Author
My name is LaMont NeeDum, but nobody knows me as that, really. People call me Fridge and I’ve long embraced it, so feel free to call me either. I’m from a place called the Short North, one of the hardest hoods on the planet. I’ve written three full length novels, two magazine articles, and contributed to an anthology The Tainted Mirror. I’m also starting on my 15th year in prison for conspiracy charges.
I started scribbling a little in 1998 after I did 4 1/2 months in the hole for beating the hell out of this clown. During that time, I started reading fiction for the first time since I was a kid. I thought that we didn’t have any stories about us other than Iceberg Slim and Mr. Goings. So, I started out trying to pen my own stories. They were wack I soon found out when fate put me next to a notorious ex-black gangster named Guy Fisher. I didn’t like Guy at first, not because he wasn’t cool or a good dude, I didn’t like him because he was celebrated. I looked at it as jocking and I would have no part in that because I was still young (22 1/2 year-old) and still carried a gang-bangin’ mentality. Guy saw my potential and helped me become a better man.
First, he encouraged me to get my GED. Nothing big to me, but what he did was show me that I was a little more intelligent than I gave myself credit for. I got it in a week. Then, he destroyed what I considered work ethic. He showed me that I had to complete something structured and correctly. He led by example and I followed for the first time in a long time. After failed attempts, I finally got my fist manuscript done and I marveled at what I could produce once again.
I’ve only had two dreams in life. One was to be the father I never had to my sons. Failed at that obviously. They love me though. I do my best from here, but I failed. And being an artist. Another failure. Football came natural to me, hence the name Fridge. But, I wanted to be a Painter. I was skilled but not nurtured and at the age of 13, when I started reppin’ the turf, I eventually put down my paintbrush and passe single triple action airbrushes and picked up a gun. I’m an all-in type of person. I painted for a couple of years after that, but mostly for the joy of moving colors. By 15, I was Satan himself. But, meeting Guy Fisher helped me tremendously and with the knowledge he bestowed upon me with respects to cultivating talent while keeping it 1000, I feel like I can help other young brothers do the same.
What’s different is the fact that I’m not paying any real bills like a responsible black man should at my age. So, in a sense, I’ve used my downfall as a college campus. Most brothers aren’t doing that anymore. My mission and goal in life is to rewrite my personal history by helping brothers (or anyone else, but us first,) become the man they can be, which is easier said than done because I didn’t have the pressure of being a good father, providing, the drama of relationships, etc. If a woman becomes more than I bear, I just hang up the phone; if my child needs something, I dial a number and it’s done. Street niggas don’t have that luxury. So the question is, how do I help our brightest and best live up to their calling with all the pressure society and the culture puts on them to have, have, have.
I remember all too well being in the cut and an O.G. might give me some good game to better my life. But since I was making the money, talk was cheap.
That’s who I am now. I like who I am, and I want younger brothers to like who they are. Sitting in prison, I see a smear campaign happening with all of the so-called black publications. The assumption that all black men in prison are gay, where we once had a reputation for being good men, this down-low bullshit Oprah was pushing hard. Not acknowledging the good brothers out there who are fighting the temptation and being good black men. The (get a white boy) movement? The slave master knows that the black male would be extinct without the strength of our black women and now they are driving a wedge between us. I want to change that so badly. All of us need to retool ourselves. That’s who the author is. My novels are violent, full of sex, drugs, all the bad things in our lives. But, there is a message in each tale. There is a redemptive story in each book. And each book covers every element of the street.
