Introduction of Coming To Atlanta (Book), The Autobiography of Adrian Collins, Part Two.

BOOK AND WEB SERIES RELEASE DATE: SATURDAY, JULY 18, 2020

Lil Baby, meet the author…

Introduction

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 3^rd 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…

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