Here’s the intro to the Q&A I did earlier this month with the Miami New Times:
At this late date in the evolution of gangsta rap and its offspring, any spitter blatantly boasting about his underworld drug connects is almost automatically considered a fake. Take the 305′s Rick Ross. He claimed to be a kingpin. He turned out to be a Florida corrections officer.
But Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory, his brother Terry Flenory, and the rest of the Black Mafia Family weren’t bullshitting at all.
She touched on everything from Black Mafia Family’s alleged relationships to Jeezy and Fabolous, to BMF-related crimes that snared Jacob the Jeweler and several associates of Sean “Diddy” Combs.
Says Jenny: “This is a very interesting book. Very interesting.”
The talented Clayton Marcus was kind enough to produce this video of the March 2 party celebrating the release of BMF: The Rise and Fall of Big Meech and the Black Mafia Family. Thanks, Clayton! And thanks Eyedrum, too, for offering up such a fantastic space for the event.
Considering that “The Wire” is the best show in the history of television, this is pretty freakin’ amazing: Hassan Johnson, a.k.a. ‘Wee-Bey’ Brice — loyal lieutenant to Avon Barksdale, father to ponytailed Namond and lover of pit sandwiches with extra horseradish — will be narrating the audio version of the book.
This month’s Atlanta Magazine offers an early peek at BMF: The Rise and Fall of Big Meech and the Black Mafia Family, which hits the streets March 2. Here’s the setup:
Demetrius Flenory, better known in many Atlanta circles as “Big Meech,” spends his days and nights in Jesup, Georgia, where he is an inmate at the federal medium-security prison. His scheduled release date is twenty-two years from this month. Almost 3,000 miles to the west, Meech’s brother, Terry, is serving a similar stretch at a federal prison in the chilly Sierra Nevada mountains of northern California.
BMF on the History Channel show "Gangland": In an episode titled "Death Before Dishonor," the History Channel delves into the Black Mafia Family. BMF author Mara Shalhoup makes a guest appearance. Fri., Sept. 24, 10 p.m. www.history.com.
Buy the book on Amazon.com