Speaker 1: My league has how the knowledge you want.
Speaker 2: My league has how the knowledge you need.
Speaker 3: Cheat they have all the works that the whole wild
Speaker 3: world Wunner read mylague.
Speaker 4: Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to Malik's Bookshelf, bringing a world together
Speaker 4: with books, culture and community.
Speaker 1: Hot.
Speaker 5: My name is Malik, your host of Malik's Bookshelf.
Speaker 4: Now, I hope you enjoyed that last segment that was
Speaker 4: put on by the Park Village book Fair with earth Lessa.
Speaker 5: So that was the last episode.
Speaker 4: I hope you enjoyed it because because the event was electric,
Speaker 4: it was fire, the community came out. But hey, that
Speaker 4: was just part one. See, we had another heavy hitter
Speaker 4: that came out at the Lambert Park Village book Fair,
Speaker 4: and that.
Speaker 5: Is Old Mar Epps.
Speaker 4: And you know, Omar is an award winning director, he's actor,
Speaker 4: a writer, he's you know, it's been in the industry
Speaker 4: for a long time. I mean, we all know him
Speaker 4: in love and basketball. We all know that he played
Speaker 4: on this show. It was a medical show and I'm
Speaker 4: just like trying to remember off the talk of my head.
Speaker 4: But it was a hit and it was a really
Speaker 4: smart doctor that I.
Speaker 2: Just can't remember.
Speaker 6: Us.
Speaker 4: So let's move it on anyway, he played on that
Speaker 4: and you know that was a long running mini series
Speaker 4: on television and the other Omarty worked on a lot
Speaker 4: of different projects. I don't need any further introduction. The brother,
Speaker 4: you know, it has a lot of swag. He came
Speaker 4: in with his family, He interviewed, He took an interview
Speaker 4: that is with the Baldwin Hills Elementary which I'm gonna
Speaker 4: feature that on this episode because these are the up
Speaker 4: and coming journalists and they starting in elementary and they
Speaker 4: came in with their equipment and theirs and they were
Speaker 4: able to interview Omar inside of Malik Books in the
Speaker 4: bald When Hills Crenshaw Mall. It was really spectacular when
Speaker 4: we see our youth, which is like I said, you know,
Speaker 4: at the Malik our slogan is children of one hundred
Speaker 4: in our future. So to see these up and coming journalists,
Speaker 4: you know, new journals in the future, it was amazing.
Speaker 4: So he got interviewed by them. They also interviewed me.
Speaker 4: So I'm gonna feature that entire interview of Malik and
Speaker 4: Omar from some height some elementary kids from Baldwin Hills Elementary.
Speaker 4: Kudos to them, but I'm also gonna feature the conversation
Speaker 4: Omar Epps had with Erica J. Kendrick, who wrote the
Speaker 4: book Cookie Monster. She's our moderator, and so that was
Speaker 4: an electric conversation of fiery conversation and engaging conversation, a
Speaker 4: heartfeld conversation at the Writer of Symposium this year, and
Speaker 4: so she's gonna do the moderation and conversation with Omar
Speaker 4: eppsod stay tuned for that on this episode. I was
Speaker 4: filming it and as well as recording it, I featured
Speaker 4: it on Instagram, so I had to end in my
Speaker 4: battery ran low, but I got some of the great
Speaker 4: content from the conversation, so stay tuned for that. And
Speaker 4: also I was able to ask Omar Epps personally a
Speaker 4: question and I'm going to feature that on this episode,
Speaker 4: So stay tuned. Enjoy because this is the Lamurt Park
Speaker 4: Village Book Fair that was hosted by Lamark Park and
Speaker 4: Leik Books at the baring.
Speaker 5: Hills Crenshaw Plaza mall. And it was just a very.
Speaker 4: Engaging and community event that uplift the spirit of writing.
Speaker 5: As you will know the two books.
Speaker 4: And I don't know if I mentioned this early because
Speaker 4: I'm just talking right now I don't know if I mentioned.
Speaker 5: Look the two books that Omar.
Speaker 4: Epps wrote, it's called Nubia the Awakening.
Speaker 5: That's the first one.
Speaker 4: The second in addition, just came out called Nubia The Reckoning.
Speaker 4: So Omar's gonna talk about, you know, the process of
Speaker 4: how he came up with this idea and concept of Nubia,
Speaker 4: and he's gonna going deep about the character and what
Speaker 4: you can expect from reading such a fantasy and adventuroust
Speaker 4: type book. So I'm gonna let him do the talking.
Speaker 4: I don't need to do the book review when I interview.
Speaker 4: When I get interviews of people talking.
Speaker 5: About that books, that's like a book review. They could
Speaker 5: do it better than I could.
Speaker 4: Do it, right, So I'm just gonna let the conversation
Speaker 4: with Erica Jay moderating Omar Epps.
Speaker 5: Speak for itself. So enjoy this next episode.
