Life Lessons Learned from Noire Books

by Reem Raw

As far as key themes, I think Noire always has a life lesson in all of her stories even though they're urban erotic tales. Something that you can draw from. Whether it be a character's words or the actual character.

Like Hood was a stand up dude. No matter what was going on around him, no matter what situations he was in, whether he faced jail time, life, or death he always stayed himself. He always kept it honorable. Sometimes you gotta read between the lines.

And that's why a lot of ladies can relate to Noire books. Of course they're entertaining and they're funny. But we know that somebody knows a Juicy. Somebody knows a Candy Rae Montana. Somebody knows a Saucy. We know these people.

So that's the real draw. Not just because it tickles your fancy and your imagination. It's because you feel some type of connection in every one of these characters.

Shit, it might be you!

You might feel like she's talkin to yo ass! And you don't even really wanna admit it. So that's the real thing. To me, that's what makes a great author. Tap in to what real people are going through and real life situations.

And not only are there relatable characters, she got alotta strange ones. I guess people couldn't fuck with Dreko from Hood. Just a maniac, rapist, creep type of guy. He's a hard character to stomach. Just like Haz in Empire. He's one of them dudes that ya'll probably know of and you stay clear of those people.

And I would ask readers to look at how people are being manipulated. They're being manipulated in ways that happen in everyday life. People trying to gas you to do something. Or you value this person's opinion so much that you do something to prove something to them.

So it's everyday shit. Don't just read for the entertainment and glamorous parts. Take the jewels from it. The shit that's happening every day. The shit that's happened to us all at one time or another.

When Haz grabbed Handgun Goody. Goody had just watched Haz murder his nieces and nephews and he was like 'Nah nigga, you gotta stand here and you gotta stab these muthafuckas up too. If I go down, you go down.' Which is smart on Haz part, if you're that kinda guy.

But if you're put in that scenario, what if you see something and somebody tries to make you do something that you don't wanna do? It happens everyday. People don't see it coming because they've never seen it before.

So that's one of the hidden jewels of these kinda stories because it gives you preparation for the unexpected events in life that maybe you haven't gone through yet, but you could. It kinda gives you the armor to say 'I've seen this movie before. I've seen how this turns out. I done read this somewhere. We know how this story ends. It ain't gonna end like that for me, so I'm gonna do something different.'

And these might prepare you. It might save your life. Hopefully you get the insight to not do the exact same things that didn't work. You don't have to be that character and have that bad ending. Sometimes people can relate to books more than actually sitting down and being told. People will listen to their favorite entertainer or celebrity before their parents because of the way it's being delivered and it's not people too close to the situation.

Some people need outside validation, a second opinion, or a second thought process. Some of your parents didn't even go through the shit you went through. So they can't relate. They're speaking from a parental place. But young adults, they need to feel like you went through it and then they'll respect your opinion.

And even if you did go through it as a parent, they're not gonna see that. To them, you're just old. You never did it. They don't believe you. And that's why it's interesting that we kinda look up to people that are 10-20 years older than us more than our parents sometimes.

If you grew up in the 90's your heroes were Tribe or Wu-Tang or whoever. They're not as old as your parents, they haven't been through as much as your parents, but they look cool to you. And they're more in tune with what's going on now, not 30 years ago.

That's why when people say 'This rapper raised me" it's because they found something relatable in their character, in their music, in their way of life. And their style appealed. They want somebody who talks and dresses like them, who they can mold themselves after. You can't copy your pop's style and have it work. It's played out.

Maybe you can take some verbal jewels. But that's not the image your going for. The trends go so fast in our times. Sometimes the trends circle back around and get repeated. But only people who know their history can see that.

Like I was saying in that scene between Haz and Handgun (from Beast):

And the haters on my dick,
I just let em be alone,
If you gonna ride by any decisions,
Then let it be your own

I believe that's in Hood. For you young cats, ride by your own decisions because when it goes down, them people you're living for, seeking their approval, they not gonna be there for you. And it be niggas your own age you're seeking from. That's the blind leading the blind. Just because his character might be a little stronger than yours. 

