Kendrick Lamar is pretty angry...

...and I'm here for it! 👊🏾 Plus, an intro to a cool author!

So, if you’ve been on the internet in the last few days, you’ve likely seen the rap beef between Drake and Kendrick Lamar and Metro Boomin and Rick Ross and The Weeknd and ASAP Rocky and Kanye West and Megan thee Stallion and…

Yeah, there’s been quite a few people taking shots at Drake, and many of them seem pretty upset. But no one has conjured up as much pure, unadulterated raging hatred toward the rapper as Kendrick Lamar.

He’s dropped three diss tracks in the last week criticizing everything about Drake, from his music to his style and accent. At first, you may think, “Um, is Kendrick Lamar okay? What could Drake have done to him?” But with each song, it became clearer and clearer to me why Kendrick Lamar is so angry…

In my book, How to Be a Better Adult, the main character (Hope) sees a therapist who encourages her to embrace her anger:

After a brief pause, Hope decided the truth was ok to share.

“I’m kind of angry.”

Dr. Marley’s red-tinted eyes gleamed with a look of pleasant surprise. He flipped through his clipboard and scratched down several notes. “Anger is a fine emotion, Hope. A very fine emotion.”

“Is it?”

“Yes, of course. Anger drives people to action. That’s something you struggle with, you know. Taking action.” Dr. Marley spoke without taking his eyes off his notes.

Sometimes, people frown upon emotions like anger, grief, and sadness. But each emotion can serve a positive purpose if we let it. Sadness lets us know we need support. Grief is proof that love exists. Anger in the face of injustice or a moral offense is justified. It leads to action. Righteous anger in the right hands can protect those who can’t speak for themselves.

My fave quote from Wandavision

After listening to Kendrick Lamar’s last two disses towards Drake, it’s clear he’s standing up for those who may have been harmed by Drake’s alleged behavior. From respected peers like Pharell and Serena Williams to young women we may not know. And if it’s true what he’s saying? That is a kind of anger I can get behind.

What do you think of the Kendrick v. Drake beef?

Meet Author Tatiana White!

I found Tatiana via Kickstarter when I was looking for campaigns to support, and her lovely cover art and intriguing plot caught my attention. I’m super excited to introduce her to you all today! I interviewed Tatiana about her work, her life, and her journey to self-publishing, and I hope it inspires anyone hoping to do the same!

Hi Tatiana! Can you please let everyone know who you are and what you do?

Hi readers! My name is Tatiana White, and I’m an indie author who conjures stories of fantastical Black girls and Black women as they navigate the pressures of their lives. I am also a huge cinephile who loves to analyze pop culture in my newsletter The Muse Papers.

Your latest novel, The Gifted Society, follows a teenage girl's journey of harnessing her power, creating a found family, and discovering self. What events in your life inspired you to write this story?

At age 10, I moved from the city of Long Beach—which had a lot of community and culture—to a small and newly formed homogenous suburban town wedged in the middle of cattle farms. I was one of the very few Black children in my school, and that was always brought to my attention because my presence came with questions/comments about my hair and other things significant to my culture—like food, my physical features, and speech. It came with racial jokes. I felt very isolated and insignificant in my classes. It’s no wonder X-Men resonated with me. It gave me a place to relate. A place where I could celebrate every piece of me. For that, I will always love X-Men so much.

As I grew up, the journey of finding myself and my tribe had many turns and dips, so what was fanfiction turned into something all its own. The Gifted Society is very reflective of my journey as a young Black girl navigating my place in the world despite what it imposes or sells you. And at its core, my protagonist, Alexia shared a desperation for community and found family with me. We all want a place or people to belong to. We want a home that makes so much sense without explanation. Something to always come back to.

I connected to my found family decades ago and have never looked back. They’ve made all the difference in my life, especially through hard times. I wanted to convey the fullness and warmth of finding your village vs. living without them and wondering if anyone will ever understand you and love you as you are. It is such a universal struggle.

You've had quite the journey bringing your novel to fruition. How did you end up self-publishing through Kickstarter, and how did it make you feel?

