Before Success

By Zaemon Clark

Dante James Creed was born in Marietta, Georgia, also known as Metro Atlanta. He grew up on the outskirts of the city with his grandparents. He had siblings but he rarely had a chance to be the older brother. Then when he started growing up, he learned the truth that changed his life forever.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 12, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664189355

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Copyright © 2021 by Zaemon Clark.

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.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the

product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance

to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 08/10/2021

Xlibris

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CONTENTS

Chapter 1 In the Beginning

Chapter 2 The Christian Way

Chapter 3 Growing Up in the Country

Chapter 4 Unwelcome Carnage

Chapter 5 Becoming a Rapper

Chapter 6 The Secret Relationship

Chapter 7 A Piece of Reality

Chapter 8 When Boy Meets Work

Chapter 9 A New Life

Chapter 10 The Waiting Game

Chapter 11 The Devil’s Casino

Chapter 12 How We First Met

Chapter 13 Blinded by Love and Hate

Chapter 14 My Final Message

The Peak of the Mountain

CHAPTER 1

In the Beginning

My name is Dante James Creed. I was born in Marietta, Georgia, also known as Metro Atlanta. I grew up on the outskirts of the city. I don’t remember much of my home at that time. I just remember moving far away from the city to the countryside at some point in my youth. I can’t remember the date or time. It was so long ago. I can’t say much about it at the time. I just remember that the home we’ve moved into was huge with five bedrooms and two bathrooms. All of my family lived in it like one big, happy family until my auntie found someone and moved farther in the countryside, so far deep I thought I was going to run into the wrong turn hillbillies. I couldn’t judge her; she loved it out there. Still does. Who could blame her for wanting peace and quiet? My mom, on the other hand, I can’t really say too much about it. I didn’t grow up with her because of situational details I can’t say much about. It’s personal. I just remember her moving into an apartment complex that was in the ghetto. It was beaten down and ran by a lot of crackheads. Being young, I didn’t understand any of it. I only wanted to spend time with my sister since I barely got to see her. I have five siblings, and I’m the oldest of the five. None of them I got the chance to know or see enough because of some complications. That’s a story for later. My sister and I were always fighting and annoying each other as siblings do. We never got along; it only felt like that’s all we did was aggravate each other, wanting the most attention. Everything has to go your way. When it doesn’t, we cry to Mommy about it. It’s a time I never forget, especially the times when we were not fighting. We enjoyed our time outside, playing with friends, or playing Sonic the Hedgehog or Super Mario Bros., or even sometimes my uncle would bring out his PlayStation 2 for us to play together. It was some of the best times I remember, but after all, the fun was over. I was picked up by my grandparents, whom I was raised by. When I got picked up and went home, I felt like the only child, like my siblings were just figments of my imagination. I felt this way because I barely saw them in general. I only had two sisters at the time, one from my mom’s side of the family, and one from my dad’s. What sucked was I barely