The Cook Up & The Beast Side & More

by​ D. Watkins


​Dear Watkins,

What was the driving force behind your insistence to get your voice heard and get your first book published?
​
I read a lot work by people who wrote about the street culture, but never really been in the street culture, that’s problematic to me–– we should be documenting our own journeys.
​
What is the most unexpected, but significant review you’ve received for The Cook Up?
 
A woman called into a radio show in Baltimore and said that The Cook Up gave a voice to her fallen husband. He was murdered when their kids were 2 and 4, and she said The Cook Up captured the true nature of his essence in a way she couldn’t. The language and stories introduced her kids to the world her husband lived and died in and they are better off because of it.

How has your life changed since moving away from being identified as an unknown variable as late as 2014?
​
I still feel like an unknown variable. I work really hard everyday and still push to get my projects out to the world.

* * *

BANG! BANG! BANG!
Aunt Kim's front door almost thumped off the hinges, while I was rolling a celebratory blunt because College Park, Georgetown, Loyola, and a couple of other schools were letting me in. 
"Kim, kill the music!" I said, looking through the peephole. 
I opened the door without removing the latch to see Ron G prop both hands on his knees like kickstands, his oval belly peeking out of his shirt. 
"Ron, what the fuck is up?" I said. 
He breathed heavily, "Yo, find Gee. They shot Bip!" he said - with his pudgy face pinching through the door. 

* * *

Years pass and your big bro, your idol, is still king of east Baltimore, the reigning champ of the block. You realize that he's what you want to be. You even try to step outside to greet his crew and join in the drug talk. "Y'all rockin off a lot of coke out here!" you say, looking for approval. He laughs at you and says, "You finish those books? I got more!"

You reply, "Fredrick Douglass says, 'If there is no struggle, there is no progress' and 'Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.'"

He smiles and spits three more Douglass quotes, six more facts about things you and the other guys on the corner have never heard of and then another twelve book titles that you need to read. 

You could never stump your brother. He didn't go to school but he was smarter than every teacher you ever had. He sends you back in the house with your head down. You know the corner isn't for you and he has no trouble reminding you.  
​

* * *

Your second book, The Beast Side, is a New York Times Best Seller but more than that it is… 
​
It’s a bible to young minorities trying to find their way and instant proximity to whites who want to gain a better understating of some of the issues facing Black America.

Sadly some people refuse to acknowledge what it’s like growing up young and black in contemporary urban America. What’s your attitude towards that group of people?

I can’t make them care, so I just show love and educate who I can.

What are some of the most eye opening realities that would change so many hearts and minds around the country? 

I still know people who live in America without running water. Many of the schools in my hometown of Baltimore don’t have simple things like proper AC or heat–– forget technology, how can you learn math in the freezing cold or blistering heat? 

​Who instilled in you the belief in the power of education?

My big brother Bip, my cousin Kev and the block.
 
How do you pass that on to your students?

I lead by example and use my own story of redemption as a tool to motivate them.
 
You write, “Selling death to your own people” which sounds like self condemnation of the highest degree. How do you move past that and do you worry about correcting the past? 

My past is just that, the past, but the work that I do now is important, I am pulling kids off the corner, I mentor dozens of writers, inspired thousands of oppressed people and will continue to do this work as long as I can.

What’s the biggest key to navigating between two seemingly different worlds? 

Communication is the key. The worlds I navigate aren’t that different at the core, and communicating effectively taught me that.
 
What’s your attitude towards skeptics?  

I don’t’ give energy to skeptics, it’s too much work to be done to give them any of my energy.   

Your work attracted much deserved attention without a PR machinery behind it. What is the most remarkable change you’ve witnessed in the world you’ve known and experienced firsthand? 

I really have the hood walking around with books. In Baltimore at least, we are working on getting the rest of the world to catch up, but I have never seen groups of young people walking up and down the block reading the same book. The sky isn’t a high enough limit for them and I’m truly honored to be able to play a role in that.

What’s the dichotomy between life in the streets and an academic life?

People from my neighborhood are much more authentic and genuine then you will find in academia. But I must say, if you can survive in the streets, you can make it anywhere.

You have said you are trying to point out that it's not really how you start life, it's how you finish. How about the journey from start to finish?
​
It’s not easy; every road is paved with both roses and thorns. The key is to acknowledge the positive, create positive energy when there’s none around, eliminate distractions, run towards the things you fear and proudly work hard while enjoying the journey.
Where to buy The Cook Up: A Crack Rock Memoir

www.barnesandnoble.com
www.amazon.com

​Where to buy The Beast Side: Living (and) Dying While Black in America

www.barnesandnoble.com
​www.amazon.com