For the 50th anniversary of his murder, this gritty, engrossing, definitive biography of the legendary Black writer Donald Goines – the Godfather of Urban Street Lit and “one of hip hop’s greatest inspirations” (The Source Magazine) – is now back in print with a new foreword from New York Times bestselling author JaQuavis Coleman.

Addict, thief, pimp, pusher, player—and most notably, groundbreaking writer. Donald Goines was all of these.

As a kid, Donald Goines was the product of a middle-class family. After high school, he joined theAir Force—and discovered the heroin that would rule the remainder of his life. On the streets, he turned to writing when he was straight enough to keep at it. He used the language of the streets and he wrote of its people. Goines’ success was immediate and exciting. But eventually those same streets claimed him. He was murdered as he sat writing a new book. Yet his legacy continues, as a revolutionary in the literary world and also in music, with major hip-hop artists including 50 Cent, Nas, and Jay-Z all crediting Goines’s novels as influences. Here is his complete story.