This week I had the pleasure of sitting down with street lit author and publisher, Shaka Sanghor, to discuss his publishing company 'Drop a Gem', his hot selling book 'Crack', and what lead to him doing a 19 year bid in the state penitentiary. You’ll see that since his released, Shaka has began turning his vision into reality by starting his own publishing company, along with his fiancé Ebony, and is hoping to steer other young people from street life and the illusion of success that has sent too many of our young men to an early grave or life in prison. Here’s our interview…

RockStu: When did you decide to start a publishing company?

Shaka: The idea came from sitting in prison watching people like Teri Woods, Vickie Stringer, and others.  I realized that if I wanted my dream to come true I had to make it happen and not rely on somebody else.

RockStu: Tell us about Drop a Gem Publishing.

Shaka: The company is co owned by me and my fiancé Ebony, we started it in 2008 while I was still serving time in prison.  We came up with the name because when you’re using literature, you have to give people something that’s socially redeeming. So instead of preaching, we try to drop those jewels of wisdom, things we don’t really look at as we go through our everyday life.

Shaka: Definitely. We called the book “Crack” because we wanted to show people how the crack epidemic has basically destroyed a large part of our community.  While the book is very entertaining, it’s also very informative and you get a chance to actually see the devastation that crack causes and you also see people who are committed to solving some of those issues in the community.

Shaka: The hardest part was being in prison and working with minimum capital so me and my finance had to really save up money. But as long as you have a vision and passion for something, you can make it happen.

Shaka: That it’s my own concept, my own idea, and was not being pimped by somebody else. Even though it’s a small company, it’s “our” company at the end of the day. It’s something that we do out of our ambition and dreams and eventually it will get where we want it to be because were passionate about what we do.

Shaka: Ultimately we plan to take Drop a Gem into the film industry. We also have a mentorship program were developing. We’re really trying to branch out into several different things.  We want to be an all purpose publishing house.

Shaka: No. The mentorship program will be call “Heart of the Matter”. It really deals with the psychological and emotional damage that a lot of our children are experiencing that lead them into the street life.

Shaka: I think it brings a certain level of genuineness to it. I know about the things I write about, having lived through it. It brings a level of authenticity that you can’t get unless you’ve lived through it but that’s not to say that other writers can’t write about it.

Shaka: Crack is like the hottest book in the streets right now. It’s been called one of the most addictive books because its plot driven and unlike a lot of street lits, it actually has a lot of complex characters and rich dialog but the most important part is that it’s socially redeeming. So while it’s very gritty and grimy it’s really socially redeeming.  It’s about a detective who moves back to Detroit to solve the murder of a childhood friend and he finds out that the conflict that he thought originated with drug dealers was actually somebody with his own force. So it creates that whole dynamic of police corruption which is rampant in cities like Detroit. It deals with the poverty that gives birth to drug dealer. It has some very sophisticated characters. It’s just a whole different look for the streets.

Well actually, it mirrors the reality. That’s what made me write about it because I know when people read it, if they don’t know a person in the book they know somebody like the person in the book. It’s just bringing that realness out.

Shaka: Were actually in the process of getting ready to release ‘Crack Volume 2’ which has been greatly anticipated. I think it’s going to be the book that’s going to continue to change the game. Honestly, I think it’s the best piece of work that I’ve written and I’ve written a lot of works. ‘Crack Volume 2’ is really going to be that deal.

Shaka: Tentatively, the end of November 2010.

Shaka: What I most want people to know about Shaka the man is that like a lot of young brothers, I grew up in the streets and I got caught up in that life style and it led to me serving 19 years in prison but I refuse to allow prison to be my legacy.  I took the opportunity to transform my life and what I want people to know is that no matter what their going through in life, if you have the confidence and the insight and wisdom you can totally change your life and impact other people’s life. I want people to know that I’m really passionate about mentoring. I really believe in reaching out to the people in our community. I’m just a brother who came from a hard set of circumstance and found a way to turn it around.

Shaka: You can pick it up at Harlem World Video, Can You Picture This, Nandi's Knowledge Café, Hood Books, Spectacle Detroit, and then you can catch me straight out the trunk.

RockStu: Well thank you so much for sitting down with RockStu and we look forward to more work from Drop a Gem.

Shaka: For sure, it’s been my pleasure, I love what you’re doing and we have to support each other.