Blud! Meets - @TerranceDean Part 1

Hot of the back of the release of his latest novel 'Mogul', Blud! caught up with friend to the blog, former MTV exec Terrance Dean. In this exclusive two part interview Terrance talks how his lovers reacted to his novel, whether being masculine and discreet but open to advances whilst working in the entertainment industry can work to your advantage, dating post 'Hiding in Hip Hop' and more. Jump straight into it after the jump:

Terrance. For those that are unfamiliar with your work, can you explain what readers can expect from Mogul?

Wow…I think, I gave people a glimpse into the entertainment industry via my eyes and my journey in Hiding In Hip Hop, so with Mogul, I decided to go a step further and give you a glimpse into the entertainment industry from the eyes of an executive who is also a music producer and his journey of how he got into the entertainment industry and the sacrifices he has to make to make his dream a reality. But also at the same time, the sacrifices he has to make to maintain his morality and some of the pitfalls and dangers and salaciousness that we all know the entertainment industry to have. It’s a lot of deception a lot of manipulation, sex…

Did you find it a challenge putting yourself out there in Hiding in Hip Hop?

It is a challenge. I mean you know, when you are writing about your own personal life, and you’re sharing with total strangers; people who don’t know you, and even your family and friends who don’t know those intimate parts of yourself, its very challenging. Especially when I was writing about the sex in the book because I realised that I was gonna reveal a lot of intimate details that I wasn’t really comfortable having…

Having people know right?

Right! Exactly. Like I said, coming from a very religious background, a Christian background, I was fearful of how my family was gonna take that – how they would receive the information but also it was very cathartic because I got to write and tell some experiences and stories that I think resonate throughout the African American communities. Dealing with a dysfunctional family, dealing with parental and sibling loss as well as HIV / AIDS, which is prevalent in our communities and also just the struggle of most young people of wanting to be a success. You know we all want to have that American Dream.

I think a lot of people were routing for me because I was this kid from Detroit who had a dream to work in the entertainment industry and it literally came to fruition and I saw my dream happen and to be a part of the culture that helped shape our hip hop World which is a huge force, so to be a contributing part of that I think people were excited to see someone make it and do it.

What types of responses have you got from friends and family post Hiding In Hip Hop being released?

I started hearing from old people in High School, people from the neighbourhood who were like really shocked. But it was surprisingly supportive. Fortunately everyone was very encouraging, they were inspired, they were glad to see someone make it and do it. My family were extremely proud of me, you know because I think they felt so much within our communities and our families we don’t talk about things, we tend to hide it or you know ‘Let’s not discuss it’ so I put it out there (laughs) and it forced my family to have a conversation about it. It really helped to heal because I became a lot closer to some family members…

That you had little or no relationship with?

Yeah. It really really helped tremendously. And with a lot of friends.

How did the Lovers react to Hiding In Hip Hop?

When I wrote Hiding In Hip Hop I did have to call a lot of the relationships and lovers that I had been with and tell them I was working on this book, writing this book and that they were gonna be a part of this book. Some of them were very supportive, others were...

TO BE CONTINUED...