Lamont "Big Fridge" Needum

by Seth "Soul Man" Ferranti
May 2010

Lamont “Big Fridge" Needum is no stranger to controversy. As one of the main members of Columbus, Ohio's Short North Posse his notoriety is well known and detailed in countless newspaper articles as well as his Feds Magazine interview. But pushing that to the side we now take a look at his first novel, Straight Savage, which details the Posse's exploits, fictionally of course. Check out what Fridge has to say.

When did you first get into writing and why?
I got into writing in 1998 when I was in the hole for a long time for getting in a suckers ass. I hadn't read adult fiction before, only non-fiction. I ran across Eric Jerome Dickey's first book and it blew my mind. It was black and slightly profound. It was our story and because I'd only read books from writers like Alex Haley, Mac B. Morant, Chancellor Williams, etc., it was all new to me. But I felt as if the Street Nigga was never represented in these books. So that?s what started me on the path.

What is Straight Savage about?
Straight Savage is about a plethora of issues that we (Street Niggas) are presented with. Some of the books I've read based on the streets are more verisimilitudinous than fact driven. Kilos don't fall from the sky. We don't like kids being in the game, even though you're through being a kid in the inner city by 12 & 13. We are not haters of justice, and so on. I wanted to juxtapose the way the mainstream media depicts us. To show that it gets much worse than what they show, and also that we are much better than what they think is our best. That we love our black women, children, and even our gay community because they are our family members as well, and I also wanted to dispel some of that down-low bullshit that Oprah and every other black-chic mag' was trying to shove down our throats.

Who better to write about real street shit than a real Street Nigga who was in every form of the trenches you can come up with? I was there when it was $25 off a $100 in '86-87. I was there when the homie's moms started smokin' and so on. That's why the book is so real. Because its real stories and cases and different people's points of views of the game. I've asked my brother why he started smokin'. I've asked homies that I looked up to all my life how they got fucked up when I was on the cut with them at 3:00 am in the snow drinking 151 trying to stay warm and business was slow. I gave up the real. That's what Straight Savage is about, the real, uncut funk.

How did Short Side Publishing come about?
I created Short Side Publishing after I received a demo-contract from Plutonium Publishing. He was going to give me my first book deal. I didn't like what the contract said because I'm my own man and I know what I'm worth, so after that I shopped around for a deal and got other looks and didn't like something about those situations. I know what it was. I'm self made. Always have been. And I'm a former artist, so I'm very particular about how my work is presented. I designed the book cover, the flyers and the web site. It sucks, but it works.

I'm in total control now. But not to lose focus, after I had put my foot in my mouth I had to prove to myself that I'm still a boss even if it's just the boss of me. And since my clique was tight on the street I presented my co-defendant with a full plan on ShortSide Publishing, and he became the feet, and I became the head and the product. See, when you were really about your work in the streets, its hard not to believe in your ace because you know what he's hitting for. That's the definition of the saying "the game don't stop just 'cause a playa gets knocked."

What were your inspirations to write?
I got another gang story to tell. The Feds have tried to ruin my good name. Soiled it. I will not let my personal history or my history be told by some fake ass suit and tie wearing bitches without putting my four cents in. I will not waste a perfectly good 27 year bid on sports and television or chasing fags and whatever other bullshit dudes do in jail if they are not working to better themselves.

Describe your book, how did you come up with it?
Like I said before, Straight Savage is a raw uncut look at the streets. But the way I come up with my books is simple. I'm writing my way up. I don't really dig writing stuff like Straight Savage because I'm more mature than that. I no longer endorse all the things I used to endorse. But I have to tell the tales that I know because a writer has to write what he knows, and when he doesn't, it shows.

Also, when I say I'm writing up I'm talking about the nastiest of all our experiences in the streets, the next evolution is to write about life after the dope game, which is part two to the trilogy, and then comes the next phase of the streets which has to do with Pimpin', and I might have get into the bank thing. I'll cover all aspects of the streets and then move into whatever direction my mind takes me, but never going backward. Not knocking our genre, but there are so many elements to our travel as black folks, and we gotta tell our stories and create our heroes. Where is our 300? Where is our Superman, our Gone With The Wind? Until we get all our stories out we won't look at ourselves as a great people because history is the best compass for where you need to go.

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Kim Robinson :

Posted 93 days ago

Good questions , Great answers.

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