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EP 129 Award WINNING author NICK BROOKS talks PROMISE BOYS & family | It's Personal
55 Plays5 months ago
Best SELLING AUTHOR, Nick Brooks, the mind behind the critically acclaimed novel "The Promise Boys," talks about RELATIONSHIPS, and the music industry.
Nick delves deep into the personal experiences that have shaped his literary journey, from his time creating music and working with renowned record labels, to the profound impact of becoming a "girl dad" and the importance of amplifying Black and Brown voices.
Discover how these unique facets of Nick's life have infused his writing with a raw authenticity that explores the complexities of fatherhood, relationships, and the power of community.
Listen to audio versions here:
Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-grayarea-podcast/id1433551931?mt=2
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2f3XyNgnVLk0rqEeebK57y?si=CDLYL6_iRMeGNQaxC7pmAA Google: https://tinyurl.com/4zb86e8p
Zencastr: https://zencastr.com/It-s-Personal-Podcast
Website: https://www.thenickbrooks.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialnickbrooks/
X: https://twitter.com/whoisnickbrooks
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@officialnickbrooks?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM8r_HKBgxXGU4y4qtAzyhw
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Transcript
Introduction & Guest Introduction
00:00:01
Speaker
All right, ah welcome back to another episode of It's Personal. ah Always excited for my guests, but I'm gonna allow, I was gonna share and introduce him, but I'm gonna allow him to do that and then we're gonna talk about him. um Because I'm very, very excited um to chop it up with my guests today. Can you introduce yourself? Yeah, absolutely.
Career Highlights & Multifaceted Talents
00:00:20
Speaker
My name is Nick Brooks. I'm an author, you know filmmaker, rapper, all around storyteller. multifaceted. I have been following you for a while now. You just mentioned that. I don't know if you can say it or not, but you just mentioned you're working on something. Is that public knowledge?
00:00:41
Speaker
is not as you know it It's semi-public. I can say that I'm i'm working on...
Childhood Reflections & Adaptability
00:00:47
Speaker
I'm at Rockstar working on a video game, dude, 2025. That's the biggest game in the world. it It's so crazy because like I know just from, again, listening to you and watching you online that you are into so many things. um How did that happen? I always start with the question, like, actually, let's go back a little bit. oh Tell me about Little Nick. Like, yeah what did that look like? Oh, man. um Yeah, Little Nick, man, was was was curious, um was always imaginative.
00:01:23
Speaker
um even you know mischievous at times, you know but I was always really into music and and stories. I wrote my first comic book in second grade, you know um and I was one of those kids that was just into a lot. you know I had a single mom, and so I'm from DC, Washington DC, which is you know at the time, particularly then, in the early 90s was the Myrtle capital of America. you know It was hit really hard by the crack epidemic. So my mom was just had me in a lot of stuff, whether it was martial arts or band. or you know
00:02:00
Speaker
I remember I went to a fucking German camp one summer. like and Just random stuff, really. just whatever she Whatever she could find that was free at the moment, that's what I did. You know what I'm saying? own which will actually, you know as as I reflect and it kind of ties into my life as it progressed, but I was always extremely flexible. It's like whatever whatever whatever she wanted, whatever she could find for me at the time is what I did. And so, I mean, even as far as like element we moved around a lot, so you know I went to like five or six different elementary
Specialization vs. Diverse Exploration
00:02:30
Speaker
schools. It's like the idea of flexible and change and um being able to adapt.
00:02:38
Speaker
you know is something and and and switch brain into different modes. It's just something that like like I guess had a lot of practice with that, i to be honest, didn't even like kind of put together until just now. But that was me as ah as a kid, just growing up trying different things and eventually finding a rap. And then that's kind of where my artistic journey kind of kicked off. who And would you say that like it it seems like because you we're giving those opportunities, it allows you to explore so many other opportunities as you got older?
