Street Lit Corner - Novels of Street Lit/ Urban Genre

It’s no myth who Donald Goines is, and what he represents to Black literature & street lit fiction. He’s a legend of this genre, a man who wrote 16 books in five years. He wasn’t about the bling and fairytale endings but offered the grim truth of life in the streets. Donald wasn’t your average author; he spoke from background and understanding. There are no camouflaged truths or disguised chronicles when we think about Donald Goines. Being an on again, off again heroin addict he experienced what he wrote, and he painted a heck of a picture!

If you haven't read any of novels maybe you've heard his name from some of the most prominent rappers known today.

2Pac:
Criminal ties for centuries, a legend in my own rhymes,
So niggaz whisper when they mention,
Machiavelli was my tutor, Donald Goines my father figure,
Moms sent me to go play with the drug dealers.
-from 'Tradin' War Stories' All Eyez On Me [1996]

Nas:
With so much drama in QBC,
Kinda hard being Escobaro,
Eldorado Red, sippin Dom out the bottle,
my life is life is like Donald Goines novel.
–from 'Escobar '97 Men in Black Soundtrack [1997]

Ghostface Killah:
Lines from Dolemite,
A few tips from Goines,
Birthday,
Gave her 2 fifty-cent coins.
-from 'Child's Play' "Supreme Clientele" [1998]

Memphis Bleek:
That credit you dead it, I know heads gettin' annoyed,
And knew all about a dope fiend before reading Donald Goines
-from 'Can I Live II' Reasonable Doubt (Jay-Z) [1999]

Ludacris:
So I picked up a couple books by Donald Goines,
About the business of this shit, how to flip a few coins.
-from 'Eyebrows Down' Chicken & Beer [2003]

Jadakiss:
The revolver or matty’s cool,
Knife game like Daddy Cool, since Bally shoes.
-from 'Mighty D-Block' "Walk Witt Me" (Sheek Louch) [2005]

Common:
I'm the act to follow, housing kids like Ronald
Mac like Donald Goines, flows I change like coins
-from 'Orange Pineapple Juice' "Resurrection" [1994]

“The white powder looked innocent lying there in the open, but this was the drug of the damned, the curse of the mankind: heroin, what some “smack,” others “junk,” “snow,” “stuff,” “poison,” “horse.” It had different names but the same effect. To all of its users- to all of the dopefiends in Detroit ghetto – it was a slow death. – Donald Goines.

Before reading Dopefiend I never knew the importance of an addict having their ‘morning do’ and unclogged works. I never imagined what it would be like to shoot dope in veins in places such as your neck, in your groin or between your toes or could even envision such sordid actions like sleeping with dogs for example. I never imagined what it would feel like having a monkey so heavy on my back that I routinely dug a bottomless pit of hell, or engaged in such acts that slowly took away my soul leaving only my shell.