Cool Married Guys -Vol. 1: Whutsiznaim

‘Evening boys and girls, and welcome to the first installment of a feature I like to call “Cool Married Guys.” In planning this site, I felt it was only right to have a feature on the type of guy that this site is all about: The Cool Married Man. In this feature, I will be interviewing various married men that haven’t completely succumbed to stereotypes, and have stayed as hip and interesting as they were before they were married. Everything from tattoo artists, to people in the music industry, to regular Joe’s with their own things going on on the side. That being said, I felt it was only right to make the first installment about who else but yours truly? Narcissistic, perhaps? But in the immortal words of Tony Montana “Who put this thing together, huh? Me, that’s who!” It’s my party, and I’ll blog if I want to, player. So let’s get to it, shall we?

State your name:
Whutsiznaim

Where are you from, and where do you live now?
Born and raised in Durham, N.C. but now a resident of the rotten apple aka New York City for about 7 years.

What’s your story?:
I spent most of my life pursing a career in music….rap music specifically, and that’s what brought me to New York.  After a really, REALLY long journey I got burned out from the constant hustle and the Hollywood B.S. that goes along with the “sinking ship” that is the music industry.  For the past two years I’ve been doing my writing thing.  I’m working on a book about my experiences in the music industry, and blogging, mostly on Bombin’ Magazine’s site, and now this very chunk of megabites and widgets.

That’s cool.  What’s the book all about?:

The book is called “Why You’ll Never be a Rapper.”  It’s one part autobiography, and one part in depth look at the real deal that comes with pursuing a career as a recording artist.  I felt like I my story was a pretty interesting one, and I feel like the knowledge of industry nonsense that I gained along the way would be helpful to others.  My tagline is:  “There’s a lot of books about how to ‘make it’ in the music industry, but none about how to NOT make it.  Centered around one man’s journey,  this is a book about how NOT to make it in the music, and why you probably won’t want to anyway.”  What do you think?

Sounds pretty awesome.  So how long have you been married?:

Actually, I’m still a newlywed.  Got married 7/11/09.

Wow really, congrats! So do you think it’s at all  premature that you’ve started a site that caters to married men, even though you’ve only been one for less than 3 months?:

Nah, not at all.  Coolmarriedguy is not about what it’s like to be married, it’s just about having a site that the married man can visit and read about different things that they may be into.  We post about everything from gadgets and grooming, to sneakers and tattoos.  The site is catered to the married man because there isn’t another site that does, but you definitely don’t have to be married to enjoy it.  I just felt like being married is a little different.  It’s not really about changing who you are or what you’re into, it’s just more about doing it on a mature level.

I gotcha.  So no half naked chicks and discussions about who has a nicer ass?

Definitely not.  Listen, getting married doesn’t mean you’re magically not attracted to women.  But I do feel like there’s a respect factor that’s important in a relationship.  There’s a million and one sites where you can get free internet porn, or half naked celebrities.  It’s too easy, too accessible, and pretty corny at this stage in life.

Understood.  So how has marraige changed you?

To be honest, I can’t exactly say that it has.  Being in a REAL relationship has changed me in a lot of ways.  For a relationship to work, the man has to be some what mature.  Naturally if you’re truly considering marraige, there’s an element of maturity that many men don’t possess.  I feel like this maturity is constantly developing, and as you become more mature so does your mindset and the decisions you make.  In laymen’s terms, I think more like an adult everyday and it really makes getting older not only easier, but more enjoyable.

How do you mean?:

It’s not that deep really.  I’m just saying that as we get older, especially as men, we tend to hold on to a lot of (for lack of a better term) “stupid shit” that is totally unimportant, and only complicates things.

Like what?:

Just things like admitting that sometimes it can be as fun to go to Bed, Bath and Beyond with your wife, as it is to go out with your boys.  Not because you’re particularly into Royal Velvet towels and Croscill bedding, but because it helps you realize that doing anything with her is actually better than most things you do with them.  At least that’s true for me.  I love my boys, but as cliche’ as it sounds, my wife is really my best friend.  And she’s had my back and been way more supportive than anyone outside of my family.

Sounds like good situation.  So is she cool with your projects like the book and the blog?:

Absolutely man.  She’s very supportive of everything I do because she likes to see me happy.  When the blog idea came about, she was excited for me like it was her own.  And trust me, she knows this isn’t exactly a cash cow.  She even writes for the blog..” M. Rox”

And do you think this has  affected or enhanced your creativity/drive?:

Most definitely.  I’m more creative, because I’m more sure of myself and more at peace in general.

What do you think is particularly “cool” about married life?:

I think having a partner in crime is cool as Hell.  Anything that comes up, you’re not alone.  Any problem or issue, you have someone who will listen to you, even if it’s rediculous.  Marraige makes getting older cool.  At least for me

What projects are you currently working on, and how can people find you?:

Currently, it’s just the book and the website.  The book will be done in a week or two, and then I have to do revisions and proofread it an all that jazz.  By 2010 I plan on being ready to work on getting it published.  If it doesn’t work out, I’ll print it myself and give the damn thing away.  The site is only a week and a half old and already it’s getting a ton of positive feedback, and a fair amount of traffic.  I’m hoping someone will buy me out and I can retire young.  You can find me here on www.coolmarriedguy.com daily, blogging my guts out, or…and as much as I hate to say this….you can follow me on Twitter.