00:03:12
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. um I think just the idea of finding opportunities or finding the next thing, also just not sitting still is the other part, right? I never was really allowed time to just sit still. It was kind of like, no, you got to be doing this thing. And again, in retrospect, as you become an adult and have kids of your own, I got three-year-old twin daughters now, you realize, or at least I've realized that my mom was just trying to like trying to keep me busy instead of you know instead of going down like the wrong path, as they say. and um And yeah, and I think that's what those kind of practices have kind of like, you know, kept up throughout my life. And shout outs to dads, girl dads at that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's dope. That's really dope. I have so many questions. and One of the things I'm also thinking about is just like,
00:04:00
Speaker
You know, what are your thoughts on this? I'm a teacher, I teach elementary. One of the things I like to talk to parents about is just like having kids at an early age explore so many things. I find I'm from Canada, but I find myself looking online, talking to friends back home and they specialize so early in like a craft, even at like you know, eight, nine years old, they're specifically only focused on ball or singing or dance. And it's kind of like, I get it. But I think it limits, personally, I think it limits them so much early on that they don't even know what else is out there. um yeah What are your thoughts on
Learning to Learn & Confidence Building
00:04:39
Speaker
that? Because it doesn't seem like that was the case for you. Yeah, I would agree with you. I mean, I think it's
00:04:46
Speaker
There's pros and cons of both sides, right? Like the idea of kind of focusing on one particular craft and skill set makes a lot of sense, right? Because you grow in that thing and you become a a master of that thing. um But i'm i' I'm kind of in the other bucket of of what you were saying is like, I like to explore all the things. And to your point, particularly at a at an early age, because ah you know you talk about finding a passion. A lot of times at those ages, I mean, sometimes you're fortunate enough to just stumble into the thing right that you were meant to do and your parents pick up on that and they and they are are very, very gifted at identifying that and helping you cultivate it. But then there's a lot of times too where parents are kind of
00:05:28
Speaker
pushing children in a certain direction. A lot of times the direction that they them as a parent may have wanted to you know i' saying pursue but didn't get a chance to. yeah um And so for me, in in those instances, are you know I think it's really important to expose kids to a lot of different things so that they can choose, and then their natural ability, you know their natural passion, all of those things can kind of come to the surface versus being in you know put into a box and just kind of kept there. um So I agree. I think exploration is is key. um and And also, again, it's like just brain function and learning different things and different skills, I think, at least for me. just It teaches you how to think and how to learn. like I recently had the realization, literally in the last month, I was like,
00:06:16
Speaker
Oh, I'm getting better at learning. You know what I'm saying?
Parenting Philosophy & Challenges
00:06:19
Speaker
like And you know this job at Rockstar was a big part of that. It's like, oh, okay. I'm getting more confident that if you put me in any situation, you know you put me in a pilot school, you know I might not naturally be a pilot, but I'm learning how to learn. You know what I'm saying? like I'm getting better at learning. So now I'm like, oh, if you if you were to put me in any situation, I'm figuring out how to pick up skills quick and how to practice skills and and what's important when when approaching new skills. um And that in itself is ah is <unk> something that really only comes by exposing somebody to a lot of different things. So yeah, yeah I think it's certainly valuing and exposing kids to as much as possible. I love that. I i love the concept of learning to learn because yeah we forget that you have to have those skills. Like you you have to be able to put into be put into positions that, you know, challenge you.
00:07:08
Speaker
make you think differently because then over time, when you get into those situations, you're gonna have that backpack of tools to help you. I love i love that. Nick, tell me about, like, what do you love about being a dad? Yeah. Oh, man. oh ah love I love the girls laugh. The laugh is the best. I love um teaching. I'm a former educator myself, so I love teaching. I love watching them learn and um watching them find out new things. it's like ah It's like a wonder there that you kind of forget about new life.