You don't have to be as assertive outwardly to be valuable. You don't need to seek nobody's opinion who don't know no better than you. They don't even know that they don't know much more than you. You're just going off the fact that he's loud or his position of power within ya'll ranks. Or the pecking order. But don't throw your life away following some nigga who's not really even a leader. The real leaders, you probably don't even know about. 

The leaders you're supposed to be supporting, you're probably too ignorant to even know what their names are. And that's a major part of our problem. We're not real leaders, and we're not even smart followers half the time. So smarten up and open your eyes. That's a jewel for ya'll young cats out there. Peace.

Noire Books Behind the Scenes Part 1: The Story Behind the Rhymes

How I Became Noire's Co-Author

Reem Raw talks about all of the Noire books that he has lyrics in, the experiences in his life that shaped those rhymes, and the process he used to become Noire's co-writer in Empire State of Mine$!


People ask me which books I have lyrics in. It's been so many books. I think my first rap was in Candy Licker. I don't remember, but the book that's prominent with my lyrics is Hood. I think she pretty much wrote Hood around my lyrics.

"Hood" is also the name of the song I did with Beez... Bang-Bang, I'm so Hood. That's off 'Gag Order' from 2005-2006. That was one of my coming out mixtapes, my first mixtape where I'm pretty much the lead. I'm writing hooks, writing songs over other people's beats but in song format, using my own shit.

Gag Order was what I was going through at the time and I was facing jail time, like when I wrote:

You was riding to the top,
But the tide done shifted,
Now you rotting in the box,
Showing signs of sickness

I was facing jail time then over regular street shit. That's one of the raps that I remember where I was and what I was writing it to. I remember that feeling, that day. I was at my man M's crib.

This is just a thug's thoughts,
For all my real niggas
It was never love lost,
Let's get it at all costs,
Just tryna make a dollar turn over again,
When it's over you can never do it over again

And that helped turn into Hood. Raps like that. It was pretty much Gag Order, previous work, featured work, a couple of things that was going to be on the "Both Sides of the Bridge" mixtape with me, Hawk, D. Black, and a couple other niggas.

Once Gag Order and "Path to Classics" dropped, then everybody in the hood wanted to rap. So whoever came through... That's when you got the hood on fire, when you got niggas who don't even rap coming in. And what's crazy is, the niggas who came in and did something was actually decent. It wasn't trash.

Shout out to Dolla and Alione and all the other niggas who came through. Storm Norm. That shit was fire.

We would get niggas from the hood to do our little snippets in between, like the skits. In 2006-2007, I got CutMaster C to host Gag Order.

So the book Hood, in a way, a lot of that was my story. At that time, I was going through regular struggling nigga shit. Fighting cases, serving fiends, going to war with niggas you used to be cool with. Just trying to keep your head above water. But at the same time, we was still having fun.

It was a struggle going through it, your emotions is high and low. But it was still fun, it was still things you could look back like 'Damn, I survived that. I survived that time period in my life. I marked that time period in my life with music. I can go back.'

I wrote a couple of shits that was heartfelt at that time. "Shame On Me," one of my best songs on Gag Order. I wrote the first verse in jail. Then I came home. I was doing so many songs and the first verse was so hard, I was holding on to it like 'Nah, I gotta wait until I get the perfect beat for that.'

And I ain't usually like that. I usually don't wait. But that one I held on. It's personal. And then when I found the beat, that's when I made the hook. And then I wrote the second and the third verse to it.

As far as what was behind those lyrics, the lyrics to 'Shame On Me' explains it all. That's the thing. Music marks the time.

We was tackling the strip,
'Til I got knocked,
Cops pattin' on my dick,
Puttin' shackles on my wrist,
Now my back against the fence

All that shit was what the fuck was going on. It was kind of a love song. The first verse was talking about what you going through with your homies. The second verse, what was going on with one of my chicks at the time. Second verse was like:

Knew you wasn't perfect,
But I knew that we could work it,
My soul food,
That's so true,
You kept me nourished,
Then shit got corrupted and no longer could we flourish,
But the bond so strong, it could move beyond verses,
Whole lotta frontin, wasn't nothing worth lying over,
I wasn't certain when I said that we could try it over

All of that shit was real, was pain, betrayal. If I let you bite me twice, then it's shame on me. As far as songs that made it into the books, it's too many. Plus that mixtape is just crazy.

