What made you decide to write a book?
C-Murder: Well first of all I was behind bars facing a life sentence so I didn’t know what the future held. But I knew one thing: I had to get on my grind. And one thing, I got to get my hustle on. Plus I like to express myself and put my words out there. Since I couldn’t do it in music, I said let me do it with the book. And plus I had been doing a lot of studying and reading a lot of books. A lot of people don’t know I was an honor student in school. I read about 500 books since I’ve been locked up. So I felt like, let me get started on this, let me become an author.
What was your creative process?
C-Murder: The first thing I did was I started reading more. Sometimes I read a book in one day. So I started getting real interested in everything about books. And I just started feeling the flow and how different authors express themselves in a book. I learned a lot by hands-on experience. Whatever I’m doing, I learn. If I could see it, I could do it, and I learn quick.
Then I’m like All right, let me just try writing. But I’m my biggest critic. So then I said, I need some info on this. I said I need a book that can teach you how to write a book and write a novel, and all about publishing. I wanna know everything about the game, ya heard me? So I got all that information through the library. So then I’m sitting down, reading it all and getting the game in my head. The dos and don’ts and all this stuff is right there. One of my favorite authors, Dean Koontz, even wrote a book on how to write a novel. His was crucial cause I liked how he put his words. But I still wanted the urban crowd. So [Death Around The Corner] is me mixed with Koontz—that’s how I feel. And that’s how it all started.
How long did it take to finish the book?
C-Murder: Writing Death Around The Corner from prison took me two years. I wrote everything by hand in notebooks and then mailed them out to be typed up on a computer. It could have been done before that, but sometimes there’s so much happening on the tier and so much going on in your case and your personal life that you just have to chill. You know what I mean?
And then Katrina hit—the storm. I’d sent out a lot of chapters that were lost when all the mail got shut down. So once we came back from Katrina, and the mail started rolling, I called and said, Look for the mail! And the Post office said Call this number and go on this website, cause it’s just sitting in crates out in the sun. So four months later I got all them chapters back. Then I just finished the last of the chapters right then and there. And that was it.
Do you still have any of those notebooks?
C-Murder: Yeah I got the original manuscript and everything. I ain’t gonna lose nothing about my process and how it all started.
Why did you choose the title Death Around The Corner?
C-Murder: Every day I was locked up all I kept hearing about was people getting killed—young dudes. Three murders one day, four murders, five murders. I was looking at the news and reading about it. There was just a lot of brothers getting killed. So I said it looks like everybody has to watch their back. It’s serious out there. Death is so close—right around the corner. Everybody can relate to it, from my hood to your hood. Anywhere. Death right around the corner. So that was the theme of the whole book. Once you read the book you will understand where I’m coming from. It’s just the life of a young black man growing up in the hood with the odds against him. So anybody can get it. Death always right around the corner.
Daquan, the main character of the book, starts out so innocent.
C-Murder: That’s how we all start out—innocent. Daquan is just a little boy happy to go to school, happy for the little things in life: playing in the grass, having fun on the see-saws at the park. Then at five years old, his mom’s on drugs, pops find her with another man, then out of rage he shoots the other man in front of him. So that was his first sight of tragedy, and it all goes downhill from there. Right there I grabbed you. And from then on it’s just growing up with Daquan.
This seems like a story for all the people that society has given up on.
C-Murder: Yeah, a lot of Daquans are out there. I mean you can just walk out on the street and find a Daquan. You can just drive through the hood and see a Daquan, a snotty nose with a Pamper, just out there starving, ain’t got nothing to do. No parks to play in, no family, mom’s on drugs, pops left, you know, broken family, broken home, abandoned. There’s millions and millions of Daquans in the world right now. Not just black, but white and overseas, South America, Asia, Africa, everything. There’s millions and millions of Daquans all over the world.
Is Daquan based on a real person that you knew?
C-Murder: Uh-uh, Daquan is just a young street boy. You know, I’m from the streets. So it’s from my eyes, and it’s from another tragedy I’ve witnessed, that person’s eyes. Another family situation’s eyes. So I just put everything together. So it’s a whole mixture of everybody. That’s why I think a lot of people are going to relate to him.
One of the toughest parts of the book is how Daquan’s closest friend flips on him.
C-Murder: See, that’s one thing about the streets. You can’t trust nobody but yourself. Even your best friend will kill you. My brother [Kevin Miller] was killed by his best friend so that was an angle I got from there. I added a lot of tragedies into this book. My brother was killed by his best friend, or who he thought was his best friend. And look what happened to him.