00:07:43
Speaker
um I love providing. you know i just love that I love the idea of making it a day. um you know in uh, just cater into them. You know, so sometimes I can't, you know, I can't do it all the time because I still got to be dad and still have to teach boundaries and discipline and all of these things. But, um, but it is fun. it It makes me feel like, you know, just much like being a teacher is very like rewarding. You know, it feels like there's a purpose purpose and, um, you know, it's, uh, yeah, but, uh, those are some of the things that, uh, immediately come to mind. I love that. Are you finding yourself? And I know it's so interesting because
00:08:21
Speaker
you like growing up in a different era in regards to like when you were born, how you were raised, are you finding yourself ah navigating like the nuances of like today and how things not necessarily should be versus is how they were taught like back then? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. no absolutely Absolutely. I mean, you know Right now, it's still it's still really early because we're going to get into conversations. and When I say me and my daughters, like we're going to get into conversations that are,
00:08:53
Speaker
um i'm gonna have to you know i'm and I'm learning these things. you know my mom There's a certain conversation that my mom didn't have with me because I was a boy. You know what I mean? and so But there are things that I know as ah like growing up as a young man and seeing the landscape of the world today. And luckily, my wife you know my wife is here. So I'm sure there's things that ah she could probably lend to more. But but yeah, there's there's a lot of conversations that I know I was taught that I think I have to like kind of unlearn slash relearn um and reprogram. To be honest, like one of them is even the concept around ah whiteness. And what does whiteness mean? Because growing up in DC,
00:09:32
Speaker
It was like a... I went to very radical schools. The first school I went to was called Roots. And this the school after that was the African Center School, you know and these different things. And growing up and going through life, um I think, again, it's pros and cons. There's a lot of things that really helped me with understanding ah knowledge of self and understanding where I come from and um understanding like my ancestors' plight in this country. And then there's also things that have like limited how I navigate the world because of what I've been taught about whiteness and how I'm supposed to interact with it. You know what I'm saying? So it's like conversations like that. It's like, okay, how do I re-approach these conversations with my daughters so that they're strong in who they are as black women, but also
00:10:17
Speaker
and just like I'm giving them the right tools to be able to navigate this thing. Because that's that's been my that's been like one of the toughest parts of my of my of my journey, transformation, whatever, is like how to interact with the world around me, which is predominantly white. you know I come up against constant things. So that's one example of like a conversation that I'm like, okay, I need to re-approach this conversation and with with with the new information that I have. um or And then, yeah, the other big one, for you know again, at this age, because they're still really early, is like it's just discipline. it's like
00:10:52
Speaker
They say some of the craziest stuff that I would have just got popped for. One of them said the other day, um i was asking her so I came in a room and they were doing something they weren't supposed to do because we just adopted a kitten. And so I'm very afraid for this kitten because you know I'm walking in and every they're pittting picking the the the little cat up by his neck. And like I'm like, okay, babies, we got to do this right. So I walk into the room the one day and I'm like, you know what are y'all doing? And one of my daughters says, She basically says, going about your business. She says, go back to your business, daddy. Go back to your business. And it's cute and all, but it's like how to, you know, I'm trying, i'm so I'm navigating that. Okay. How do I, you know, what do they call it? Gentle? Uh, I forget what they're like, gentle parenting or whatever the the phrase is. yeah But yeah, so that's, that's the other big one. Um, and then it's funny because like the grandparents are so
00:11:45
Speaker
are nothing like what they were when they were. You know what I mean? When they when I was a kid, so it's it's it's this weird thing because grandparents are spoiling them all the time and I'm having to undo
Marriage & Partnership Insights
00:11:56
Speaker
that. So it's a lot. Anyway, I could talk all day about that. But yeah, it is a lot. Going back to your question, um yes, there are a lot of things that I'm having to like you know, kind of relearn yeah yeah in the way that i'm that I'm bringing up the girls. So it's been interesting for sure. I think, yeah. And it's so, it's, I mean, as we know, like yeah black women specifically are the most strongest yeah women out there and yeah often have the most expectation on them as well. yeah Like how do you yeah set them up so they know that?
00:12:33
Speaker
And then at the same time help them understand the complexities around, you know, yeah all the things that come with that out in society. And that is like, I mean, again, they're very young, but like, how do you have that conversation or give them little nuggets on the way so they're, you know, slowly preparing themselves for that? Because, you know, the world is not always, the world is not friendly. No, it's not, man. It's not. And ah you can, especially in these times, it's easy to get caught up in the protection mode. It's like, I just want to protect them. I just want i just want them to have the easiest, sweetest time through this life, you know through life.
00:13:13
Speaker
um which may you know i can't It's not up for me to decide. So yeah the best I can do is just give them what I can and let it go. So that's that's what I'm working on is just trying to like release just a little bit because I'm very like protective. Of course. My follow-up question to that is, and as much as you can share obviously, is what are some of the things you love about being a husband? What are some things when you have the time that you guys like to do for fun yeah outside of academia, outside of you know the work stuff?