Speaker 4: I appreciate the artist for your consistency, and I think
Speaker 4: this is like eighty seven. You know, that's amazing in itself.
Speaker 4: But stay tuned and enjoy this episode of Omar Epps
Speaker 4: in Conversation at the Lamark Park Village book Fair twenty
Speaker 4: twenty three, hosted by Elite Books.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 5: Our moderator for this event is Erica Kendrid.
Speaker 4: So she asked Omar the first question was tell the
Speaker 4: artists about Nubia, and that's the fantasy book that he created,
Speaker 4: Nubia Awakening, Nubia Reckoning. So that's the first question and
Speaker 4: then from there the conversation flowed and Erica Kendred will
Speaker 4: continue to moderate this segment in conversation with Omar Epps.
Speaker 2: Great question.
Speaker 7: Nubia is basically, it's a coming Today story that follows
Speaker 7: three displaced teenagers who as they become adolescens, they have
Speaker 7: magical powers that start to sprout that are directly connected.
Speaker 2: To their lineage. But they haven't been told that.
Speaker 7: From their their parents and their families because Nubia the
Speaker 7: place is an is an island nation that was once
Speaker 7: a utopia and their ancestors had to flee there, so
Speaker 7: they thought the powers were destroyed alone with the island.
Speaker 7: And so these kids find themselves and what I'm calling
Speaker 7: New New York trying to figure it out, figure out
Speaker 7: what's going on, and so the reckoning, so that's the
Speaker 7: basis of it, and the awakening is obvious. Their powers
Speaker 7: are awakening. The reckoning is picking up from their now
Speaker 7: the kids have an idea of you know, who's able
Speaker 7: to do what, and then the question is what are
Speaker 7: they going to do now with these newfound powers and
Speaker 7: how do they protect their tribe with Nubians, you know,
Speaker 7: from the perils.
Speaker 2: That the world presents.
Speaker 8: That's a great explanation.
Speaker 6: I've heard a couple of people whispering that it's very
Speaker 6: similar what it reminds them of or it takes them
Speaker 6: back to Black Panther.
Speaker 8: What are your thoughts about that, because clearly that was
Speaker 8: a juggernaut.
Speaker 2: And we'll get.
Speaker 6: To like the vision that you have for the saga
Speaker 6: because it's amazing, But what do you think when folks
Speaker 6: compare it or you know, put it next to the
Speaker 6: high seat.
Speaker 8: Of something like a Black Panther.
Speaker 7: I love it because I mean one as a compliment
Speaker 7: to this room for.
Speaker 2: All of it, but three for me.
Speaker 7: You know, I actually originally had the idea for this
Speaker 7: about twenty years ago. It just took me this long
Speaker 7: to activate and actually do it and sit down and write,
Speaker 7: which is really hard to do. And I never wrote
Speaker 7: a book before either, which is why I'm so fortunate
Speaker 7: to have my co pilot, Clarence A. Haynes who was
Speaker 7: an incredible writer. So it's it, you know it. The
Speaker 7: story wasn't informed.
Speaker 2: By anything of black par but you know, uh, you
Speaker 2: know it.
Speaker 7: All looks the same to them, but it's very different.
Speaker 2: Once you get into the book, you're gonna be like,
Speaker 2: this ain't nothing like black family. Why are they talking about?
Speaker 2: You can't have two black offices. The bland of boxes
Speaker 2: checked out, you know, that's how they do. But we
Speaker 2: gonna keep it moving.
Speaker 6: Okay, So the topic of this today for your session
Speaker 6: is supposed to be about capturing the imaginations of the
Speaker 6: young adult reader or the young adult writer.
Speaker 8: So how do you want your YA.
Speaker 6: Readers to be inspired by or to be kind of
Speaker 6: captivated by, uh, the recording?
Speaker 2: That's a great question. The in essence, I I wrote
Speaker 2: a book that I.
Speaker 7: Wish existed when I was fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, those those
Speaker 7: pivotal years where you know, escapism is good sometimes because
Speaker 7: it can ignite your imagination and they can give you
Speaker 7: the wherewithal to work through current circumstances.
Speaker 2: So all of the parallels to the now were intentional.
Speaker 7: So the story takes place one hundred years from now,
Speaker 7: but there are a lot of parallels that I'm finding
Speaker 7: pleasantly that.
Speaker 2: A lot of young readers are like.
Speaker 7: Wow, I kind of feel like I relate to this
Speaker 7: character and what they're going through and so forth and
Speaker 7: so on, and I really want them to take away.
Speaker 2: I want all readers, but especially.
Speaker 7: The young readers, to take away the notion of unity.
Speaker 7: It's supremely important to us because no matter what we
Speaker 7: accomplish individually, we can't move forward as a collective if
Speaker 7: we're not unified.
Speaker 2: And that's one of the main things in the book.
