A moment with Author King Dhakir: Black Daria's First Interview

Black Daria loves a good book. I just finished reading Twilight and I'm looking forward to reading New Moon before it comes out...those werewolves in the commercial...oops.

Anyway, I met King Dhakir at a friend's going-away party, and when he told me he was a writer, I was impressed. It wasn't until about a month later or so that I took him a tad more seriously...most reviewers are given free books to review, but I actually believe in supporting people, so I did things the old fashioned way. Not true, I was actually forced to buy the book...even Black Daria wasn't worthy enough of a free copy (somewhere I can hear King saying "Why do black people always want something for free?")...

The title is captivating, especially at a time when you're afraid to say out loud "I Hate My Job." It also sounds like you know what it's about, but I guarantee there's a lot more to the title. I read it expecting the typical story but was already thrown by the fact that the book had over 300 pages...but I interrupted my Twilight Saga and indulged.

King currently lives in Brooklyn, but hails from Chicago. He's now making the rounds up and down the East coast promoting his book. And Ladies, he's also single, and advertises this on the back of his book. You can talk about that amongst yourselves.

Black Daria: There's a theme throughout the book, the red cardinal, can you talk about its signifigance?

King Dhakir: The cardinal symoblizes resurrection, and red symbolizes death. When things are about to change, the cardinal appears as the warning. It can also be seen as a spiritual cleansing, I believe it's the Cardinal who proceeds over the Catholic church.

BD: Tell us something about the main character, Justice, that we wouldn't know from reading your book. We know he's a college graduate now working a retail job to try to make ends meet. We also know he lives in Brooklyn and works in Harlem. What else should we know about him?

KD: Justice is striving to find his way like a lot of men. He's trying to find an identity without being complacent in his current situation. Even though he has a lot of women in the book, and carries himself as a lion on the outside, when he looks in the mirror, he still sees a kitten. Justice is a go-getter and is going after a vision, not just a dream. Justice is looking for the greatness within himself to get to the vision.

BD: Bloomberg was just elected mayor for a 3rd term in New York City. One of your supporting characters, Felicia, is an activist; how would she feel about the current state of affairs in NYC today?

KD: Felicia would have been on the front lines educating people about the changes happening right under their noses. The book itself takes place in two boroughs that have seen enormous amounts of gentrification taking place. Prices are still increasing, and gentrification is still taking place, displacing Black Americans to make room for a different class of people or big businesses. I hope that when people read the book they will feel empowered with knowledge on this topic.

BD: Where did the title of the book come from?

KD: The “I” stands for individual or identity. Hate is an emotion, and job stands for “just over broke.” When you start a new job, the first day you are usually bugging out, sitting at your new desk or standing at your new post, asking yourself if you belong there. Sometimes as you are there, you begin to feel stuck, like sort of a prison you’ll never get out of, trapped or hopeless. On the cover, the heart wrapped in chains recognizes the conflict, but the journey is to release your heart from the trap or chains to live your true visions.

BD: I read an interview you did with Urban Reviews where you mentioned that writing was barely discussed in a public forum. Can you touch on that and discuss your process?

KD: Mathematics are the key to life, and keeps gravity in check. I subconsciously wrote the book with a beat in mind, to keep people interest and make it a read that follows through without breaks. A lot of people don’t talk about the mechanics of writing anymore because the writing game has become money driven, so that’s what their focus is: if street fiction and erotica are selling on the streets, that’s what they choose to write. It isn’t fair to readers to get the same stories, and what’s happened with rap music, specifically gangsta rap, has happened with this book genre. It’s now flooded, and it’s time for something new.

I also took the time to have the book professionally edited, another area where I see a lot of corners cut. It doesn’t serve the reader any justice if your book has inconsistent paragraph structure, spelling, grammatical or punctuation errors. Writers need to know the mechanics and the passion has to return. I feel these are the tools of an influential writer.

BD: How have you used the digital age to promote your book?

KD: Right now, I have over 2000 friends of Facebook, and about 5000 MySpace friends, however, I know that when I have a book signing, I may only get 1 percent of those people. I don’t rely completely on those outlets to sell my book, but I do continuously advertise, as I have gotten sales from talking about the book online. The key was consistency. Otherwise, I am out in the trenches.

BD: So what you are saying is, you don’t just stay behind your computer screen…

KD: Jesus and Elijah Muhammad were amongst the people, so I have to be as well. I always carry a book to sell, I’m like Clark Kent almost. But I don’t rely on just being online, I know the importance of talking to the people, and I do that as well.

BD: Talk about your next book.

KD: It’s called “Cracked Mirrors are Good Luck”; I don’t want to give the plot away, but it will be five short stories based off the words of the title. “Cracked” will be the first, with crack being used as a metaphor, but will be a person in the book. It’s a science fiction book based off real life situations. That’s all I will say for now.

BD: Lastly, who have been some of your writing influences?

KD: Actually, MCs have been more influential in my writing than other writers. When I tried styles like Donald Goines or Eric Jerome Dickey, I failed terribly, and realized then I had to find my own voice. I took four years off from the time I’d written anything last to find my own voice. That’s been the most important voice in my writing; my own. Through writing as an MC, it helped me to make the transition, and find my own voice.

-fin-

My first interview, I think I did pretty damn good. If you buy his book, then that means I did really well.

You can find King online at www.kingdhakir.com, as well as on Facebook and Myspace. It's worth your money, and a quick read...so go on, buy the book.

xoxo,
Black Daria ;/