And that’s not the only time that I have witnessed that happen. Other people from New Orleans has been killed by their best friend. Because of jealousy or envy or money, or just a little fight, a fight over a pair of shoes or clothes or a girl. Boom—one gone. So I just put it in the book like that to show ’em that it’s real. Trust nobody but yourself.
But then you’ve got women in the book like Mandi, who holds her man down regardless of anything.
C-Murder: A lot of dudes in jail will tell you you can trust a woman more than you can trust a dude to take care of you and hold you down. And you know, your Mama supposed to give you the game. She gonna tell ya right from wrong off top. So you know, women just have that natural instinct to just stick by you and do their thing. So that was how I created Mandi. I wanted a down, down chick that’s been in the game, been through some serious stuff—you know, hustling, doing what she gotta do—and she trying to get to this point and do right. But she got all the connections, and she got all the wisdom, and she’s just gonna pass it on and pass it on. Straight up.
And another strong woman in the book is Daquan’s Grandma...
C-Murder: Yeah, Grandma Mama. See me, I got a strong grandma, her name Big Mama. And she fussy bossy, don’t take nuttin off nobody. Tell you what to do, hit you in the head with a shoe, anything—ya heard? But she good people. She got a big heart. She take care of the whole family. She’s the nucleus of the whole generation. And so, you know, I transferred some of that into the book too, just from personal experience, personal knowledge. And even like in the movie Soul Food, the grandma was the nucleus that kept everybody together and made the big decisions and the tough decisions. Like when Grandma Mama put Jerome out for selling drugs, or when she put Daquan out for selling drugs. So it’s real, and that’s where it come from…
And that tore her up.
C-Murder: It tore her up all the way. It hurt her more to put him out but she knew she had to. I mean, that’s just how it go—or get took down with it. Cause eventually it’s gonna come in the door, come in the house, bam bam bam, shoot it up. She keeping the rest of the family out of danger.
The other strong female character in the book is Diana.
C-Murder: Yeah. [laughs] I always wanted a crucial twist. See all my books that I write, I’ma make sure they have a crucial, crucial twist that nobody don’t really think about. Cause I be thinkin’ about other things sometimes people don’t even think about. So Diana’s like a guardian angel type of person… Daquan’s sister died before he was born. And it’s like, when he’s going through a situation with something that’s not right, and he’s about to make a bad decision, she would come and console him and try to push him to the right direction. And it’s his choice if he take the right direction or not. And it was a spirit form she would come in. But every time he aged, she would age. You see what I’m saying? That was his big sister, and so she stuck with him to the end.
Are there any ghosts in the CP3?
C-Murder: Yeah… a lot of ghosts in the CP3, man. I had my experiences with ghosts back in the day, ya heard me? I mean New Orleans haunted. Everybody has seen a haunted house in New Orleans. See what I’m saying? So everybody been through it. Had rocking chairs rocking and the lights going off and on. It’s real. It ain’t no crazy stuff. It’s real.
And after the hurricane there must be more ghosts out there than ever.
C-Murder: Yeah after the hurricane there’s more spirits and lost souls out there right now in the city, just walking around, just bewildered about what happened. Don’t know where they should go. Just really lost. Tragic, huh? So that’s one thing we trying to do right now, just shake back from all that. I know a lot of people that died. It’s blood, sweat, and tears out there. That’s one of the worst things that ever happened, man—Katrina.
In the documentary last night, they said there’s still a lot of bodies in the Lower Ninth Ward.
C-Murder: Yeah, and it’s real. Every day, like last week, they found a couple of bodies. Two weeks before that they found a couple bodies. They come on the news all the time. They say there’s still some people unaccounted for. So you know where they at. If they unaccounted for, they somewhere in that rubble.
When we went by Calliope the other day, you got so much love.
C-Murder: You know… What I do, I try to get everybody and show a lot of people—especially where I’m from in the projects—a good time, basically. Same way I woulda wish it had been done for me if somebody else woulda made it. I ain’t ask you for no handouts or nuttin’ like that, but just show me one good time if you can. So what I used to do is rotate. When I go do shows, I tell this group y’all coming with me on the road. Next time y’all coming with me. Next time y’all coming with me. And they’ll be telling me, Man it’s the best time I had in my life. That’s all I want to hear. I say well that’s what I want you to do is enjoy yourself. You have something you done did positive. Had the best time, met the biggest stars, and just enjoyed life—for that weekend. That could mean a lot. That could change a person’s life. So that’s what I be doing. Trying to guide ’em in the right way.