Speaker 7: As the Nubians fire themselves, you know, tribalism, but then
Speaker 7: there's inner tribalism, but at the end of the day,
Speaker 7: they all have to come together in order to progressed the.
Speaker 6: Nubian's for me, Yeah, go ahead, We're glad for that.
Speaker 6: And I will say that that was very artfully done and.
Speaker 8: The writing is beautiful. When she was doing the briefing
Speaker 8: of what the book.
Speaker 6: Is about, one of the adjectives she used was fast paced,
Speaker 6: and it is. I got the book this week and
Speaker 6: I looked up and I was already on page seventy.
Speaker 6: So those are y'all that And there are a.
Speaker 8: Lot of us these days especially with social media and
Speaker 8: the internet.
Speaker 6: You know, we don't want to sit down and actually
Speaker 6: open a book because sitting still is like I don't
Speaker 6: even remember the last time I did that, But take
Speaker 6: my word for it, you will look up and be like,
Speaker 6: I'm like four or five chapters, then it's worth it, Okay.
Speaker 8: So you make a point to dig deeply into the.
Speaker 6: Human experience, and you like to say it transcends time,
Speaker 6: because yes, this takes place in a dystopian uh space a.
Speaker 8: Hundred years from now, in the year twenty ninety.
Speaker 6: Eight, So that's like whoa already, But a lot of
Speaker 6: the things like you just mentioned are relevant to today's time.
Speaker 6: So first and foremost, I wanna know what inspired that.
Speaker 8: Journey, cause that's huge.
Speaker 6: I mean I can't I can't think about what I'm
Speaker 6: gonna be doing next week, but to that's a hundred
Speaker 6: years from now.
Speaker 8: See what was that inspiration?
Speaker 2: What inspired me?
Speaker 6: There was?
Speaker 7: I'm I consider myself a history buff, and the more
Speaker 7: and more that I study ancient culture, the further back
Speaker 7: I go, the more parallels I see.
Speaker 2: And when you take off the coding of the.
Speaker 7: Isms, right, classism, racism, and sexism, all of those things.
Speaker 2: You just see humans doing with h humans humany, you know,
Speaker 2: always dealing with the few, trying to control the many,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 7: To t we have these these I guess the the
Speaker 7: quality of our species seems to transcend time.
Speaker 2: So for me imagining a world one hundred years from.
Speaker 7: Now where all of these environmental cataclysms that we're in
Speaker 7: fear about have already taken place, it's still gonna be
Speaker 7: people here after that. So what are they dealing with?
Speaker 7: What's that young generation dealing with it? And you know
Speaker 7: what will sort of skip the boundaries of time that
Speaker 7: they're presented with, you know, different set of circumstances, but
Speaker 7: kind of the same set of problems.
Speaker 2: Right, So it just came naturally at that part.
Speaker 6: Okay, So in terms of building the world, what inspired
Speaker 6: you creatively to do this stunny, stunningly visual job.
Speaker 8: I mean, it was like, so it also is, like
Speaker 8: he said.
Speaker 6: New York, it's literally also supposed to be New York. Like,
Speaker 6: you know, our man is from Brooklyn, so he paid
Speaker 6: homage to his hometown. But I mean, I live in
Speaker 6: New York for eleven years, and I was like, it
Speaker 6: still feels like what it's like now, But it was
Speaker 6: not It was I mean the words the scriptors gorgeous
Speaker 6: and something.
Speaker 8: That it's like, Okay, we're.
Speaker 6: Talking about seawall has been torn down, and this is
Speaker 6: the Rabbits Lower East Side and this is the sky
Speaker 6: High City and.
Speaker 8: It's gorgeous and technology is taken over. Okay, y'all feel me,
Speaker 8: y'all gonna get into this.
Speaker 6: Oh how did you like get inspired to create something
Speaker 6: so visually studying and we get that you're an artist,
Speaker 6: but I mean this was next level?
Speaker 2: Thank you. That was just a lot of I wanted
Speaker 2: every particle of air type of reason.
Speaker 7: You know, in telling stories, designing plots and characters, you
Speaker 7: know a lot of times it's just.
Speaker 2: Like yeah, then they just had on some Adidas for me.
Speaker 2: I'm like why. It's kind of how I've I've approached
Speaker 2: my career.
Speaker 7: As an actor. I'm very very detail. It could be
Speaker 7: no wasted space. Everything, every motion has a purpose. So
Speaker 7: with the book, with that in mind, that that's sort
Speaker 7: of how I attacked well, what does the world look like?
Speaker 2: I picked New York because I'm worn to raise it.
Speaker 2: You know, if I was going to raise it, it
Speaker 2: would have.
Speaker 7: Been hit it because that's one place on this earth,
Speaker 7: I know, like the back of my hand, you know.
Speaker 7: So in sort of redesigning the geography of New York.