00:13:44
Speaker
Yeah. um We love to go out and eat. you know we you know We try to get some trips every now and then. We went to see Usher in Vegas, oh which seems like forever ago. That was like this last fall or towards towards the end of this last summer. um We're going to DC. I'm l LA based, but we're going to DC at the end of this month for a little trip just to see my plan. So that'll be cool. And we've been thinking a lot about, OK, we need to start doing more trips, more, you know, we're going to San Diego. So this this summer will be really cool. The last few years have been interesting because the girls were so young. So it was like hard to like move around with them. But now that they're a little older, we're like, OK, so how old are they? get ah Three. They just turned three. OK. Yeah. Yeah. So um but I love, um you know, some of the same things that I love about being a dad, I love about being a husband, and I love about I love. um You know, I love being a provider, I love um
00:14:40
Speaker
I love having my person. You know what I'm saying? like I love having... I get that. you know um It just seems like it makes life so much easier. like I look a lot of my single friends, no no shade to them, but it's like it just seems like hell to be honest. like um i mean you know For all the fun that they... can you know, Ken and Will have on a given ah given weekend or whatever. um It just, I love the idea of having my person, um having my partner. You know, that's the best part of it is just having like a partner, like a road dog. My wife is my best friend. um So yeah.
00:15:16
Speaker
I couldn't imagine ah couldn't imagine this journey without her. You know what
Shared Paths & Personal Growth
00:15:20
Speaker
I mean? um But that's i mean that's the best part of it, is just having a soulmate. i mean that Literally, like y yin and yang. It's just having that other piece of you that's that makes you feel whole, ah hu helps you make the right choices. You know what I'm saying? yeah Like all the things, it's like, you know, just having that having that is um is nice. I totally agree. I've been married for ah about seven years now. and Oh, wow. Yeah.
00:15:50
Speaker
It's the same thing. like I can't imagine not having her. but yeah yeah like it's For all the same reasons. Someone to talk to, navigate situations, navigate life. yeah that person like That best friend that you can i mean always rely on. ah You know you can come home and be like, this is something I'm dealing with, whether it's good or bad. yeah yeah And then on top of that, they help you grow. So they push you when you don't want to be pushed, they help you learn. Like, yeah, I i echo all those things. Nick, what can you tell me about that? Go ahead, go ahead. I was going to say, how long y'all been together? You said y'all were married seven years. Because I've only been married to my wife
00:16:38
Speaker
three years, but we've been together going on 11 years. So I was curious about how long y'all have been together. Yeah, it's so interesting. i'm ah we We're international. We're both from Canada. We're international teachers. She's from Toronto. I'm from Nova Scotia, which is like... Oh yeah, I know Nova Scotia. Yeah. Yeah, and I've been there. Oh, you've been there? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, that's dope. That's dope. You know, so interesting, we met at a job fair um for teaching in Toronto. And it's this job fair where you can like talk to international schools. And like, I was I would say I was a kid. I was a young adult. there So I saw her there. We sat next to each other. We talked a little bit. We end up signing the same contract to go to the Middle East.
00:17:25
Speaker
um with a couple other teachers. Then we end up being placed like next to each other in this like apartment building. And that was like almost 11 years ago. eleven yeah maybe what to Yeah, it maybe took like a couple of months we started talking. And like for me, again, I just came out i like uni. I like i liked her. Yeah, I haven't really told this is a non record. She does. I always say like, how you know, you really you know, shoot how it works I was like, I really liked her, but I wasn't really like wanting to commit. And then eventually we were just like, yeah, let's just make this official. And then we moved to Singapore together. And then we've been here in Singapore for a few years.
00:18:09
Speaker
Manila for a few years. um Most recently, we're in Vietnam, and then we're actually back to Singapore this year. But it's been a dream. Very well traveled. Yeah, yeah, yeah. um But what about you? You said you guys have been together for 11 years. Also 11 years, and we met literally the exact same way, a teaching program. Are you serious? I'm dead serious. It's literally the exact same way. And our schools were placed right next to each other, right near each other. The program that we did here in America was called Teach for America. Teach for America? I don't teach for America. OK, yeah, exactly. So literally the same thing we did, Teach for America. We met and hit it off in the same exact thing. Wow. Yeah, our schools were not far from each other. We were talking.
00:18:59
Speaker
And, you know, again, like you said, just, you know how it goes. And then from there, you know, the rest is just to rebut.
