Author Ethan Brown presents
"Queens Reigns Supreme," a gripping narrative of the untold story
of how the streets and housing projects of Southeast Queens, New York, took
over the rap industry.
Spanning twenty-five years,
from the crack era to Run DMC to Tupac Shakur to 50 Cent’s battles against
Ja Rule and Murder Inc. to the killing of Jam Master Jay, "Queens Reigns
Supreme" is the first inside look at the infamous Southeast Queens crews
and their connections to the biggest names in Hip-Hop.
“Queens has served
as the back drop to some of the most infamous Hip-Hop stories because, as LL
Cool J told me recently, the residents of this borough think in a big, game-changing
way,” Brown told AllHipHop.com. “50 Cent is a great example of this.
From the very beginning, 50 set out to break with Hip-Hop tradition, setting
his sights on icons from both the Hip-Hop and hustling games ("How to Rob"
and "Ghetto Qu’ran.") Put simply, Hip-Hoppers from Queens–from Run-DMC
to Marley Marl to Nas to Irv Gotti to 50–are rule-breakers and game-changers.”
For years, rappers from
Nas to Ja Rule have romanticized the legendary drug dealers who dominated Queens
in the 1980s.
The riveting story also
examines the careers of hustlers such as Lorenzo “Fat Cat” Nichols,
Gerald “Prince” Miller, Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff, and
Thomas “Tony Montana” Mickens.
It recounts how their crimes
and flashy lifestyles produced a generation of rappers and producers, from 50
Cent to Irv “Gotti” Lorenzo, who built their careers by linking
themselves to their notorious childhood idols.
Queens Reigns Supreme reveals
some of Queens’s biggest secrets including the identity of the person
who shot 50 Cent just before the release of his major label debut, Get Rich
or Die Tryin’.
In addition, Irv Gotti gives
his first interview since the federal investigation into his Murder Inc Hip-Hop
empire began in 2002. The book also contains 20 pages of never before seen photos
of Preme and Fat Cat in their heyday and a rare photo of deceased rappers Tupac
Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G., Randy "Stretch" Walker and Eric "E-Money
Bags" Smith posing together.
Queens Reigns Supreme
will be released on November 22, 2005. For more information, log on to Amazon.com.