Speaker 2: It just came second nature. Of course. You know, here's
Speaker 2: gonna be water here. So that's all in the water
Speaker 2: up highs where humans have fused with technology, where the
Speaker 2: rich people are. That's the Beverly Hills, New York, you know,
Speaker 2: in the book, and just.
Speaker 7: Reimagining the actual geography and giving it reason and purpose
Speaker 7: so that as the readers reading it, it feels like
Speaker 7: they're watching it, you know, even though it's just words
Speaker 7: on the paper, it's something that is so hopefully the
Speaker 7: words are so visceral that you can literally see it.
Speaker 8: Okay, that man smart this world?
Speaker 5: Y'all hurt that this the road, and.
Speaker 6: I will tell you it is. Now for those of
Speaker 6: y'all that are like, I'm an La girl, or you know,
Speaker 6: I'm from Detroit, but I'm a Chicago girl, even though,
Speaker 6: like I just said, I lived in New York City,
Speaker 6: you don't have to have ever even have visited it.
Speaker 6: So like right away he gives you a math like
Speaker 6: a map for reference.
Speaker 8: How is that?
Speaker 5: Like I can't do that?
Speaker 1: Out of mama.
Speaker 6: I'm like y'all don't.
Speaker 1: Know Sam here.
Speaker 6: Well, like you get a whole map. Okay, So I
Speaker 6: wanted to say that because sometimes we feel like, oh, well,
Speaker 6: I won't be able to relate to it because of
Speaker 6: this reason or that reason.
Speaker 8: Definitely not.
Speaker 6: Were there any contemporary issues or any mobile issues happening,
Speaker 6: or like, I know you're a history but so you
Speaker 6: you researched the hell lot of like the human story,
Speaker 6: but like contemporary things happening on a domestic or global
Speaker 6: level that impacted your pan when you were crafting the story.
Speaker 2: I don't know if it impacted it.
Speaker 7: But we basically wrote the first book then the Lockdown
Speaker 7: in COVID like we we had been having discussions.
Speaker 2: I was meeting with the publishers. Okay, oh wait a minute,
Speaker 2: stay in the house, and my co writer was.
Speaker 7: Was stuck in Germany at the time. Yeah, so that's
Speaker 7: how we wrote the first book.
Speaker 2: You know, there was a lot of uh, me calling him,
Speaker 2: I don't know what the hot in New York.
Speaker 7: I know it was three in the morning for him,
Speaker 7: and he was like, can you wait a couple.
Speaker 2: Of hours, And I'm like, no, I got this straight idea.
Speaker 2: What do you think about this? So we just you know,
Speaker 2: we had the time to really sit down and and
Speaker 2: and get it out. But it didn't.
Speaker 7: That didn't I think if anything that inspired us in
Speaker 7: terms of where we were going in relation to the
Speaker 7: climate changed to him.
Speaker 2: Cause that's a big backdrop of the book.
Speaker 7: Yeah, Cause again the geography is so like obviously affected.
Speaker 7: So I mean that's pretty much it. I mean, you know,
Speaker 7: life is going to life, So every day there's something.
Speaker 7: I think in order for the story to train saying,
Speaker 7: we had to stick to our guns of what we
Speaker 7: thought was the right narrative.
Speaker 6: To tell me because I was reading and I was like,
Speaker 6: what has this man been.
Speaker 8: Through to put this on the way? Like some of
Speaker 8: it is as.
Speaker 6: Hard as to but it's still delicious and beautiful and
Speaker 6: that's very.
Speaker 2: Difficult to a tank.
Speaker 8: So who else there?
Speaker 2: Okay?
Speaker 1: Uh?
Speaker 6: Y'all about literature, it often explores important.
Speaker 8: Things, and this book, like he.
Speaker 6: Already mentioned, explores classism, elitism, racism, sexism, all theisms, even immigration. Uh,
Speaker 6: how do you navigate the societalisms in the story.
Speaker 8: And then the follow up to that is like, what.
Speaker 6: Message do you want young readers to take as it
Speaker 6: relates to all of the ism that you pointed out
Speaker 6: are clearly still very relevant today and they were a
Speaker 6: hundred years ago and properly will be in another.
Speaker 7: Hundred hopefully not well, hopefully they'll change.
Speaker 2: We just attack them from an organic standpoint.
Speaker 7: In the book, I always feel like stories tell themselves
Speaker 7: and all you have to do is listen and be
Speaker 7: a conduit and.
Speaker 2: Let it come out.
Speaker 7: So the idea is like, if you could think in
Speaker 7: your head that every character in the book represents a
Speaker 7: human emotion and that's sort of their personality.
Speaker 2: That's the simple way to look at it.
Speaker 7: And so how would that person be if they are
Speaker 7: impat or if they're aggressive, or you know, whatever that
Speaker 7: human emotion is. That's how that individual would deal with
Speaker 7: that ism. And then I guess the challenge is, okay, giving.
