Philadelphia Weekly

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On Oct. 25, 1997, Sister Souljah proclaimed, "You're never going to find out what's wrong with the children until you find out what's wrong with the mother."

She spoke these words in front of thousands gathered on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway for the Million Woman March. Her rhetoric was powerful and her speech defined Souljah as a voice for the hip-hop generation.

Two years later she authored the bestselling novel The Coldest Winter Ever. The book detailed protagonist Winter Santiaga's misadventures with sex, drugs and violence on the streets of New York. But unlike other urban lit authors, Souljah emphasized the morbid consequences of such risky choices. Her gritty depiction of street life appealed strongly to inner-city youth.

"I think a lot of adults skirt around issues or are out of balance," Souljah says. "I'm not soft in passing out the blame. I think young people have profound respect for the truth, especially when you give it to them raw."

Despite a seemingly definitive ending, readers demanded a sequel. But after the release of The Coldest Winter Ever, Souljah disappeared from the public eye.

"My audience should never expect me to put out books every six months because that's not the kind of writer I am," Souljah says. "I write because I love writing. I write when I'm inspired. I want to write the type of books that can change people's lives."

A self-described activist, organizer and lecturer, from 1995 to 2007 Souljah served as executive director of Sean "Diddy" Combs' New York-based nonprofit, Daddy's House Social Programs. The organization focuses on supporting urban youth, and during her tenure Souljah implemented curriculum, ran a summer camp and mentored young adults.

In addition to her community service, she's been in high demand as a guest lecturer at colleges, including Wellesley and Smith. Souljah also took time to focus on her family and is a dedicated mother to a 15-year-old son.

But now, to the relief of fans, she's returned to writing. Nine years after the release of her first book, the author and activist has penned a second novel, Midnight: A Gangster Love Story, which was released last month.

Initially, Souljah wanted to write a follow-up to her first novel. But after 9/11, she decided to write a prequel.

"Immediately after The Coldest Winter Ever was released, I began writing about Porche, Winter's younger sister. Then when the World Trade Centers collapsed, I started thinking about how serious of a time we are living in," she says. "Most people in this country don't know how people from other places in the world think, live or love. I felt it wasn't a time to write about anything frivolous or silly, or just pure adventure. I took that realization and coupled it with the fact that when so many women were saying they were in love with this character Midnight."

In The Coldest Winter Ever, Midnight was a minor character, the trustworthy lieutenant for Winter Santiaga's drug kingpin father. While Winter repeatedly tried to seduce him, his serious demeanor kept him from indulging her. He was mysterious, which fascinated many young female readers.

"I received letters about Midnight from all over the world saying things like, 'You know that he's real, just tell the truth. Give us his number,'" Souljah recalls. "I wrote this book to give a closer picture of this character and to see if they'd still love him and how they'd react to him and if they could possibly understand him."

But the new novel left some fans of the first book confused. One amazon.com response reads, "She tricked us. There is nothing gangster about this story!"

Souljah is undaunted by such criticism.

"The point they're missing is that Midnight is a character whose love is so gangster that he'd suspend everything to go get his wife, because at the end of the day family is what matters," she says. "He's willing to stop everything until he secures the women in his life."

Other readers wondered why Midnight's love interest was Japanese and why female African-American characters were presented as overtly sexual and unappealing. Souljah explains that Midnight criticizes American culture as a whole and not just black culture.

"I looked to address manhood and family at a time where it's in a crisis state," she says. "Also, American culture is raising girls to believe that all they have to prove is that they're having sex and they're good at it, so I wanted to raise discussion and the criticism of those topics."

Souljah insists that both The Coldest Winter Ever and Midnight: A Gangster Love Story are complete works that stand alone. She also assures fans that a third novel meant to tie up any loose ends is in the works.