Career Transitions & Setbacks
00:19:05
Speaker
But literally, yeah, same, same kind of way. That's crazy. Without the cool traveling. Yeah, that is so, that is so crazy. I think it's cool when, um I mean, it doesn't always happen. But when it does happen, when you are your partner is someone who is into the same stuff as you. Not even the same stuff, but like does the same thing as you. I mean, it can also go the other way. I know I find both of us sometimes talking a lot about education, yeah like what's happening in the world. um But it is a common interest that I love to have with her because it can be like a go-to and we both feel very comfortable
00:19:43
Speaker
about having conversation about it. So um yeah, I love that. I love that. ah love that yeah Yeah. Thank you. loving that Thank what are you. what are What are some of the things like was there a specific moment in your life that either influenced or inspired you to go towards hip hop and rap or film or being an author? And I do think all those things are interconnected very much so. specifically with what you do um and how you bring them all together. But it was there a specific moment or experience? Yeah, I mean, for for Rap, it was... um
00:20:21
Speaker
Just growing up in and around it, you know, my my dad was, it was DMX, you know, the early one was like one of the the early, that's, I mean, that's, that's who's right here actually is DMX and Holes. That's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. The XXL cover, but DMX was like the first artist I really like grabbed onto as a kid, you know, like as like, at like five listening to DMX and um it's Dark and Hell is High, his first album. And then, um From there, I think you know it's one of those things. You're just outside, people are doing it, everybody's doing it. And I took a... Like most people, like you know i initially started as poetry. you know I'm writing poetry and then I'm putting it to music and I'm listening to Cassidy on YouTube and um you know what I mean? And you just put it together. And then we you know me and some friends recorded our first mixtape in high school and
00:21:13
Speaker
The rest, I mean, you you you couldn't get me out. You couldn't you couldn't stop me from writing music at that from that point on. And so now it was so ah addicting here. I never forget coming out of the studio. um And I guess it was a, was it an iPod or it must have been a Walkman? I forget what what the device was at that time. Probably a Walkman. It might've been a CD player even. this A Disman. A Disman. That's what, yeah, it might've been a Disman. It was either, it might've been a Disman where, um and you know, listening, back like literally just on repeat the song we made and just listening to my voice and it was so cool. I don't know. It was something about that experience that was exhilarating. And then yeah, I was doing that. you know ah That's what I did. you know I ended up going to Oklahoma
00:21:58
Speaker
I went out there initial for school, um but got was doing music and ended up working with good music. And so um it was this guy by the name of Tony Williams, world famous Tony Williams, who is ah does like all Kanye's, he sings ah all Kanye stuff, right? And you' hear you'll hear Kanye be like, ah you know he shouts him out on all the songs and all of that. Anyway, turned out their cousins and Kanye's family's from Oklahoma. I wouldn't have known, but um they came across some music videos we did. and So then we ended a writing two project or two songs on Tony Williams' first good music project and then he did a track for us and um we thought we were going to get signed. This was when they were recording a dark twisted fantasy. And um one thing is a bunch of stuff happened, but but basically it all kind of failed through. Me and Tony ended up getting into it. I was young and I thought I knew everything and
00:22:48
Speaker
My grades were also really bad at OU, primarily because I was focused on music. And we were i mean we were you know we we had some motion. We was on the radio and all of this. And so once that happened, that we you know fell out with Tony. My grades weren't great, and I couldn't just stay in Oklahoma. So I ended up going back to DC. And so it really halted like all of our momentum. um And i felt to be honest, I fell into a little bit of a depression after that. like I was back in DC alone. um My god brother, who I was rapping with, stayed in Oklahoma to finish school. um I didn't know what I was going to do because I was doing like a, I forget what the major was, but it wasn't going well. And so when I transferred, my mom actually worked at Howard University, which is in DC where I'm from. And so I was able to go there, finish school there. And that's why I did, that's what, so I did Teach for America. Cause I was like, I don't know what I would do, which is crazy. Like when people don't know what they're going to do, they become teachers. So I became a teacher and yeah, so I did that.
00:23:46
Speaker
And so when I got in the classroom, I was teaching five-year-olds, I was teaching kindergarten. wow And again, me being a storyteller, but also like kind of like this hustling mentality. When I got into the classroom and saw that the books that we were reading were all like, you know, C-Spot Run, C-Spot Jump, these sight words. I was like, I could do this. You know what I'm saying? like And there were no characters that really featured kids that looked like my kids. um No books talked about our community. So I was like, oh no, I could i could run this. And so I started writing children's books.
