jasmine D. Waters - The Art & Science of Respect

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THE ART & SCIENCE OF RESPECT:
A Memoir by James Prince

Written by James Prince
with Jasmine D. Waters

Published by N-The-Water Publishing

The Art & Science of Respect: A Memoir by James Prince / with Jasmine D. Waters

N-The-Water Publishing
2141 W. Governors Circle
Houston, TX 77092

Copyright 2018 by N-The-Water Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, without written permission from the publisher.

First N-The-Water Publishing hardcover edition June 2018

The Art & Science of Respect is a registered trademark of N-The-Water Publishing

Publishing Director: Julia Beverly
Editor: Pilar Sanders
Assistant Editors: Maurice G. Garland and Andrew Cencini

Cover Photo: Diwang Valdez
Cover Design: Kevin Mr. Soul Harp

Instagram: @JPrinceRespect
Facebook: RapALotRecords
Twitter: @JPrinceRespect

ISBN 978-0-9998370-0-9
ISBN 978-0-9998370-2-3 (ebook)

FOREWORD

by Aubrey Drake Graham

I honestly dont remember meeting James Prince. It was years ago and a lot of life has happened since then. What I do remember is like scenes from a movie: Being in Houston, on our way to a nightclub, escorted by a motorcade, seas parting everywhere we went, waves, handshakes. All blatant signs of respect and admiration or maybe even fear, to be honest. But it all equaled up to a man straight out of all my favorite movies about power, loyalty, and respect.

My story from Degrassi until now has been pretty well-documented. Everyone has heard how Jas Prince found me on Myspace, reached out, brought me to Houston, and introduced me to Lil Wayne. But not much has been said about the things I witnessed from the Prince family during those early years in that city.

Theres a common thread throughout the careers of mine and many others, and that is that no one becomes great on our own. Not even me or Pops. Yknow me, Jas, Junior, Baby Jay, those are my brothers, so I call him Pops. Hes a complicated man and it takes time to learn how to read him, even for me.

Through our years he reinforced the importance of being self-contained, how to build a team, and how to respect and value their unconditional support to the movement that youre creating. Our parallels became clearer and clearer. At a time where Toronto was as unlikely to succeed as a former car salesman out of Houston, at a time where rap was either East Coast or West Coast, here we both are. He helped pave the way by building a Third Coast the same way we established the North.

The challenges of creating a movement from scratch are indescribable. Everyones different and no one has the cheat codes. Were all just feeling our way through, relying on instinct, using whatever tools weve been given. And what James Prince did, from rap to boxing, was build a movement. And he did it for his city.

PREFACE

Sunday, June 15, 2014. As I stood at the center of the Campbell Education Center gym, with my son Jas Prince on my right and Drake on my left, I surveyed the crowd and began to think about how I got here.

My love for Houston, much like my relationship with Hip Hop and boxing, has been a long, stormy ride. I was either in a storm, just got out of a storm, or was on my way to a storm, but no weapons formed against me have prospered.

I was taught that you must believe in something bigger than yourself in order to get something bigger than yourself. For me, that belief was in God and the Fifth Ward. Bound by Buffalo Bayou, Jensen Drive, Liberty Road, and Lockwood, the fifth of Houstons six wards was a den of wolves which raised me to eventually lead the pack. My story is a familiar one: a child raised in a single-parent household. Sometimes we had nothing but street money to keep the lights on.

On this Sunday afternoon during Houston Appreciation Weekend, listening to the cheers of the crowd, I could hear all of the right decisions and all of the wrong ones. Each choice Ive made along the way, no matter how controversial, is what led me here.

My work started on the streets of Houston and grew to spawn Rap-A-Lot Records, one of the most profitable independent record labels to date. Ive helped develop international superstars like Drake and world champion boxers like Floyd Mayweather and Andre Ward. In the process of becoming a self-made millionaire, Ive also landed in the middle of some of the most defining moments of our culture. I tried in vain to save Biggie, a casualty of the East Coast vs. West Coast rap wars. I was one of the first to speak out against the racist censorship of rap music, and the United States government went to war against me, trying to take away the very liberties it promised to offer.

But the story of it all how I did it, why I did it and what its ultimately cost me has never been told. Until now.

Ive traveled this planet many times over. I have homes in several cities, including a thousand-acre compound. I own my own private islands. My family is well taken care of and Ive employed lifelong friends in legal businesses to keep them off the streets. But light would not exist without darkness, and Ive made many sacrifices. Its impossible to build an empire of this magnitude without forgoing business opportunities and sacrificing time with family and friends. At times, its been necessary to cut people loose.

Im not a perfect man. My reputation of being ruthless, unforgiving and relentless precedes me. When I believe something has been foretold by God, I will let no man keep it out of my grasp. So, I begin this story of my life in the spirit of how Ive lived it: in brutal, unapologetic honesty. What follows are my wins, my losses, and everything Ive learned in between.

In hindsight, most people could never have made the decisions Ive made, but I challenge you to try and understand them. Everything I did, I did for my family and the Fifth Ward. Whether youre from Houston, Chicago, Toronto or anywhere else, theres a Fifth Ward in every city, in every country, all over this world.

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