A lot of people who are born in the projects live their whole life without leaving the projects. So they don’t see all the things that are out there.
C-Murder: Give ’em the game and let ’em know, this is what you could do. You ain’t gotta do this, you can do this. Puts your guts and glory into it and handle your business. Just let ’em know, the hustle game gotta be crucial. That’s all I be lettin’ em know—just look at the opportunities. Long as you got your hustle game down pat, it’s gonna happen. You know? Just look for a way out better than the way you going. That’s it.
Why did you keep your place at the Calliope even after you had another home?
C-Murder: Well you know, I’m there all the time. So [laughs] I needed somewhere. You know I wanna be relaxed good. I hooked it up. Had it crucial. I had the carpet, had the walls, you know, I had everything done nice in there. Cause you know, I got a lot of friends back there, and it’s still what I call home. Because you know, I really feel safe when I’m in the projects. I ain’t gotta hold it down or do nothing. I ain’t gotta watch my back. It’s when I leave outta there that stuff happens. Like when I went to the Platinum Club. Now look—I’m in a whole situation for murder. You see what I’m saying? So if I’da stayed I’d be good.
Yesterday you went to visit your brother’s grave for the first time since his funeral. And not just his grave but also your grandfather who served in the Navy. What’s your memories of him?
I ain’t got nothing but good memories of my grandpa, that’s Big Daddy. Them the ones that was my guardians when my mom and daddy didn’t want me. Big Mama and Big Daddy took me in and became my legal guardians. Became my mom and dad, raised me, you know? So I got nothing but good memories. And then they always treated me like I was their own. It wasn’t never like, Oh, that’s our grandson, he’s not actually our child, we’re not gonna do this like we do for them. I got everything equal. You know, they gave me the game. Treated me like family and everything. Stayed true to us—and that’s what it’s all about.
They took in you and your brothers and sister? Raised all of you?
C-Murder: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
How did that feel when your parents couldn’t take care of you?
C-Murder: That was hard to swallow. But at the same time you can’t just sit around and cry about it. You just gotta go do what you gotta do. Become a man. You just had to block that out your head. And do what you gotta do. Enjoy yourself as a child. Even though I went through all that, I still enjoyed myself as a child.
There was lots of fun things to do. Like Daquan, run in the park, play games, play basketball, go to school. You still can have fun, even when you in the hood, eating commodity cheese and all that stuff, you get used to it. You see what I’m saying? And once you get a bicycle or something like that, you know, the world is yours. You just gotta stay positive, even in a bad situation.
That’s one of the reasons why I was so down to earth when I was locked up and stuff. I wasn’t tripping on where I come from to where I’m at. You know what I’m saying? I was grounded and didn’t let the obstacles take me down. You know?
When somebody hands you a life sentence, a lot of people would give up right there. How did you keep that focus?
C-Murder: Sh—I just knew one thing, I had to get back free. I got family, I got kids, my woman. I gotta hold it down for them. I gotta get out. First thing first is freedom. So it’s like you get shot in the leg. You know you not dead. It ain’t over. You gonna make it. It wasn’t a head shot and stuff like that. You got a chance. You got appellate courts. Once you get into the system, you do a lot of reading on what’s going on. I knew that I was set up. And I knew in my heart that the truth gonna come out. So I was like, it’s coming. This ain’t what God got for me.
Excerpt Death Around the Corner
A Novel by C-Murder
“Watson. Mail call.”
Daquan vaguely heard the voice of the C.O., but the familiar sound of paper being slid on the gravelly concrete instantly woke him up. He sat up and instinctively looked at the window, following the slivers of light to the shadows on the floor. Being on lockdown for four months, he had learned how to tell time by the length of shadows on the floor. Elongated shadows meant it was close to sunset.
He got up and slid into his shower shoes to make the few steps to the cell door. He had one piece of mail, but the envelope was rather large. When he turned it over and read the name, he sucked his teeth, then tossed it on the bed while he took a piss. The letter was from Desiree. She had written him at least five times in the seven months he had been away, but he never wrote her back. He was just 13, but to him, she was a little girl with a crush, talking ’bout a little girl’s world he couldn’t identify with....
“Trays! Trays! Hold it down in here!” the big-bellied C.O. bellowed.
Daquan took the styrofoam tray and cup up to his bunk, then looked inside to find boiled eggs and mashed potatoes. He was so hungry, he forgot to curse it or bless it. In the distance, he heard his man, G-Money, call out, “C.O.! Yo, C.O.! I need to see you. I got hair in my tray!” The C.O. came back to G-Money’s cell like, “Where?”
