Thursday, February 20, 2020. Very cold morning in Atlanta. I woke
up at the airport again. But this time I was sitting at my favorite seat, which
is at the biggest table with four chairs in the food court section of
Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, which is located directly in front of
Burger King. I stayed behind this day. After airport police usually start
running off people who spent the night or is still in there sleeping, for that
is also the time when Marta train services starts back running. 4:30 a.m. I had
work to do, not sleep to catch. I was inspired and could not wait to go meet my
real estate mentor, Jay Morrison, and see what he was talking about tomorrow. Just
earlier that week, I had stumbled across his financial advisor, a very cool
white dude who bought two of my From Suspect To Prospect stage play tickets in
this same area of the airport, which were for Jay and his wife to come see me
perform on Saturday, July 18, 2020, 6 p.m. at the Apex Museum in Atlanta.
Jay’s financial
advisor was very sharp, looking like he had money-type sharp with his suit and
tie on. When I saw this guy sittting in the food court on his iPad working, I had
to say something to him. “Hey ya, you hiring? You looking like money, and I
need a job!”
One day when I was
9-years old riding in the passenger seat of my grandfather St. Elmer Collins’
pick-up truck, I watched him pull up on some older white guy going into a store
in South Plainfield, New Jersey, where he said that to him. I used that to
start-up a conversation and network ever since then.
But on this day,
I wasn’t going anywhere until I got this Coming To Atlanta treatment and
corporate sponsorship proposal for Jay done, or at least close to where I
wanted it at. I had been working on this reality show for several months now. Ever
since that day I recorded this white Georgia State University student giving me
the most inspiring book review that I had received in a very long time.
This was my
second game-changing book review. And I had it all on video this time. My first
game-changing book review is what inspired me to adapt my first autobiography into
a 2013 one-man stage play script. But, this book review right here, which is
after I gave this 20-year old college student a copy of From Suspect To
Prospect to read, once he read it and then I did a reality-style interview on him
in September, I never knew that it would end up changing my life forever.
I watched and
studied this video footage for one whole week after he did it, which is when I
first started converting it into text and promoted it in several different
ways. That’s when I came up with this idea, which is to start working on my
second autobiography and a documentary-style web series to support it, all at
the same time. Each character from my book would help support my story, as well
as tell their version of what’s it like for them to come to Atlanta and for the
people from Atlanta to tell the world their side of the story. Not what reality
show Love & Hip Hop or Hollywood would the world to see.
I still had the
footage from every celebrity and every notable individual that I met since September
12, 2015. I already had footage of over twenty TV news reporters, the cast from
several big movies and television shows, and even artist such as TLC, Young
Jeezy, MC Hammer, A-Z and Yung Joc. Since the day I first stepped foot in
Atlanta, up until now, which is exactly two months after my life had changed
overnight, I was always outside somewhere putting in that groundwork. And since
that day, it always seemed like nothing would working. For five long hard
years, I went through hell in Atlanta, but I also didn’t up. I was 100% sure
that this is where I was going to make it at, if nowhere else.
Since my brother
first started playing games and stood me up back in 2010, thank God it gave me
a chance to start working on just me, myself and I. I still had our corporate
sponsorship proposal, some brochures and everything else to promote our Authors
vs Rappers edutainment program, along with what I wrote, produced and designed just
for the both of us, hoping we could attract major sponsors and advertisers with
our documentary-film series and magazine project.
Furthermore, this
was a brand-new project I was working on this day, which didn’t have nothing to
do with him or anybody else from Plainfield, New Jersey. Fortunately, I had my
own show, too much talent as an artist and worked entirely too hard for me to let
anybody stop me, including family. I had my notepad out and was already at this
table for several straight hours. I had just printed out a copy of my web
series poster the day before. I also had some other marketing material scattered
all over the table, such as my book flyers and brochures. I had my head in the
books, working on my treatment for the reality show, which is when I couldn’t
help but to notice these two young guys walking past me. They were heading towards
Burger King as I saw how they both were looking at what was on my table, especially
the taller one with a big Gucci blanket wrapped around his shoulders, who
looked like he was ballen. I took a glance back as they walked to Burger King,
but never would I jump up and start acting like a female groupie or do
something crazy over nobody, not even if they were rich or famous.