Speaker 2: Them an obstacle to attain whatever that goal is. You know,
Speaker 2: the person who wants to overcome fear. Why do we
Speaker 2: do that in the book?
Speaker 7: And so that hopefully it's a journey, right and hopefully
Speaker 7: everyone finds a character that they can live through vicariously
Speaker 7: and sort of a is a representative of them, and
Speaker 7: now they're rooting for.
Speaker 2: That character in the book.
Speaker 7: And again, ultimately, how do all of these characters come
Speaker 7: together as a unified force.
Speaker 8: Who was your favorite character to right?
Speaker 7: For me, it was a character named Luzochi, who he
Speaker 7: represents love but he doesn't know that and he's an.
Speaker 2: Awkward you know, being a teenage is awkward, like real awkward.
Speaker 7: Ye oh yeah, it was you all your te fault
Speaker 7: too big to start going? Is you know you like
Speaker 7: dude like my son now he's fifteen, he's like taller
Speaker 7: than me.
Speaker 2: Voice is changing, and I'm like, look at you do.
Speaker 7: Cute kid, but it's an awkward time because you you
Speaker 7: don't you're confident in like certain things, and then the
Speaker 7: world just seems so big.
Speaker 3: So it was really it was important to me to
Speaker 3: tell the story from that mindset because the beautiful thing
Speaker 3: about that young mindset is like they're just sponges.
Speaker 2: They're just soaking.
Speaker 7: Up all the information and it's like and they also
Speaker 7: most young kids are still fearless. They haven't been tainted
Speaker 7: by experience yet, so they really and that to me
Speaker 7: is inspiring because life starts kicking all of us in
Speaker 7: the button and we're just like, all right, then you
Speaker 7: just press the button, we.
Speaker 2: Get the day over it.
Speaker 7: And they still have that, you know, they're still invigorated
Speaker 7: by life. And I think that we should all find
Speaker 7: that in ourselves, find those things that help us remain
Speaker 7: childlike not child dish. There's a difference, you know, and
Speaker 7: so that's why it was important to me to tell
Speaker 7: the story from that mindset, so that the young.
Speaker 8: Reader could take what they take and remix it and
Speaker 8: put it into their.
Speaker 2: Actual lives and hopefully, you know, be better afforded.
Speaker 1: Woo.
Speaker 6: Okay, So my favorite character Donna Cloud Don Cloud, I
Speaker 6: did be there.
Speaker 8: Men shout out to Clarence.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 6: I feel that my favorite character was to Vary and
Speaker 6: are related to her. So when you say you get
Speaker 6: behind a character and you champion that character as they
Speaker 6: go through their obstacles and develop and grow and evolve,
Speaker 6: I look.
Speaker 8: Like right there with her. And I also like si okay, okay, let.
Speaker 9: Me go down.
Speaker 2: She fell out. She's the warrior the movies, and you
Speaker 2: know she's a young female finding herself.
Speaker 7: A father was a general in the Nubian all me
Speaker 7: ands she she took ads.
Speaker 8: Okay, So that's what I want you to do.
Speaker 6: I want you too, cause I don't wanna start talking
Speaker 6: about character without y'all having just a glimpse into you.
Speaker 8: Know what we're talking about.
Speaker 6: So the four main characters, if you could just give
Speaker 6: a little bit of a backdrop, you don't have to
Speaker 6: tell as much as you want about them, but if
Speaker 6: you couldn't, should.
Speaker 2: Do seven absolutely.
Speaker 7: So I just mentioned Uzzochi, and so you have Uzochi,
Speaker 7: you have Lang Show their cousins, and Lyncho, though he's moving,
Speaker 7: he's sort of the.
Speaker 2: Let's think of it this way. Uzochi's more MLK.
Speaker 7: Lyncho's more meltin early Melboure like Detrey Red Merlin. And
Speaker 7: then you have Zuberry, who's sort of the great area
Speaker 7: in between.
Speaker 2: She's also moving. And then there's another character named Sandra,
Speaker 2: and she's sort of a hybrid because she is actually the.
Speaker 7: Daughter of Praising. Crasin is the bad guy. That's he's
Speaker 7: the bad guy in the book.
Speaker 2: He's sort of the new president again.
Speaker 7: Geographically it's all changed, so there's no more like Burroughs
Speaker 7: in New York. It's just try state East, try to
Speaker 7: State West. You know, he's trying to take over all
Speaker 7: of that. And Sondra is his daughter, and with your well,
Speaker 7: I can't give too much away because I'm working on
Speaker 7: book three, but there's some things to discover about her.
Speaker 6: And then you know, I heard these working on book three,
Speaker 6: so that is literally one of my questions.
Speaker 8: Congratulations on that. That's huge. I don't know if y'all know.
Speaker 6: Are there any aspiring writers in that room?
Speaker 8: Yes? Okay, perfect. So it is really hard to write,
Speaker 8: as you know, if you're trying.
