The City Connection Magazine December 2014 | Page 16

Celebrity Promoter Shawn Hartwell

A story of triumph by Javone Johnson
Interview with Shawn Hartwell
CC: What's moving. What's moving. The
City Connection Magazine is in your area
bringing this spotlight to the urban scene
throughout Hampton Roads. Today we
have a special guests with us, my man
Shawn Hartwell. What's going on bro?
SH: I can't even call it, you know. I'm happy
to be in VA. I had the party last night with
my man Young Money Yawn. Big event at
Club Aqua. I'm down here doing my promo
tour. Enlightening brothers, motivating
brothers so they can see a better understanding, when they get out of prison, there's
always a second chance for us. That's what
I'm out here trying to do.
Right now, I've been home for 5 years after
doing 20 years in prison for a federal kingpin charge. But I'm passed that in my life.
I'm out here on a bigger struggle, a bigger
path, and a bigger education. It's to motivate
my career, motivate my brothers that's coming home from prison so that they can understand the best chance is you. When you
give yourself the best shot, you can always
achieve something different. I know a lot of
them take classes in there. They're gambling
that, when they get out of there, one of them
will work so they don't have go back to prison. So all day long, me being out here, that's
my path – to motivate people.

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I've been in prison since I was 13, 14 years old –
my whole life, back and forth. So when I came
home in '09, I made an agreement with myself
that I would never go back and that I would
always motivate people to do higher things or
become a better person, just do better things for
themselves. Since I've been out here, recently, my
success has been growing. Right now I've been
stamped by Hot 97's Funk Flex as a celebrity promoter worldwide. So right now my career is off
to another chapter and these chapters are going
to open big doors for me.
I'm down in VA with The City Connection Magazine. I'm doing video shoots. I've come a long way.
You gotta remember, I'm 43 years old. So to get
back out here after been gone since I was 18, come
home at 39, and at 43, I've created a career for
myself. I've created a path for myself that someone
can respect me for. Before, I was known as a drug
dealer. A local drug dealer is respected but it's a
different respect when people see you on a positive road. Some people won't understand it right
now, but later on they will.
This positive road is going to open many doors for
me as my success grows, as my grind grows. It's not
gonna be easy. It's been some pitfalls. It's been some
struggles. That's a part of success. But the biggest
part is that I'm out here. I'm out here enjoying life. I
never gave up. I never gave up on myself. You can't
give up on yourself. Once you do that, you're a failure to your birth. When you were born, you mother
made so much sacrifice, so many months to get you
here. She sacrificed her life to get you here and so
giving up on yourself is like giving up on your birth.
I would never give up on my birth cause I love my
mother. I have a tradition in my family. I live my life
a certain way and I want my people to live their life
a certain way.