00:24:19
Speaker
um that were really meant for early literacy. oh But I was finding pictures online, little black pictures of little black girls and boys to match my words. And I started using that in the classroom. And so my principal saw that, some other people saw it, ended up giving me seed money, grant money to self-publish my whole ah children's book series, get it illustrated and everything. And so that was my first entry into becoming an author. And so I was like, okay, this is dope. So I did that for a couple of years in Teach for America. That took me to Dallas, Texas. I was doing some consulting with my books, um but it but it was still very education focused. And I was trying to like, I wanted to be in entertainment. I wanted to be in Los Angeles. like I didn't really want to be in education.
Pandemic Adaptations & Inspirations
00:25:00
Speaker
And so I saw a film, Fueville Station by Ryan Coogler. And I really connected with that film. I was like, yo, who made this? I went, again, going back to YouTube, I watched Ryan speak.
00:25:12
Speaker
And it was one of the first times I really connected with a filmmaker. you know Before that, it was like Spike Lee and John Singleton and even Quentin Tarantino. But like there was like this, you know they seemed other. you know they It seemed like something I couldn't really attain. But I saw Ryan speak, and I was like, oh, there was a familiarity there, ah particularly because he didn't come from film. like he wasn't He didn't have a camera since he was eight, you know what I mean? Like these other guys. um And so I was like, well, what did Ryan do to get to that place? And I saw he went to this film school, USC, University of Southern California, which is you know apparently the number one film school in the country. So so I was like, man, I'll just do that. I'll just go to the same school Ryan went to. And so I made my first short film.
00:25:57
Speaker
um And it did much better than anticipated. It won some awards. That only got me into SC, but got me a a huge scholarship from George Lucas. oh And so I went on and to do more you know many more films. But those that's ah kind of a long story, but those are all the points, like how music took me, you know what went to school, was doing that, came back home, got into writing books and then into movies. And then fast forward to 2020, when the world shuts down, I'm coming out of grad school, out of USC. Oh my gosh. Yeah, everything's shutting down. I'm on my way out of I've graduated in 2020, which by the way, I got to get my money back for that because
00:26:39
Speaker
you know they shut down that whole semester. And I really felt like anybody who took out student loans at that point need to get their money back. I agree. um And so um so I did that, spent all this time in school. I had it taken out loans so that, because at this time, it's me, my wife, we we're going through this journey together. We you know we were together in DC to teach for America. She came with me to Dallas, Texas, and then we came to you know Los Angeles. So at this time, we're like, both in school, because she also went to film school. And so not only did we go to film school, but we had to like live in Los Angeles, right? So we we're in this all this dead and um trying to figure out what's the next move. And so everything shuts down. Film industry is closed.
00:27:21
Speaker
So the only thing I could do is turn back to writing books and making music because those are the things I could do at my house. um And so I did that and and then, yeah, and then from there, you know that's kind of that kind of gets us into... this new like iteration of my life where I'm putting out books and making music for for for for films and
'Promise Boys' & Educational Insights
00:27:44
Speaker
stuff. and so um so Since 2020, I've kind of been on that wave and things are kind of coming together where i can you know I'm able to kind of make all of these pieces really bleed into each other. um Yeah. careful it's so It's so cool to hear the ways that you were able to pivot because ye well you had
00:28:02
Speaker
Every reason to quit yeah yeah yeah like everything was thrown at you and the world was telling you that you needed to stop that you pivoted every single time i think that says so much about you as a person maybe just like. also the people who maybe raised you because, yeah I mean, especially during 2020, like you are, not just you, but like the world, there is so much pressure on people to sort of just survive in general, right? yeah And for you to be able to be like, okay, I'm going to switch lanes. I'm going to go over here. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this. And on top of that, it's not even that you're going to do it, but you're going to do it freaking good, like freaking well. like
00:28:48
Speaker
And I think that I think it says so much about the talent that you have. And this goes into my next question. You write amazing. You're an amazing writer. Amazing writer. We can't finish the call without talking about Promise Boys. Just a little bit. Just a little bit. Absolutely. I mean, I want to talk about JB, I wanna talk about all of them, but we don't have time. So I did write some of these questions down. So okay the first question was, ah where is it here? So what what inspired you to write Promise Boys um yeah and address the issues in regards to like youth, yeah black youth specifically? Yeah, well, what so when I was um at Howard, when I went back to DC,
00:29:41
Speaker
from Oklahoma and everything was falling apart. One of the other things I did is I started, I joined a nonprofit called a Concerned Black Men, where I was ah pushing into ah classrooms across the city for at-risk boys, right? Essentially the pop essentially the population that that we're speaking to with Promise Boys, right? And um I got to say, even though ah even though I wanted to step out of education, that experience also i you know changed my life because it's the thing that made me say, okay, maybe I can become an educator, I can become a teacher because working with those boys, like we talked about with being an educator or having kids, it was so fulfilling, like seeing their growth.