Speaker 6: To do it or you're doing it, but to then
Speaker 6: have somebody stand behind your story, your craft, your artistry
Speaker 6: and say I believe in this, and then take it
Speaker 6: to all of the mostly white folks to say this
Speaker 6: is good enough, which is essentially.
Speaker 8: What they do as they look for a reason to
Speaker 8: say no, I've been in this game a long time.
Speaker 6: That's what they're doing. They are trying to find out
Speaker 6: if it fits on their roster. Sorry, this is just
Speaker 6: not a good fit for what we're looking for at
Speaker 6: the time. That's like the form letter you'll get back
Speaker 6: if they reject you. They're looking for a reason to
Speaker 6: say no. It is so incredibly hard, and it doesn't
Speaker 6: matter if you're a Hollywood anyway, or if you're somebody
Speaker 6: who was a cheerleader for some team, or if you're
Speaker 6: just coming out of grad school with your MFA and
Speaker 6: you're tonted.
Speaker 8: You've got all these great ideas.
Speaker 6: So with that being said, he's working on his third novel, well,
Speaker 6: his fourth book, but his third.
Speaker 8: That's right, his third novel. Let's give him around of
Speaker 8: applause for that huge, huge Okay.
Speaker 6: So I feel like he's given us some really good
Speaker 6: tippits about the book and we've kind of learned about
Speaker 6: the four main characters. So now my question to Ohm
Speaker 6: the artist is who would be on the soundtrack for
Speaker 6: Nubia the recommend O.
Speaker 2: That's a that's a good one right there. Well, my
Speaker 2: youngest daughter definitely. She's a single song writer.
Speaker 10: Go ahead, that's.
Speaker 8: Acts so beautiful. Stand up, stand up, let's shut up.
Speaker 8: I'm sorry.
Speaker 2: So I guess because she would be on that half die.
Speaker 2: My wife would go, I'll just know, wife, you'd be
Speaker 2: on it, But I would, you know.
Speaker 11: I kind of reverse engineer things.
Speaker 2: So I'm more meaning like, I'm more open.
Speaker 7: I don't really unless something is like bothering me and
Speaker 7: I can't unsee it, you know. I usually I'm open,
Speaker 7: and I'm I love collaboration, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: I find there's a lot of worth than.
Speaker 7: That because we can only see things from our lens
Speaker 7: and and again, like something has to be nagging me, barking.
Speaker 2: Now it has to be this person. You know, I
Speaker 2: can't unsee that otherwise I'm just open.
Speaker 7: And then you know, it's the greatest stories of democracies.
Speaker 2: So the musical story to this would would be no different.
Speaker 2: I mean, hopefully the.
Speaker 7: Best of the best, whoever that may be, and that's
Speaker 7: discovered or undiscovered.
Speaker 2: I'm just more open to those possibilities.
Speaker 7: But all of that coming down the line with MOVIEA. So,
Speaker 7: going back to one of your first comments about Black Panther.
Speaker 2: The same way people see that is how.
Speaker 7: I see this so film, television, animation, video game, the
Speaker 7: whole ki kaboodle.
Speaker 2: The big difference is this is ours, that's theirs. I mean,
Speaker 2: but that's marvel IP, this is us IP. It's a difference.
Speaker 6: So he said hours at Hucks, I just want to
Speaker 6: scoop a little closer case somebody get this picture, like
Speaker 6: I'm part of what and how this is something huge
Speaker 6: seaw I'm trying to sell you, okay, y'all.
Speaker 8: Plat Okay, thank you very much, y'all have people.
Speaker 2: I love y'all.
Speaker 8: Okay, So I'm gonna produce the album. So this is
Speaker 8: who I see on the album, all right? I saw
Speaker 8: because you.
Speaker 6: Gotta pay, you know, am you love to New York
Speaker 6: City obviously for so many different reasons. But I see
Speaker 6: l Pool j I see most deaths, though I also.
Speaker 8: See and this is like so random, But I see
Speaker 8: Eric B and rock him like I see.
Speaker 2: And she's can so.
Speaker 6: Much slack right now. But I see Mauren Hill like
Speaker 6: I see it. I've heard it, and why'd you get it?
Speaker 2: Slacker?
Speaker 8: Okay? That ain't eating here?
Speaker 10: Okay, okay, your don't.
Speaker 6: Sometimes, just like your characters, we have to grow and evolve,
Speaker 6: and Lauren has for whatever reason.
Speaker 8: Right, I'm not even gonna speculate. People talk about all
Speaker 8: the reasons.
Speaker 6: Why, for whatever reason, has chosen not to step that
Speaker 6: part of the game up.
Speaker 8: People like me, so I've been for the years old.
Speaker 8: Next year people like me go up to her, thank.
Speaker 6: Y'all, think y'all, I love the im black people like
Speaker 6: me who's love to her? And I cannot stay up
Speaker 6: until one o'clock.