I turned back
around to the table to get back to what I was going. Several moments later,
something told me to look around. When I did, I saw these same two young boys looking
over my shoulder, checking out what I was doing. Once I noticed them looking, I
was about to say something to try to network with them. I had to, before they
got away, hit at least one of them with my elevator pitch. But, before I could
say something, the taller brother with the Gucci blanket on, walks up to the
table and said, “What’s that you got going on there?” I had heard him loud and
clear, however, I had to shoot some of my game to them, first. I think we all
as businesspeople gotta know how to bullshit around a little bit sometimes. Which
is why I immediately said, “Damn. What yall coming To America?”
I had them both
laughing and smiling now, which is exactly where I wanted them at. I could
clearly see that they were either balling for real, or they had a lot of fake
diamonds on. I said, “Where yall from? Where you from young blood?” He
responded, “New York. Brooklyn.” I said, “Oh, so you crazy, then!” I stole this
ice breaker from my cousin, big homie Terez. It really didn’t matter where they
said they were from; I still was going to use that same line to break the ice
with them or whoever it was. But when he didn’t laugh, smile or nothing after I
said that, this kind of told me he wasn’t in fact from New York. It told me
that he was lying or something. I added on, “Oh, yeah? I’m from New Jersey.
Plainfield, New Jersey. So, I know how yall get down.”
I looked at the
table. “Oh naw, I write books, plays, scripts. I’m working on a reality show.
It’s called Coming To Atlanta,” I said this just as I pointed at each
individual product in the web series poster that I picked up from on the table.
This poster had a picture of me in my stage play prisoner costume, standing in Sandy
Springs public library while holding up two of my stage tickets. It also had my
four paperback books on the table in the lower part of this picture, which went
in the order that I wrote them. And below that picture which I used to create
this poster in January, I wrote a quick description of what the Coming To
Atlanta web series was all about.
As he looked at
it, he said, “Oh, yeah? You write books?” I repeated, “Yeah. I got four of
them.” I pointed at all four of them, once again. I wanted to be very clear of
this. I grabbed one of my book flyers. “This is how I advertise my eBooks. How
it works is, whoever give me a dollar, they get my eBook. This back says how
they gotta take a selfie with this flyer. Then email it to me, and I will email
them the book.” He starts to dig in his left pocket. He pulled out a crisp one
hundred-dollar bill. Next, he says, “A-look, I got a catch this flight. I need
a book. But it gotta be some hard shit. I want something real. From the streets,
you feel me?”
I started looking
at him like he was crazy. “Oh, that’s all I got.” It was perfect timing for me because
I still was holding on to the same flyer which had one of my book reviews on
the opposite side of it, that which I still had in my left hand. I turned it
over and said, “A Georgia State University student said this, ‘From Suspect To Prospect is one of the most entertaining
books that I've ever read. From start to finish, entertaining. What was really
unique about his book is, instead of a boring, factual, autobiography, Adrian
does a great job of mixing his real-life events with a bit of storytelling, and
the combination was perfect.’” After that, I placed the flyer back on the
table. I knew it worked because I made for $90,000 with 90,000 of this same
exact idea.
“It’s
about me being 21 years old on a 3rd grade reading level. Selling
drugs, shot five times. In New Jersey. Went to jail, taught myself how to read
and write. I write three books in 2007. Came home in 2010, still had money.
Young boys had money. I started up a publishing company. Best of the Best
Publishing. I got 1,000 of my first book printed out and sold them in 3
months.” He looked at me surprised. Then he said, “That’s good. That’s good as
hell…” I continued, “Yeah. Then somebody who read my book in 2013. He inspired
me to write a one-man stage play. It takes place in jail.”
Just as I was
saying this, some young black guy came walking up to us with his phone in his hand.
He was looking at the young boy with the Gucci blanket on. “Can I get a pic?”
He was asking to take a picture with this guy. I looked around to see who in
the hell was he walking to. But it was clear who it was, because he replied,
“Sure… Come on!” As they positioned to take pictures or whatever it was, I was
still looking around, trying my hardest to figure out what was going on here.
Who was he? He had to be somebody famous or something. I’m looking. I am really
trying my hardest to figure who this young baller was.
So, I said, “Yo,
who the fuck is you?” He was silent, as if he was paying me no mind. Several
seconds later, I said to his fan, “Dog, who the fuck is he?” His fan was quiet
and didn’t say nothing either as they flicked it. I didn’t see the young girl
in line waiting up next to take a picture with him, too. Because as soon as he
was done and his first fan was walking away, there was this young black girl in
line who was now stepping right in with her phone out in her hand, aiming her
phone at the both of them and getting ready to take a pic. I got impatient,
while growing curious to see who this young brother was. But I knew he had to
be somebody.
This is when I
pulled out my phone and started recording. I said, “Dog, who the fuck is he?
