The meaning of “hate” is as follows: an intense hostility and aversion; to express or feel extreme enmity; malicious; to find distasteful.
But what IF you can take the word hate and its meaning, flip it to something that’s positive & productive?… make it mean something different?…. turn Hate into a Household Brand and movement?
Question: How can this possibly be done?
It was already figured out. The Blueprint was drawn, and the construction was put in motion.
FOLLOW ME on this one.
A lot of heads forget my heritage because of how I move. I’m a New Yorker, plus a Master Networker and Hip Hip head, but I came from a heritage where both my parents are full-blood natives of Jamaica. I don’t be on my Jamaican shit, but stay on my rudebwoy shit when I want to.
I didn’t really start bigging up my Jamaican heritage until my late 20s when I was already buried alive in these prisons. I mean letting it show without being ashamed.
I met this brother when I was in my second institution in the state of Ohio. He is a full-blood yardie (Jamaican) and a New Yorker (Brooklynite) who traveled to Ohio to get that money. But he is also a rudebwoy scholar, always in the books such as almanacs, encyclopedias and dictionaries, so he is a fact checker who loves playing the game of Scrabble.
He knew my codefendants, one who is also full-blood yardie and one who is half-yardie. We were introduced by a mutual Jamaican, who knew I published novels and was making moves that made differences.
That introduction led to a very fruitful friendship. This my breddren. We built on numerous levels from all topics ranging from debates on facts of hip-hop– any genre of music: NY, England, Jamaica…WORLDWIDE– to Life itself. We built and debated about it Hands Down.
He was writing before we met, but being around me made Son go even HARDER..now he is stacking up his material, making moves, building Brands on publishing to screenwriting and putting together his own team.
He is a part of my writing team/family that I put together.
I read a lot of his work and must say the way he tells his stories stands where he is a great storyteller. He uses his words well. He paints immaculate visions with words. He is very dexterous. His intelligence is shown as he gracefully plays with the words he strategically places so you can envision his characters, smell the scents and hear the noises of the surrounding environment. No Doubt about it, he is a gangster who knows how to use his intellect to express words.
His stories are not on the same level to be categorized as urban or that street shit that most copy off the others and run with like it’s their own. Nah. His wordplay is way different where if you didn’t know it was him, you would think a college nerd with the love of the multi-cultured world is behind the scene of expressing pictures through his words.
It’s been many times during our conversations where he used a word that sent me to the dictionary (believe me, I always had to find a way to buss back).
GorillaConvict, meet the man who made HATE define success. Meet the man with the answer to that QUESTION. Meet Shaughn “Upz” Boone.
GorillaConvict: Yo, Sun!! What’s good? You finally here!!
Upz: Big up, Breddren!! You done know we shine. You see me! Happy to be here.
GC: You definitely here!!! Tell the audience who you are, where you from and how long you been locked up.
Upz: I’m Shaughn Boone, also known as “Upz.” I’m a father, a brother, a son, a friend, a writer and a student. I’m from Columbus, Ohio, by way of Brooklyn, NY, by way of Jamaica (the Nation). I been caged for twenty-five years as of this past Feb 27th.
GC: How long you been writing, and what got you started?
Upz: I been writing for as long as I been able to read. I read ’nuff comic books as a child and, in turn, created my own with people who look like me. I was an artist of sorts and made my characters Black boys & girls. As to writing real-life stories, that started when in 2008, during a convo with my second daughter, I learnt that she was reading “Diary of a Video Vixen” (SupaHead’s story). I have seen the book, so I was familiar with its content. I was fucked up, to say the least. That’s my word! My daughter was then 14 years old. I found out during our convo she been reading urban novels. She credits Sista Souljah’s “The Coldest Winter Ever” as the dopest book ever. That revelation eased my mind. I promised her then that I was going to write her a book about Love in the Hood. That was my first joint that I wrote for her, a 190-page joint I titled “Love Story.” Needless to say, she loved it. I never really took writing seriously til I met the homey (ShaKim Bio). Mi bredda Rum Chuck introduced us, and Sha told me he heard I be writing and shit. That was 2019. He asked to see something, and I had a story I had started years prior. It was a half-from-finished joint bout a stickup kid inna Brooklyn. He was in love with two different chicks and couldn’t choose. ShaKim loved it and begged me to finish it. He showed me his published joints and encouraged me. He harangued me daily until I got to it.
