A Work in Progress: Music/Poems by Kevin Turner Jr

Author's Note

So I loved to write raps as a kid....well I still do.
When I was a kid I tried to create many bands or groups for writing music. We constantly tried to come up with a suitable name for my group of friends. We went through a lot of names. We went through a lot of people. My first "band" I was in I tried the base as well as sing. I had no idea how to read or write music. I just sang whatever I thought of, wrote the lyrics, and tried to remember the instrumentals. Later on when I got older I tested my hand in Rap. I loved it, I felt it was easier to read and I didn't have to try learning music. Just went online grabbed a free beat and wrote to it. My friends and I, a new set of friends then the "band" I was in. I learned how to play drums by ear and would sometimes play drums for a beat instead. After I moved I tried my hand in hardcore music playing the drums for a new "band" ha. We were pretty good I'd fill in for the regular drummer when he was away and also do percussion. I grew up doing percussion in church and "playing the bass" as well, also by ear, eventually the drummer left church and I got to play a little of that too. That was in between all of the band mess ha. Always had a passion for rap though.

I've always wanted to be pro but never felt good enough to actually record. I hoped one day to write for Christian artists and they perform my songs but never tried that as well.
The many names I or my friends have tried out where all fun. I have a few on the cover; candle wax seal, three Christ-a-tears, Level Up Clique, and many more. When I took on the name MonkMas, that is a story in itself involving comics, I tried MonkMas Beats and would beatbox for myself. My favorite name though is Level Up Clique! My friend Marcos and I would write a lot together, which you'll see in the following pages. We were done with our homework at this church thing where we'd do homework while parents did their thing, I think we were looking at a glimpse of the next day's assignment in Math when we saw the word level. Immediately Marcos says, "Dude, Level up!" See this worked on so many, dare I say, levels! Joking aside. We loved to game and when you gain experience you'd, well, level up of course, then there was the fact of everyone leveling up, or gaining experience, when we read God's word. It was perfect, we eventually added clique because of all the rap groups doing it at the time. For some reason I can only remember one, 116 clique, you know Reach Records, Lecrae, the og of early 2000s Christian rap. I would go by Sherlock Turner, helping solve the mysteries of gods word Marcus would go by C.O.C.O. Nut, I can't remember why he chose it either. Ironically, he's allergic to nuts.

So here is how I'm going to make this happen. Right now I'll post in Parts. Each album in a part of its own. Not all are finished, hint the title of the book, so if I feel something while typing or copy pasting, I will probably write a note mentioning I finished it at the spot, or something like that. After I post the albums I will do a few childhood songs and poems I've written to close out the book. I will have a little synopsis of my experience, my thoughts on, and even what inspired me on each song. Which will be after the actual songs themselves. I have written a few of these before major changes has happened in my life so I will probably have to explain a little on that as well. To cut time short, I hit rock bottom when I had a divorce and lost my mom as I was patching things up with her, all with in months of each other. I struggled with porn and other addictions. Realized how narcissistic, toxic, and codependent I was, when I was married. And going through a lot with sexuality. Once again some of my songs closer to the end will dive differently into this.

I am excited to go on this journey with everyone who reads this. The happy, the depressing, the sadness, anger, etc. oh and I will eventually make this into a hard copy for people to enjoy instead of having to have an account on Whattpad, probably excluding this note too.

Thank you so very much for reading,
Kevin