When Art Imitates Life

By Grover C. Gillespie III

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 19, 2009
• ISBN: 9781462835096

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Copyright © 2009 by Grover C. Gillespie III.

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, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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Contents

Robert Taylor Watson

Luella Macklin

Grover Cleveland Gillespie Jr.

Annette Gillespie

Terrence Macklin

Travers Macklin

Grover Cleveland Gillespie III

Mathew G-Baby Lutrell

G-Baby

Ciara

G.G.

TI

Russell Simmons

My Poetry

East St. Louis

Illinois

Shut Down

Only the Strong

Heavy Rotation

Match Made in Heaven

I Was Born Ready

Rap It Up

Live by the Gun Die by the Gun

Solute 2

Dear President

American Gangster

Addiction

Love

Dreams

Power

Respect

Money

Conspiracy in the Music Industry

My Family That I Lost

Catherine Harrell

Danielle Martin

Deirdre Coleman

Harold Williams

Susie Mae Dooley

The Bible

Black on Black

Gangster Disciple Lit

East St. Louis

Illinois Gun Laws

Black Mafia Family

Acknowledgments

Robert Taylor Watson

My Grandfather

Born in Macon, Mississippi, Robert Taylor Watson was the only child of his mother and father. They moved to the Midwest when my grandfather was very young. He would meet my grandmother in years to come. He had a good childhood. Luella Macklin was my grandfather’s first lady whom he would want to have a family. He had four children by my grandmother: my mother Annette Gillespie, my Aunt Francine Watson, my uncle Robert Watson, and my uncle Henry Watson.

My grandfather raised his children in the projects called the Jonny Shields while making ends meet. My grandmother had four more boys in the family: George Macklin, Edgar Macklin, and John Macklin. My grandfather worked hard to keep clothes on the backs of my mother and her sisters and brothers. He kept food on the table when everybody helped keep the house clean. My grandfather would make extra money hitting a couple of corners, making something shake out of people’s pockets. He made sure my grandmother kept money in her pocket. She used to work for white people, housekeeping and cleaning their rooms of business. My grandfather made sure she was taken care of at all times.

Their relationship would not last long in years to come. My grandmother felt it was time for a change. He would drink a lot and take his anger out on her. He would beat my grandmother; that was not cool at all. Then my grandmother would move her kids away from my grandfather. He moved to Chicago were he would get the money, power, and respect on the streets doing easy jobs, like running numbers for his client.

That would also do favors for him. He stayed on the South Side of Chicago. That’s where my brother would get affiliated with the Gangster Disciple in the early ’80s. My grandfather had a mob leader, Carlo Gambino, who was from a crime family. They would have a partnership. They formed a nice operation to do business. They would steal cars. He would fix their cars for a large sum of money. Then he fixed up engines, transmissions, tires, body parts. He never had any trouble with the law. My grandmother would move the kids to Ninth Street were they would stay for years to come. My grandfather was a pimp. He would pimp his women whenever he would watch my brother and cousin when they were kids.

He also had a son named Reggie; he’s my first uncle. We watched him because he’s disabled. Before my grandfather passed on, he asked my mother to take care of Uncle Reggie. My grandfather moved back home from Chicago. This was 1981, when I would be born one year later. He had earned big money while in Chicago. He spoiled my aunt and mother. He bought my mother a car. He gave my aunt a house in Chicago. My family would travel from Washington Park to the Windy City. The most shocking part was when he came to see me at Centerville Hospital when my mother gave birth to me. He would pick me up and say, What’s Grover? He would never call me GG because for some reason he liked Grover. It was different from other kids’ names so that made me special. I’m a real street person. My grandfather would die a year later. In 1983, Robert Watson Senior buried a large sum of money to his family after he passed on. Where he buried the money is still a mystery until this day. RIP Granddaddy Red. I hope we meet in heaven.

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This was my grandmother when she was young. My grandmother was a great woman who stood up for her family.

Luella Macklin

My Grandmother

Luella Macklin was born in March 3, 1927, in East St. Louis, Illinois. She was raised by a single mother. Her mother, who was born in Memphis, Tennessee, raised her up with her sisters. She was raised at a Baptist church at a young age. After her childhood years, she would grow to be a respectful woman with morals and values. She would have kids at an early age. She would work odd jobs just to keep food on the table.

My grandmother raised ten kids by herself. Her main job was housekeeping, cleaning up white folks’ houses. She would earn minimum wage. She kept my mother, aunts, and uncles. She would teach them about the Bible. They would learn all the scripture by the time they were grown. I would get to meet my uncles when I got older to talk and learn. She raised them on Ninth Street were they would live there for some time. They were around the corner from the project called the South End. When my grandmother’s children started to get older, she started getting meaner and wiser. The rest is history. She has almost fifty grandchildren who never got that look she gave me and my brothers—the evil eye. That means you better be good, or that’s your ass. She gave me and my brothers a lot of street knowledge that helped us live in this crazy ass world. She also taught us about being responsible young men who respect women. Period.

My brother before me, Terrence Macklinn a.k.a Big Folks, was lose close to my grandmother. She would help my brother keep his pistol in her house. Whenever he needed his tool, she would ask him, "Which gun are you carrying tonight, son? When my mother found out my brother was in the gang, she kicked him out. My grandmother, so cool, told Terrence to come live with her for a while in the South End. She understood about the street life we