00:30:21
Speaker
but also seeing the things that they were up against, ah recognizing myself in them, um and being able to like to help, you know what I mean? But that was such a life-changing experience that like really stuck with me, that made me become a teacher. Now, when I became a teacher, I saw so many things Man, I'm telling you, I saw so many heartbreaking things, right? Like a lot of beautiful things, also a lot of heartbreaking things. you know um ah Just a quick example, there's a ton of them, but just a quick example.
00:30:53
Speaker
A lot of my kids' food was going missing at one point. right And so I'm like, man, a kid is stealing food. um Then my food goes missing one day from my lunch. So I'm like, OK, I got to do a sting operation. And so I put food in my desk. I wait. I see what's happening. and ah And I see a girl go in the classroom. I come in up behind her. Boom, I caught her. right She was stealing food. And so I take her down to the office. She gets in trouble. She gets suspended. dot dot da da My principal comes to me two days later, and the girl's back in my classroom. And I was like, oh, I thought she was suspended. My principal says, yeah, Mr. Brooks, like I came to school this morning.
00:31:27
Speaker
the last two mornings and they were in the parking lot. And so today I went to them and said, why are you, and you know, you know, such and such as suspended or are you in a parking lot? And they were homeless, right? They're living in a car in the school parking lot. The reason she was taking food is to bring it back to her fat, to her mom and her little brother, right? And so stories like that, right? They're just tear jerkers and that's just one of them, right? That's the tip of the iceberg. So I saw these things and I also saw I saw a gap in my own understanding. right getting hurt like The way that I handled that situation, I was like, man, that wasn't even something I would have thought of. I didn't even think to... You know what I'm saying? I went straight to, okay, we got to get you in trouble.
00:32:06
Speaker
But am my the same way I did that, that's how the school was about everything. like kids were getting like It was a charter school, a new charter school, and there were all of these types of rules. Kids had to walk on this blue line. ah The kindergartners had to hold their breath in the hallway so that they wouldn't speak. like they literally they They called it a catch they called the catch a bubble. so they had to like They had to do that in the hallway. no like Once we get to the hallway, we had to say, catch a bubble. And they would have to hold their breath like that in their cheeks. And they had to hold their hands behind their back so they wouldn't touch the walls. This is at five, bro. This is at five. And so anyway, just to just to move it along, it's like, so when you ask about like, why?
00:32:45
Speaker
is It's crazy. and so i saw So seeing those type of things, knowing the kids, working with the boys that I work with, all of these different things, doing a program like Teach For America, will which is all about education ah you know equity, I kind of had this like background and you know in this space and was like, okay, how do I bring this to the forefront? How do I talk about these conversations? How do I how do I make this purposeful? right So like we have the very intriguing mystery, but also how do I say something about the school system that I see as so deeply flawed? um And so that was the experience, like being the educator, working with kids, working with particularly at-risk black boys, black and brown boys, those were the experiences that I like ah had to bring into this book to to almost to like share their story, you know what I mean? And have people like turn to them and and and appreciate the things that they're going through.
00:33:36
Speaker
ah i
Character Development & Narrative Choices
00:33:37
Speaker
I mean, you do it so well. And I'm assuming, and you can answer this question more, I think I'm assuming with Raymond, JB and Trey, I'm assuming they all have elements of multiple people that you've interacted with. Yeah, yes. 100% elements of multiple people. I've interacted with kids I've taught, elements of myself. You know what I mean? Like JB, of course, he's writing rhymes on the bus. you know um right So Ramon, that was me as a kid, the hustler, like Ramon with the selling things. like I was selling everything in school. i'd be so you know selling I was selling jeans. I was selling all types of stuff when I was in school. um And then Trey, for Trey is like just the the concept of like
00:34:22
Speaker
the hoop, like the dreaming of wanting the hoop dreams, right? It's the same thing as like, we all got it, but we all got it. We all got the hoop dreams, right? So, um, so yeah, man, it was like a combination of like my own experiences and then experiences of a lot of the, a lot of the kids that I work with. And I know it's it's done so it's done so well. And the other part that I love, um and I don't think, I think, like I love authors who are like creative with how they approach a story and the structure of a story. um And I love how you switch between different perspectives. And I think yeah that is so powerful because it really lets you like zoom in specifically
00:35:05
Speaker
on the individual characters. um So I guess my question is like, why did you choose to to write that way? um And was there like an overall message behind that structure as well? Yeah, you know, it's interesting. um Actually, the so the publisher slash packager that, you know, that published the book, When we were developing the book, it was actually, Kate Creative is the packaging company that I work with in partnership with McMillan and Henry Holt, you know it a few different like subsidiaries. But it was her suggestion. She said, check out this book, How It Went Down. And i'm free I always forget the...