My publishing journey has been a very arduous. I started actively writing my novel after getting married and moving across the country with my husband after the birth of our oldest daughter. He was in the military, so with that came an entirely different lifestyle and learning curve. I had gone from being an independent working young woman in my 20s to a married young new mom in my 20s. I had left everything I’d known and was in an unfamiliar and new phase in my life. So, I was struggling with my identity again, and also very ill from our surroundings.

I suddenly was allergic to everything: Food, trees, weeds, grass, and mold. I was very sick without a diagnosis for a very long time. I felt like I was withering away. It’s no surprise I dove back into my book’s world for sanctuary. This time was different. This time, I really leaned into the possibility of this story. Lonely for community, I posted my work on websites for aspiring authors. I garnered almost half a million reads, and the interest that grew made me believe I could really do something with writing. Representation is such a crazy thing because I know I never considered being a young adult author because I didn’t see people like me in that role as much. So, it just didn’t compute that this could be a possibility. But the landscape of young adult publishing was changing, and there were amazing up and coming black authors writing for teens like Jason Reynolds and Dhonielle Clayton. After drafting and editing my story for a couple years, I decided to query my novel.

I did a few rounds of querying, and some pitch events on Twitter. I had pretty decent results. Interested agents—partial request and full requests from them, but I just couldn’t lock in a deal. After getting a revise and resubmit from an agent, I chose to edit my novel again. I entered RevPit in 2019 as a means of getting some professional assistance on improving my book. Kyle Hiller, who is brilliant, chose me as his mentee, and we got to work. I learned so much from him about story crafting in a matter of months. It was an exciting time, and we felt like we were on the brink of something unique and moving.

Then, I was hit with very bad news—my dad was diagnosed with leukemia. He battled his illness with one and a half rounds of chemo before passing away after contracting pneumonia while in the hospital. He had only lived 45 days after his diagnosis.

I couldn’t breathe or think straight for a very long time. My grief took up so much space in my life. I didn’t have the time or mind to write. I only had time to be sad and angry. Then the pandemic came and suddenly, under the force of lockdown, I had to reckon with the void of my father even more. After finding an old letter from him, in which he expressed his life’s disappointments, he encouraged me to learn from him, saying, “Do what you are called to do right now. Don’t waste a minute.”

I felt as though he was talking to me about publishing. Suddenly, my mortality became very real. I didn’t want to die with all my ideas left in my mind. I didn’t want to keep writing books only for them to never see the light of day because of what gatekeepers will and won’t allow. I also wanted full creative control and a schedule I could create, and not feel pressured by—as I had my hands full with grief, work, and my family.

I made up my mind then. I would make my own seat at the table and self-publish my book.

Running a Kickstarter was something I always planned to do at some point. I loved the community aspect of it, and how it connects people from all over the world to a dream they can support and be part of. I already had my crew: my illustrator Clara Gaby Rose, and my two editors on board. Getting the product completed wouldn’t be an issue. Staying positive and progressive would be the biggest obstacle. With a lot of work and tenacity, I was able to cross the finish line by reaching my campaign goal—which really helped me with some of the publishing start-up costs. It’s been a wild ride, but I don’t regret any of it. I’m still awe that I accomplished this after going hard for ten years. It makes me feel invincible in a way. I don’t know how I completed The Gifted Society amid being a working mom of two through so many life changes. I had so much discipline in reaching my goal, and that’s truly magical to me. Every effort I made over 10-20 years mattered and added to the mosaic of a bigger picture.

So, so inspiring! Where can we find you online?

You can purchase The Gifted Society, find my website, and social media pages on X, Instagram and TikTok, through my linktree here: https://linktr.ee/tiaxtati. I also write about my writing process and pop culture analysis on my Substack newsletter: The Muse Papers. You can also subscribe to this via the link as well.

Thank you to Tatiana for sharing so candidly. I adored reading your thoughts and about your journey and you know I can relate to a lot of it!

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

Listen to my girly podcast!: The Magical Girl’s Guide to Life

Read my nerdy self-help book!: The Magical Girl’s Guide to Life

Follow me on Instagram!: @Jacqueaye