside Compton Crips, while running a multi-million dollar, multi-state drug empire. Keffe D has been a central figure in both the Tupac Shakur and Biggie murders for the past 20 years. COMPTON STREET LEGEND will add valuable information about two of the biggest "unsolved" crimes in American history. It will serve as the missing piece of the puzzle that Hip-Hop Fans have been waiting for. On the surface, COMPTON STREET LEGEND will look like a story based on violence and hate, it is actually a story about Love, Family, Brotherhood, Loyalty, Trust, and Honor. It's time to set the story straight. Fasten your seatbelts.




Ruthless


Book Description

The maverick music mogul who put rap on the map recounts his riveting career comprising delirious highs and shocking lows, cocaine-fueled mega-deals, brutal wranglings, and the uncanny insight that made a middle-aged, Jewish white guy the most successful record company executive of the rap era.




Welcome to Death Row


Book Description

It started in Compton. it ended in infamy. In the wake of Marion "Suge" Knight's move to rip the guts out of Ruthless Records and NWA, Death Row Records exploded on the music scene in 1993 with the "gangster rap" sound that had taken world by storm.Yet despite its unprecedented success with stars such as Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur, it quickly unraveled in a firestorm of rivalries, greed, violence and government scrutiny as Suge Knight's unconventional business methods increasingly mirrored the violent, hard-edged themes of its music. Based on the award winning documentary film of the same name, WELCOME TO DEATH ROW is the complete and untold story of the rise and fall of the notorious Death Row Records label, presented as an oral history through first-hand accounts of the people that lived it. It is vastly expanded with compelling (and sometimes shocking) accounts not heard in the documentary film, with stories from over 60 former Death Row rappers, promoters, music executives, journalists, producers, managers, publicists, lawyers and drug dealers -all eyewitnesses to the label's phenomenal success, internal battles and violence, and its inevitable crash. Interwoven with these histories is the story of the high-risk quest to complete the film, chronicling how director Leigh Savidge and producers Steve Housden & Jeff Scheftel navigated a surreal world of Crips & Bloods, crooked lawyers and cocaine kingpins, 'gangsta' rappers and thuggish music executives, and how the team persuaded the key players to tell their story under the threat of retaliation from every element, including threats from major music companies and the bizarre involvement of OJ Simpson prosecutor Chris Darden. Universal Pictures' STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON was developed at Xenon as a follow up to the WELCOME TO DEATH ROW with its producers constructing the story and acquiring rights, and initial drafts of the screenplay written by Savidge, for which he received an Oscar nomination.




Call of Duty


Book Description

The national bestselling World War II memoir by Buck Compton, a hero from the famed Band of Brothers, with a foreword by John McCain. As part of the elite 101st Airborne paratroopers, Lt. Lynn "Buck" Compton fought in critical battles of World War II as a member of Easy Company, immortalized as the Band of Brothers. This is the true story of a real-life hero. From his years as a two-sport UCLA star who played baseball with Jackie Robinson and football in the 1943 Rose Bowl, through his legendary post-World War II legal career as a prosecutor, in which he helped convict Sirhan Sirhan for the murder of Robert F. Kennedy, Buck Compton's story truly embodies the American Dream: college sports star, esteemed combat veteran, detective, attorney, judge.




We Who Are Alive and Remain


Book Description

From Marcus Brotherton, co-author of Call of Duty, comes a new collection of untold stories from the Band of Brothers. Look for the Band of Brothers miniseries, now available to stream on Netflix! They were the men of the now-legendary Easy Company. After almost two years of hard training, they parachuted into Normandy on D-Day and, later, Operation Market Garden. They fought their way through Belgium, France, and Germany, survived overwhelming odds, liberated concentration camps, and drank a victory toast in April 1945 at Hitler's hideout in the Alps. Here, revealed for the first time, are stories of war, sacrifice, and courage as experienced by one of the most revered combat units in military history. In We Who Are Alive and Remain, twenty men who were there and are alive today—and the families of three deceased others—recount the horrors and the victories, the bonds they made, the tears and blood they shed...and the brothers they lost.




How to Hustle and Win


Book Description

Likened to a 48 Laws of Power for young Black men, this book presents Black biographies, history, and current events in a language that the Hip-Hop generation will understand and relate to. Each story or essay is framed within the context of a life lesson, each one being of vital importance to the survival, redemption, and ultimate success of our dying Black generation. Both the positive and negative sides of the Black experience are explored in detail, from the lives of infamous drug dealers and pimps to the exploits of Black revolutionaries and activists. In addition, several How To sections outline simple strategies for self-development. Packed with useful information, from the best way to handle confrontations with police, to the continuing relevance of the 1919 race riots, this book has been compared to an urban Encyclopedia Africana. Others have called it a Blueprint for Black Power for a generation struggling with materialism and short attention spans. This book is guaranteed to change the world by changing the way millions of people think and live. In How to Hustle and Win, author Supreme Understanding tells, in often graphic detail, stories like that of the infamous Philadelphia Black Mafia, Harlem's heroin kingpin Frank Lucas, and former gang leader Stanley "Tookie" Williams. In between and throughout these tales, he weaves life lessons and guidance, turning sordid stories of crime and urban despair into an educational experience. Whereas Robert Greene's bestselling 48 Laws of Power used iconic figures from classical history to illustrate the guidelines for personal success, How to Hustle and Win is filled with the exploits of rappers, gangsters, radicals, and revolutionaries. This is a new kind of Black history book, and its intent is the motivation and achievement of a new kind of reader. Although today's literary market has seen an influx of self-help books attending to a variety of issues, few books have attempted to address the concerns of young Black men, struggling to find direction. It is this group that author Supreme Understanding names as one of most troubled demographics in American society today. On the book's website, the author comments: "Unfortunately, few authors actively target this audience, and those who do are either not speaking their language, or not interested in pushing for change. This is why How to Hustle and Win was written. This book will change the minds of millions of young men of color, and by doing this, it will ultimately change the world." Revolutionary aspirations aside, How to Hustle and Win's groundbreaking concept results in a truly appealing work. Its essays are delivered in short bursts, none of them over four pages long, making it ideal for struggling readers and those with shorter attention spans. At the same time, the book is filled with a wealth of information that would enlighten educated readers equally. In fact, the author juxtaposes his own personal tales of early delinquency and misdirection with his later years of professional success, including obtaining a doctorate in education at the age of 26.