GC: So what’s up with this HATE concept? How did that come about, and what exactly HATE is and reps?
Upz: This HATE acronym is totally ShaKim’s interpretation, not mine…my thing was some shit that came while writing “One on 1”. Two hood kids make it BIG in the tech industry and decide to stay true to their community by staying hip-hop. At their first meeting with a bunch of tech heavyweights, they walk into the boardroom dressed to impress in black timbs, black jeans and casual blazers covering their fitted hoodies. Their meeting went great. Their attire didn’t detract from their product. As they exited the meeting and boarded the private jet back to Columbus, Jay (one of the two) proclaimed to Jahmikal (the other), “Damn, Dawg, We some real-life Hoodie & Timbs executives ain’t we?” To me, that’s what it was, “Hoods & Timbs Executives.” I thought about all the urban entrepreneurs who transitioned to legit businesses… from music to merchandising etc…I thought of all the athletes and regular kids who was raised on hip-hop and how they were changing the world! So my character Jay figures, What the Fuck!! “Hoodies & Timbs Execs” encompasses all Mufuckas who keep it hood and legit in and out the boardroom; all who refuse to conform to the norm but rather choose to blaze their own path by representing themselves and their generation in verse and attire (swag). To me, “HOODIE & TIMBS EXECS” is a reflection of what today’s corporate America is looking like. But as for what ShaKim Bio made into an acronym, I understand his vision of it, for it is the same as mine, as I explained, but he made it into a word using the acronym. Like he did his “S.H.A.K.I.M.’s HOOD.” It’s all love, though.
GC: What are your views on relationships and relationships with incarcerated heads?
Upz: Relationships? Yo relationships are paramount for the advancement of society as a whole. As people, we need relationships to function adequately. Good relationships are vital as diet & exercise as they pertain to health, both physically and mentally. Incarcerated heads need relationships both inside the walls and outside the walls, and their mental health is in dire straits without such.
GC: What messages are you trying to get across to the younger generation?
Upz: More than anything, I just want them to know that romance is alive and well, that finding a girl or a dude to love you for you is not an impossible task. So much energy is expended to talk and act tough, to be gangsta, a beast, a savage, et cetera, et cetera. No one wants to be as giving with LOVE, yet we all yearn for it (some secretly). In the end, love is all we need. It heals and conquers all.
GC: What projects are you working on, and what’s ready for release?
Upz: I’m writing, nah mean? I’m creating characters and building on new ones. I’m incorporating my children and what they do or are trying to do. As far as ready to release? Like, RIGHT NOW? Yo, I’m getting two joints edited right now, which we gon self publish through Amazon. “One on 1” and “Insperiences: The Symphony of Mello & Garnett” will be available soon. Very SOON!! Further info will be available then. It’s always something cooking! Feel me? What’s next is whichever taste right! Yuh see it!?
GC: How can the public get a sneak preview of your novels? I mean, can they?
Upz: Not presently, but your query done planted a seed. I am most certainly going to provide a preview of my finished works for public viewing in a couple weeks. Stayed tuned.
G.C: Any last words?
Upz: What’s to say? Just stay true to who you are. You can be a better YOU on any day than a good somebody else! Nah mean??!!
GC: Shoutouts?
Upz: But of course!! Gratitude is a must! Mom, you done know ah you ah my original muse; Goatie (mi Ghetto teacher) R.I.P. MI OG, OG Bobby [from] those many days at the weed store on Sutter & Ralph. You taught me so much. Forever grateful. GB, my natural father. A ruffian but an effective man nonetheless. Shorts, Raheem, Prentice (aka Wicked man), my brothers & sisters, unnuh know you unnuh is. My children, all seven, all special, all my favorites in their own way. Jay, Naimah, Dejion, Shawnie, Gary, Christian and Lex. Luv unnuh like how Jesus luv humanity. Tenna Saw (Rum Chuck), ShaKim Bio, Pabito, Trubb, G.Frank, Killa, Big Bwoy, Big Chip, DP, Scheme (from Portmore), Bones, J Boog, Cherry, Scienze, and so many more I’ve met along the way.
Mi gone. Thank you GorillaConvict.com! Gunshots!