Who is the nigga?” His female fan said, “This Lil Baby. You don’t know who this
is!” I was shocked. I knew who he was, because it was just several months ago
in Plainfield, New Jersey, which is when I let some of the homies in my hood
use my 12 inch Bluetooth wireless speak to play both Lil Baby and Da Baby music
last summer. They were all talking about Lil Baby’s documentary, Preacher Man,
which is what made me go in the house later that night and watch the whole
documentary-film.
So, I was clearly
aware of and knew exactly who Lil Baby was, that he was in fact from Atlanta,
Georgia, and not from Brooklyn, New York, like he said! So, why did he lie to
me? I had to cut off the camera because I had to ask him if I could. I said, “Oh,
that’s Lil Baby,” just before I cut the camera off the first time. She looked
in his eyes and said, “Thank you, Baby.” Then she slowly walked away looking at
her pictures and doing something with her phone. I wasn’t going to say nothing
until Lil Baby walked back over to me and was looking at my material, again. I
said, “Nigga, why you lie? I know who you is… You dope… You crack... You hard
white…” By then, Lil Baby and his goon, G-5, was both laughing at me.
I pulled back out
my cellphone and started recording him, which was as if I was taking a selfie, just
to get footage of the scene with them and do something that I also did with
J-Prince when I met him in Texas, Yung Joc and every other celebrity. However, this
time Lil Baby and G-5 had started to make a pose for the camera, so I just went
along with it, acting as if I was taking a picture of us when I was recording. Just
as I started to turn my camera off, Lil Baby was already back at the table, picking
up papers and pulling out that same crisp hundred-dollar bill. He handed it to
me and said, “How I do it? I want to read that book.”
I said, “Okay. I
got you. I gotta get change, but I don’t have any books on me right now. Where
you want me to drop the book off at? I will have it by later today. I print
them out at home” Lil Baby said, “I’m about to go out of state.” When I tried
to give him back his money, Lil Baby responded, “Keep it. That’s you.” I sat
back in the chair, stunned and in total disbelief. I couldn’t belief it…
I was just talking
to Lil Baby all this time without even know it was him. “Damn. Good looking
out, bro,” I told him while he still was reading my book flyer, once again. When
he put my flyer down, then he started reading something else on the table. At
this time, I started pulling my phone out my pocket again, impatiently waiting
for the right time to the hit the record button. I wanted to get some more footage
of him, but I also didn’t want to do it sneaky, all a sudden just whipping out
my phone from under the table and be looking all crazy trying to record him,
especially without asking him first. I wanted to do it the right way, not as a
creep or somebody who he couldn’t never trust.
I said, “I print
everything out at home. I do everything myself. My money!” As he was reading my
web series poster, again, I hit the record button. Lil Baby said, “If you got
it together, you got it all together. I see…” While recording, right before I
slowly began to raise the phone up, I said, “It might look shitty, but it's
real.” I once heard this old head in jail who I was beating in a game of chess
say this, which is something I stole and used by saying it from time-to-time.
By then, I was slowly but surely raising my phone up to record him. Just he was
saying, “I don't go off looks,” as he kept reading my poster, now the camera
was on him, as I said on the camera, “Lil Baby in the building.” He immediately
raised my web series poster, flashing it for the whole world to see.
While filming Lil
Baby, I said, “That’s crazy, brah. I wish you a ton of money, brah.” Lil Baby
responded, “Likewise. I wish you the same thing.” I continued by saying, “Much
success, much happiness,” which is only something that a true friend, a real
brother who want for his brother what he wants for himself, should say and really
mean. Lil Baby then placed the web series poster back down on the table. Then
he started to point at the black one-sleeve AVP TV & Radio brochure that lay
right in between my mini notebook pad and web series poster. “Ah, look. I’m a
get, take a picture of that. I don’t give a fuck. How I do it? You feel me?”
As I started to
turn off the camera to the phone to talk to him, I said, “No doubt.” After I
cut the camera off, I said, “You can have it. You can take what you want. I can
also write you a script.” I had to get that part in because I knew he had to
go. As he began to leave, Lil Baby said, “Hell yeah. That’s what I want. That’s
to make sure you call me. Ah look. Your number on here?” I replied, “Yeah. It
should be. Everything is me. By myself.” As he started walking off, heading to
the checkpoint, Lil Baby shot back, “Say no more, then. I’m a call you for that
script. You feel me?” I responded, “Doubt,” as I immediately started checking the
gallery of my phone to make sure I got everything…
