Get Smart! by Cavario H.

Cavario H. is a well-known and respected member of the urban/hip-hop community having made his bones and honed his journalistic and writing chops as a founding father of two of the most respected magazines in the rap/street forum– Don Diva and Hip-Hop Weekly. After penning his first book, Raised by Wolves, an autobiography on his life in the streets and drug game Cavario has made his first foray into fiction with Get Smart! From Body of Power Publishing, a literary thriller that delves into politics, betrayal and power on the highest levels of American Society. Check out what Cavario has to say about it.

What is the title of your new book and what is it about?

The new book’s called Get SMART! It’s a political suspense thriller with hints of espionage and heavy organized crime elements. The lead character is Calvin Smart; he’s a black Senator from Illinois who was raised in Chicago’s Little Italy.

What made you decide to write this book and go this direction with your work?

I knew it would give me an opportunity to go in multiple directions with the story because the setting is so broad. I’m an avid reader and film buff and multi-layered plots have always attracted me.

What made you decide to get into publishing?

I love books! Physical books, not digital. I don’t do so-called tablets.

How do you promote your work?

Fliers, social networks, functions, Hip-Hop Weekly magazine, basically any means available to me.

What are the struggles you have faced as an independent publisher?

Creating resources independent of the corporate machine and circumventing the endless distractions vying for the public’s attention.

How do you network to market and increase the visibility of your work?

In a word, Hustle! I get out and I meet, meet people constantly, I “press the flesh” as the saying goes. Word of mouth is my greatest asset.

You have had a long and storied writing career from Don Diva to Hip-Hop Weekly to author and publisher what is next for you?

Television and film; I will create a series based on my autobiography, Raised By Wolves: Inside the Life & Mind of A Guerrilla Hustler, and Get SMART! is undeniably cinematic.

Let’s talk about hip-hop, what is the state of hip-hop today and who are the stars of tomorrow?

I have no interest in that genre of so-called entertainment. It’s a pool of fools in my eyes and the youth seem to be drawn into the deep in where they’re sure to drown.

Looking back on your career as a founding father of first Don Diva and then Hip-Hop Weekly how do you view yourself and your accomplishments?

The fact that I began selling narcotics at age 13 in 1980 and crossed every ‘T’ and dotted every ‘I’ for 17-1/2 years in some of the most deadly cities on America’s eastern seaboard, then retired of my own volition, alive, healthy and free, makes me feel extremely fortunate and appreciative of that fortune. As far as accomplishments go, I’ve only just begun. My best is yet to come.

Let’s take it back to the streets, what is the state of the drug game and the streets today in your opinion?

The drug game has gone corporate, “big pharma” has synthesized every type of stimulant we could ever have imagined and then some. The streets are just a cultivation ground for the would-be slaves of the prison industrial system… the corporate gangsters strike again.

Anything else?

Live, Laugh, & Love. And always remember, the only thing truly gangster is KNOWLEDGE!

Order Get Smart! at www.cavarioh.com