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This is my Reality …J.M Benjamin
Posted on February 19th, 2009 No comments
This is my Reality …J.M Benjamin
By, KaToi
Swagga invaded the Literary Festival Saturday at the Charlotte Convention Center. The moment you stepped into the room you could feel the energy and you immediately wanted to be apart of it. A canopy of Authors, Vendors and Sponsors consumed the room just to get a glimpse of all the crafts being displayed. As you walked into the room you couldn’t help but to notice this man standing in a sea of fans. Curiosity got the best of me, so I joined the crowd . Immediately I understood the fascination that was generated by this man. J.M. stood there with the confidence of a solider…a street solider. The admiration and respect that shined from his fans faces had a contagious affect to it. As you glance at the titles of his books you know instantly that this man is the real deal . His titles grab your attention and make you wonder more about the information he is providing. “Down In The Dirty”, “Ride or Die Chick “, “My Manz and Em” and his latest creation “On The Run With Love” will have you hypnotized and energized with every word that penetrates the paper. J.M. is a creative genius, who brings the hood straight into your home. He grabs your attention the moment you read the first page.J.M Benjamin grew up in Plainfield, NJ and as he would say “Everything’s real in the Field” and you better believe J.M. is the realest of the real. Life experiences are what generated every word that graces the pages of his novels. As I sat in his presence I became mesmerized by the soul of this man. His light- brown eyes held a story, which he expresses through every pen stroke. He shared with me that writing is therapeutic and a way of expressing himself, but growing up in the hood it wasn’t cool to express yourself through poetry or drawings so he kept this positive gift to himself. Writing energized his damaged soul and helped him to express and tackle the demons that consumed his existence. Through his writing’s he realized all of the hurt and pain that shadowed his life like a bad dream.
J.M. shared the deep compassion and respect that he has for his mother and how it hurt him so much to see her struggling everyday and the only way he thought to lift that burden was to go to the street. He had to be the man his mother needed. That was the day the streets called his name and he began his journey.
The decisions he made altered his life and had him incarcerated at the age of 15. J.M was charged as an adult and sentenced to 7 years, which he served 20 months in an adult prison in North Carolina and was released as what he felt was a better criminal. Nearly 3 years later J.M. found himself right back in the Belly of the Beast for drug trafficking, racketeering, and a sleuth of other felony charges.
As devastating as it was for his family, J.M. took this opportunity to work on himself, grow, and learn from his peers. By the time he was released from the gates of hell J.M. was a man and he was about take the hood by storm with a new product!
Family runs deep through the veins of this author. He is a loyal father, brother, and a friend and if for some reason you cross the lines of respect towards his family, the home he knew for 12 years of his life could possibly become reality again. As he sat on the couch strolling through his blackberry he made a statement that sent chills down my spine, “The only way I would ever relive the game again is through a pen “. His life is an open book that he revisits through his writing. He realizes the havoc he may have caused to some other person’s family but at the end of the day, he is a solider, provider for his family and he would ride and die for them. Love him or hate him J.M. Benjamin is here to stay. He is the representation of the hood, the good and the bad.
From his personal to professional life the hood is the heart of this man and with every beat he enters a new chapter of his life .As we began to wrap up our interview J.M. leaned back on the couch and said “All I want in my life is for my kids to be okay. I am already rich, maybe not in currency but in knowledge. I pray everyday that my kids don’t follow in my footsteps, and that their decisions are better ones then mine were when I was their age. However at the end of the day this is me, this is my reality, a baller by nature …..”
You can find out more about J.M. at myspace.com/jmbenjamin_authorBy KaToi
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