"Thug's Thoughts" ended up on Thong On Fire soundtrack. The joint with me and Queena, 'He Ain't the Type', 'Between Your Knees', Spoons 'I Like Prada'. The whole CD came with it. It's like 6-7 joints on there. And Thong wasn't like Hood, so it ain't as dark. So I had the upbeat tracks.

"Twist Is" is on there. And then 'Birthday Cake'. So Thong is more of a party life, night life feel. So those songs played a intricate role in the theme of the book. And part of that's me too. It ain't all gloom and depression.

Those songs were made before the books were written. I've made songs afterward for the purpose of a book too. In Hittin' the Bricks, I made raps for Rawmello, and they were pretty much based around his character. That was cool and it was specifically for the books.

And there were a couple other raps, not really real songs because there was going to be an actor playing Rawmello in the movie. Rawmello is one of my nicknames, which ended up being a main character. Like 'Rawmello Anthony.' So it coincides. My man Hawk gave me that name.

If I had to choose, making the song before the book is always better than afterwards because it's my life. It's my experience. I don't have to fit it to a certain image of a character. It's always better when you can put the book based around my song.

And Hood is a fan favorite too. People fell in love with that story, with Egypt and Hood. And Hood spit his lyrics while he was in jail and he used raps to free his self. And that's pretty much what I did.

Everything that I was going through in the hood when I was doing my thing, all the pain and all the other shit. The fun times and all that shit. Music was my outlet and let me release it in a positive way. It wasn't just the 'Oh, I'm nice and I can put words together real good.' Some people can put words together with no substance or no real background or basic life in their theme.

That's why certain artists like Jay-Z, if you ask him, his favorite album is always gonna be Reasonable Doubt. He'll tell you himself, that's his whole life up to that point. Everything he's done in the streets until that point, before the success? That's his favorite album. That's his baby. That's the one he bought the masters for, not them other shits. Ya'll can have them other shits, let me keep Reasonable Doubt. That's my baby. That's my life.

So I understand what he's saying now. Because Gag Order was kinda like my baby. Before Gag Order I did a bunch of music too, but not like 'Boom, this is a Reem Raw project.' It's always been a 'Reem Raw versus whoever' battle rap, or Reem Raw with Red Baron, Reem Raw with Ricky Ro, Reem Raw with Philly Swain.

Gag Order was my first joint. Niggas let me rock out. And I had help. Hawk came through, and he was so nice with it, he helped me put things together in format and structure without him even knowing that I did it.

Hood is probably the book I most connected with because my DNA is in that shit. So if somebody wants to get to know me, that book reflects me even more than Empire State of Mine$!.

Empire was more of me being creative with the writing. Expanding my imagination. Pulling things together. Some of my personal experiences are in there mixed with imagination because it's a story and it has to sell and make sense.

But that was really more of me stretching my mind. Trying to separate the artist from the author. I had to be an author and way more intricate. So if you wanna know more about me and you've never met me, Hood is the book to get to absorb my life. My experiences in the game and what I was going through.

We didn't get into the writing that much in this blog because we focused more on the lyrics. Later on, we'll talk more about the scenes from other books that I inspired or contributed to, like the whole Liar Series. I want ya'll to be able see my versatility and how I've kinda been involved. Even with B4 The G-Spot.

I want ya'll to see the formulation, the growth, the evolution of my involvement from the rap to everything else. All of that behind the scenes work helped me take a lot of the reigns in Empire. It was kinda like an apprenticeship. It wasn't like I was just jumping out there with 5 books.

You can't just go out there with a 5 book series and put your name on a cover with a bestselling author. I put my time in. I paid my dues. Because a lot of ya'll are asking Noire asking "How do I start writing?" Well we're going to get into that process. Stay tuned!