Speaker 8: In the morning anymore? Right, So if you tell me
Speaker 8: the show started at hey, why am I.
Speaker 2: Talking about this morning? I agree with you.
Speaker 7: I agree with you, but I look at it from
Speaker 7: a slightly different lens.
Speaker 2: Okay, go ahead, Lawrence.
Speaker 7: Lauren's whatever her right or if that's even the right word,
Speaker 7: whatever that is is not with the people.
Speaker 2: It's not with you can support her. It's with the
Speaker 2: institution of the business.
Speaker 7: Because the flip side to it is this woman went
Speaker 7: dining and one out.
Speaker 2: She's one out here. But that's all you need.
Speaker 7: How many people gonna sell ten million records in a
Speaker 7: whole career, So to still get treated on the business
Speaker 7: and as she's been treated this whole time, would make
Speaker 7: anybody a little aggy, you know, again, not towards the people.
Speaker 7: So to me, I look at it like, well, yeah,
Speaker 7: she got paid like she deserved to be paid.
Speaker 2: She he showing up on top, not.
Speaker 12: Matter tell her.
Speaker 2: It's the flip side, that's right.
Speaker 6: I'm just saying, I go night night at nine o'clock,
Speaker 6: and it's a part of the experience we don't say
Speaker 6: to That's why I'm trying to say, like I thought
Speaker 6: I took my melantoni.
Speaker 8: Come on, I say, I feel like I just I
Speaker 8: can't do this.
Speaker 7: It's like, oh the family barbecue, who shows up on team.
Speaker 8: Over because you're not in football here a the same.
Speaker 7: Time you say poll and breaking our shows, Uh Jamison.
Speaker 9: To get younger event the.
Speaker 8: Okay only you got a p said I'm coming, aren't you?
Speaker 6: Okay, I'm part you never a fair way from there.
Speaker 1: I said time, Hi everybody, I'm a elite from Elite Books.
Speaker 12: And you know, one of the things that is part
Speaker 12: of our brand and our mission is children of one
Speaker 12: hundred percent of our future. And so my question is
Speaker 12: to Omar is because he wrote a book that's a
Speaker 12: ya and he grew up without a father, and I
Speaker 12: just want to know how is important how books like
Speaker 12: the target our young and our youth.
Speaker 1: How important are books like that going forward? Because we
Speaker 1: have a lot of distractions our youth with telephones, video games.
Speaker 1: You know, some read, but a whole lot don't. So
Speaker 1: how important is writing books for young and our youth important?
Speaker 2: That's a that's a great question.
Speaker 11: Salute to you, by the way for being a store
Speaker 11: worth of the fun.
Speaker 2: And as they say, fighting the cript fight.
Speaker 11: I choose to look at it like this, Well, every
Speaker 11: generation is beset with new challenges, right and so.
Speaker 7: Right now one of the big challenges is attention. Our
Speaker 7: attention is being pulled in so many different places.
Speaker 11: But why right, you know that old saying the easiest
Speaker 11: place to highest information is in the book. So not
Speaker 11: only is our attention being pulled, but when I travel
Speaker 11: around this country, I'm seeing public libraries.
Speaker 1: Close a lot of them. Why we already know the
Speaker 1: answer to that.
Speaker 11: So with people like yourself, people like yourself or even myself,
Speaker 11: we have to just fight the battle where it is.
Speaker 2: And the kids that might not.
Speaker 7: Read as much as we did will want to as
Speaker 7: they get a little bit older.
Speaker 1: Just left a few more years past.
Speaker 2: You're going to have to read some form or something.
Speaker 9: Everything ain't on Google, right, you know?
Speaker 7: And then they start having kids, and now it hits
Speaker 7: them in a whole different way.
Speaker 2: And not only.
Speaker 7: Do they want their kids to read, they got to
Speaker 7: go revisit some of that stuff that they may have missed.
Speaker 7: And that's fine, because there will be a generation that
Speaker 7: comes as bored.
Speaker 2: Things are too accessible.
Speaker 7: We want to talk to each other again, We want
Speaker 7: to go to a party and actually interact and not
Speaker 7: go to a party and everybody is on their phones.
Speaker 7: That'll happened in due time, but it's of the supreme importance.
Speaker 2: You know, for where we're at, we know what.
Speaker 7: Time it is because they control the information and the
Speaker 7: information that you really need.
Speaker 2: Is right in there.
Speaker 7: So we just got to keep pushing.
Speaker 13: You know what's interesting, Marcus Garvey taught about black people
Speaker 13: establishing businesses for themselves, and our next story is about that.
Speaker 5: It sure is.
Speaker 14: This past weekend they had the sixteenth annual Lamurk Park
Speaker 14: Village Book Fair in partnership with Malik Books.
Speaker 13: You know that's a black owned bookstore.