00:35:45
Speaker
um um I'm blanking on the sister's name. But it was a book called How It Went Down. And she was like, check that out. It's urban. It's multiple perspective. It's not really a mystery. But the but what they did with the perspective is like amazing. oh Check it out. See what you think. And so I read it, and she was totally right. It was like so beautifully written. I got i really got to get that sister's name, who who wrote that book. But that was that was really it. I mean, that's all I needed to see. I saw i read how it went down. I was like, yeah, this is this is a cool structure. you know um And then particularly me like being a mystery writer, coming from like the school of like Agatha Christie you know and and Clue, or Knobzow, or Vantage Point, like these different mysteries.
00:36:29
Speaker
What I really understood is that um telling a mystery from different POVs allows you to um like have a lot of secrets, a lot of red herrings, you know a lot of a lot of reveals, because you you can't really trust any one perspective, because everybody's coming through the... you know You're seeing everything through everybody. like once you Once you're set in a book well where I'm telling you, hey, everything that you're reading is subjective, then you have to you kind of understand it's like, okay, well, this is... this character's take on this thing. You know what I mean? no And so um it really makes it easy to like hide the ball in places. And so, yeah, it was it just made sense for the for the mystery. And then as far as like the messaging, any type of messaging behind it, one of the other things, i because we approached it with this type of format, for me, the the the thing that I think thematically I was able to do that hopefully came across is that like when I became a teacher,
00:37:24
Speaker
or when I was even pushing into some of those classes working with those boys, I would hear a lot of different things about the students before I met them. Like I was hearing the chorus of the community. kind of tell me things I needed to know um and that weren't always good things, right? The way adults talk about kids sometimes is you know people would be surprised or maybe not surprised. at the you know Teachers are doing crazy things all over all over the place these days. But um but that was once something I wanted to settle in. It's like I wanted the community and all these other voices to tell you what you're supposed to think about these kids so that when you meet them and you see that they're just you know they just want to help their boiler,
00:38:00
Speaker
or they just miss their mom or that they just have a crush on this girl, that they're just kids. And so doing the multiple perspective kind of allows for that. It allows to like. introduce you to these kids in a way where I'm like, once you meet them, it's to your expectation. You know what I mean? um Because it was the same way that teachers oftentimes come into a school community. It's like you think you might be you might think one thing about a kid or a particular kid or a particular group of kids, um but then once you meet them and get to know them, it's a completely different story. So yeah, those were all kind of like all the reasons that it was it was written in that way.
00:38:34
Speaker
It was masterfully done. I enjoyed every ounce of it and it literally It was a quick read for me because I couldn't stop reading it.
Conclusion & Work Appreciation
00:38:45
Speaker
that's reason and i'm not a I'm not a fast reader, I think. I can't remember who said it, but I wrote online once, like, I'm such a slow reader. And someone corrected me and they were like, you're a patient reader. It's not necessarily a slow reader. I like that, yeah. read But I feel like I flew through your book because I just could not put it down. And apparently, as I was reading online, someone said the audio version also is really, really well done.
00:39:07
Speaker
as well. Yeah, we won the Odyssey Award for the for the audio version. Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'm i'm excited, man. um The next YA is coming out next year. I'm really excited about that, um which is hopefully, you know, you'll fly through that one too. i'm and I'm very excited and I most definitely will. Where can people find you online? You can find me at TheNickBrooks.com, T-H-E, NickBrooks.com. you can find And that has everything, everything you need to know. On Instagram, it's just official NickBrooks. On Twitter, I think it's like, who is NickBrooks? But again, if you go to TheNickBrooks.com, you'll find everything you need to know. um Yeah, man, tap in with me. Awesome. I appreciate you, homie. Yeah, absolutely. My pleasure, man. I appreciate you having me.
00:39:59
Speaker
All right.