New 936 Movement Spotlight on: Professor Tarius Montayj Jones

 

Few, if any, people from the 936 area embody the phrase "reach beyond your boundries" as much as Montayj. From street hustling rap artist to published author & college professor, he has overcome the odds & turned the darkest of circumstances into a career that has educated, empowered & enlightened the minds of not only 936 natives but some of the brightest young talents of Houston, Texas & beyond. His passion for learning & teaching is consistent & contagious & in his spotlight we get an in-depth view of how a man whose inspirations span from hardcore rap artists such as Scarface, Ganksta Nip & Street Military to literary giants like Langston Hughes, Dorothy West & Toni Morrison combines the best & the worst of our people into an on-going narrative that has literally changed the course of 936 history.

Q. Who influenced or inspired you? 

A. My original influences when it comes to creativity was Hip Hop artists, Geto Boys, Scarface, Boogie Down Productions, Ganksta NIP, Street Military, K-Rino, Seagram. My love for music branched off into visualizing my life as movie, so writing was just inevitable. As far as writing goes, as a teenager, the only books I would read on my own were sports books. This is probably because in CISD, we did not read any “racially relatable” authors, so it was hard to become a fan of reading just to read. Then, when I was about 17 or 18, I came across Donald Goines Dopefiend novel. I was like, this is the type of story, especially at the time, that could pique my interests. Once I enrolled at Texas Southern, I was finally introduced to a plethora of those “racially relatable” authors, fell in love and was influenced immediately by Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, Langston Hughes, Dorothy West, Toni Morrison, Amiri Baraka, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Gloria Naylor, and a host of others.

Q.  How long have you been in business/performing? 

A. My first time presenting any of my work was in 2007 at TSU at a Lambda Iota Tau (LIT) induction ceremony (LIT was an English international honor society for literature). I nervously but successfully and emphatically presented a story entitled, “Shamelessness.” As far as Jones House Publishing goes, I founded the company in 2013 with my first novel publication, Duggan, which I have since revised.

Q.   Where are you from originally? 

A. My origin, with all of its negative, racial history, its backbiting from people who live in close proximity, has still been the driving force in helping define my identity—Conroe, Texas.

 

Q. What sets your art/business apart from others? 

A. What sets me apart is simply being, as far as I know, the first person (or at least at the time the only) of African descent from this area—Duggan Mellow Quarters, Pals, 2854—to branch out and imagine publishing novels. What also sets me apart is, beyond that boldness, is the brashness of highlighting some of the corrupt practices that have occurred in Montgomery County. Moreover, I have been the inspiration of a number of individuals—directly or indirectly—and they have followed in my footsteps of writing and publishing novels, whether they admit or not. So, the ultimate set apart is my trailblazingness.

Q. What do you have coming up? 

A. Coming up, I am working on a documentary, that is actually in the editing stage. I will keep the name and topic concealed for now. All I will say is that it is going to be epic, so epic that even the haters will be forced to watch and soak in the game. I am also working on edition 2 to The Slangtionary.

Q. Is your art/business online, brick & mortar or both? 

A.The business is online but there will be a brick and mortar because it’s destined.

Q. How has the pandemic affected you or your art/business? 

A. The pandemic has positively affected my business. It was a chance for readers as well as nonreaders to explore new reading material and I was able to benefit from that exploration.

Q. What has been your biggest obstacle? 

A. My biggest obstacle has been promotion and probably mindset—getting to the point where I was looking beyond local customers—people I grew up with, knew, or just believing that because they were black and from either the same ‘hood or one close, that they would automatically be supportive. Once I did that, it’s almost as if I became free.

Q. Any words of advice? A. Continuing from my last answer, I think that is important for anyone trying to establish anything creative, whether it’s in music, writing, film, or whatever, to not limit yourself and expect people you know to support you. That is not something that is in our people’s DNA even though we think it should be; but the reality is, they may praise you when they see you but they may not like, comment or share any of your work because of who you are and that is okay. The goal is to find those who will, and shine on.

Q. How do you balance your art/business with your family life? 

A. Balancing life and work is fairly easy. My actual work, which takes up a lot of my time, is first and foremost as a college professor. What I have done is limited that work to weekdays with exact cutoff times. Weekdays are reserved for family and after my established cutoff, those times are reserved for peace of mind.

 

Links:

Link 1: Amazon.com: Duggan: 9780692476406: Montayj: Books

 

Link 2: Smashwords – About Montayj, author of 'Street Tears', 'Black-White Binaries of  European Christianity and Colonialism', 'The Women of Sugar Hill', etc.

 

Link 3: Amazon.com: Street Tears: 9781537530079: Montayj: Books