Speaker 2: Right, that's amazing.
Speaker 14: This is gonna be a good story.
Speaker 15: Hi, my name is Naimumu Giles with Soaring sankofa News.
Speaker 15: I'm here live at the sixteenth annual Lamurk Park book
Speaker 15: and partner with Malik Books. Immediately at this event, we
Speaker 15: saw mister Malik helping to host the book fair. We
Speaker 15: caught up with him for a quick interview. I'm live
Speaker 15: with mister Malik from Malik Books. So, mister Malik, do
Speaker 15: you own the bookstore?
Speaker 9: I'm the founder and co owner.
Speaker 15: What inspired you to open a bookstore with predominantly black books.
Speaker 4: I had a degree from USC but I didn't have
Speaker 4: a knowledge yourself. You see, you gotta love yourself to
Speaker 4: be yourself. You gotta know yourself to do what you
Speaker 4: need to be successful. And so it's important and representation point.
Speaker 4: We need to grow up with pictures and books that
Speaker 4: look like us. And it wasn't a lot of books
Speaker 4: out there that taught me anything about myself. And so
Speaker 4: I opened the bookstore to make a difference in our community.
Speaker 4: That's what I'm trying to do. I'm a book active
Speaker 4: I love what I do, and I'm here for you
Speaker 4: because why children are one hundred percent of our.
Speaker 15: Future, and it's always great to see black people enjoying
Speaker 15: literacy inspire to read books that we can relate to.
Speaker 15: Omar Epps shares some insight into his artistry as an author.
Speaker 15: I'm here today with actor and author Omar Epps, known
Speaker 15: for films such as Higher Learning, most recently Fatal Affair
Speaker 15: and My Favorite Love and Basketball. How are you doing today,
Speaker 15: mister Epps?
Speaker 9: I am doing well. I'm doing well. How you doing
Speaker 9: doing well?
Speaker 15: Thank you for asking. So your books are considered fantasy,
Speaker 15: but it also seems like realistic fiction because it touches
Speaker 15: some of the truth about the black community experience. Can
Speaker 15: you share why you decided to make a realistic fiction
Speaker 15: about the ups and downs of the black community.
Speaker 9: Absolutely, that's a great question.
Speaker 11: Well, initially, you know, I just had an idea that
Speaker 11: I was really interested in. I didn't know it was
Speaker 11: young adult sci fi, Like, I didn't know it was that.
Speaker 11: So I just started exploring the idea from a natural perspective,
Speaker 11: and as the characters in the story were speaking to me,
Speaker 11: a lot of the parallels of the world we live
Speaker 11: in still existed one hundred years from that, because the
Speaker 11: book takes place one hundred years from now, And so
Speaker 11: I got really inspired by not that per se, but
Speaker 11: inspired by the idea that then I could create something
Speaker 11: that could leave a breadcrumb trail that can translate to
Speaker 11: you right in this very now by reading a.
Speaker 9: Book like this.
Speaker 15: Where do you find the most enjoyment in being an
Speaker 15: author or an actor?
Speaker 9: That's a great question. I find the most enjoyment in
Speaker 9: being an artist.
Speaker 11: I think art is it comes in all different forms
Speaker 11: and for me to be able to express whether it's
Speaker 11: through my own creations and words or through other characters
Speaker 11: that I portray, but art, whether it's film, television, music, dance, fashion,
Speaker 11: art is the thing that transcends cultural bonds such as language.
Speaker 15: How do you hope to impact your audience with this
Speaker 15: book series?
Speaker 11: I would like to impact audiences for I mean hundreds
Speaker 11: of years to come.
Speaker 9: Hopefully.
Speaker 11: I hope that the Nubia series inspires a young generation
Speaker 11: with the notion of not just hope, but the realization
Speaker 11: of unity, meaning that no matter where we go and
Speaker 11: what we do in life, we can't accomplish things unless
Speaker 11: we work together.
Speaker 15: Thank you for your time, mister Ibps. This event was
Speaker 15: so worth it and it is definitely necessary for adults
Speaker 15: and news. You should check it out next year for
Speaker 15: the seventeenth annual Book Fair. Back to you, Lilyan Qualley.
Speaker 14: Know what's cool about that event? What they focus on
Speaker 14: making books that show us black people, books that show
Speaker 14: our history and show it in.
Speaker 8: A positive light.
Speaker 13: This bookstore is right in our community and we definitely
Speaker 13: need to support them. That's it for today.
Speaker 14: Make sure they're tuning on every other Monday for school news,
Speaker 14: local news, and so much more. Thanks for watching songs
Speaker 14: and cover the news a follow news.
Speaker 4: Thanks for listening to Malik's bookshelf, where topics on the
Speaker 4: shelf are books, culture, and community. Be sure to subscribe
Speaker 4: and leave me a review. Check out my Instagram at
Speaker 4: Malak Books. See you next time.