G-Money held up a long strand of blond hair. “Right here.” The C.O. smugly replied, “How I know you ain’t put it in there?” G-Money looked at him, black and nappy headed, and exclaimed, “Muhfucka, I look like I got blond hair?”
The C.O. smirked and replied, “You do now,” then walked off.
“Stupid, fat bastard!” G-Money yelled after him, then added, “But I got that ass! Believe that!”
Everyone could hear G-Money mumbling about “gassin’ him up,” and they all knew what it meant. It was a mixture of piss and Magic Shave hair remover. Magic Shave came in powder form, but once it was wet, it became like clay putty. Used right, it removed hair, but left on, it removed skin like an acid. The piss was to make it stick in a humiliating way.
“Yo, Money, man, just chill,” a sensible voice cautioned. “That shit ain’t worth it.”
“Naw, fuck dat, bruh. These muhfuckas keep playin’ me, man!” G-Money spat. “For real, I’m tired of this shit!”
He was a man in a cage who had had enough. He knew the consequences of his actions. He knew what they would do to him. But the mere satisfaction of seeing that C.O. burned up was enough to motivate him. Daquan called out to him, “Money! You ’bout to go, bruh! Let dem crackers go on with this shit!”
G-Money was too far gone to answer. Everyone waited with bated breath as the C.O. came back to collect empty trays. As he passed Daquan’s cell, Daquan looked at him and imagined his sunburned face peeling like a dried orange. In his heart, he knew the cracker deserved it. He just wished it wasn’t G-Money who had to do it. As the C.O. reached G-Money’s cell, G-Money was ready.
He brought the cup through the bars and caught the man dead in the face.
“Argggh!” the C.O. screamed in agony, blinded by the piss and feeIing the thick putty ooze all over his grill.
“Yeah, muhfucka! SizzIe, you swine. Sizzle!” G-Money taunted with glee. The inmates erupted in taunts and curses as the C.O. stumbled his way along the tier, nearly falling off it end over end.
“Heeeelllp me!!!” he screamed, the Magic Shave eating into
his face.
Another C.O. saw him stumbling down the stairs and ran to his assistance, escorting him to the nearest water supply. The dorm continued to cheer until the C.O. was gone, but then the noise began to die down because everyone knew the victory would be short lived. No one spoke for a few minutes, until Cee hollered, “Yo, Money, you aiight, bruh?”
“Yeah,” G-Money replied, and they could tell by his tone of voice that he was moving around, preparing himself.
“You know they comin’,” Cee continued. “Be strong, soldier, ya heard me?”
“Always, baby, always,” G-Money confirmed.
They all saw the six officers with the extra-long batons enter, headed by Sergeant Tillman. The smirk on his face told all who could see it that this was the part of the job he loved most.
“Soldier, whody!” Cee exclaimed once more.
His voice echoed, then got trampled under the sound of twelve steel-toed boots ascending the stairs.
“You need six muhfuckas for one man, you cowards!” Nut
cried out.
“Shut up or you next!” the sergeant barked, not knowing who said it. They walked by Daquan’s door without looking right or left. But he could hear them stop in front of G-Money’s cell.
“Inmate Robinson, lay down on the floor and place your hands behind your head,” Tillman ordered.
No one heard G-Money’s reply.
“This is your final warning, Inmate Robinson. Lay down on
the floor.”
“Hell no!” G-Money blurted out, more out of fear than defiance. He knew it was coming either way, so he wanted to face it standing. Daquan heard the cell open, and all six officers rushed G-Money at one time. He was the average size of a 15-year-old, so it wasn’t long before they heard, “I’m down! I’m down!” But the scuffling sounds continued.
“Fuck y’all cowards! The man said he down!” Daquan hollered, wishing he could get out of his own cell and run to
G-Money’s aid.
“Ow, man! I…” G-Money mumbled, but was cut off by a sickening wooden thud that landed on flesh. The thuds continued over and over, until they subsided and Tillman said, “Get a stretcher.”
A few minutes later, a stretcher was brought up. Daquan could hear them putting G-Money on it, but he wasn’t prepared for what he saw. When they carried him by Daquan’s cell, he couldn’t recognize his friend. His upper body was covered in blood and his head was swollen like those famous pictures of Emmett Till. All Daquan could do was lower his head.
When he lifted it, Tillman was standing at his door. “I run this,” he whispered triumphantly. Then he just smiled and walked off.
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