Jihad was a smart child growing up in a single-family home in Indianapolis, Indiana and Atlanta, Georgia. But, by the age of 16, he was selling drugs and embarking on a criminal career that seven years later would lead him to prison, but not before his lifestyle would cause him to be stabbed, shot, and left paralyzed from a car accident. Although over time he miraculously regained the use of his legs he still served over seven years in six different federal prisons up and down the east coast. While serving time, Jihad looked up to a group of older socio-political self-taught prisoners who raised his awareness about himself and his past. He discovered books, mostly by black authors and historians, which was something that never spurred his interest while in school. Jihad started researching and writing about subjects that he was sure many misunderstood, like History, religion, hood-psyche, and society in general. His focus and discipline prepared him to write his first book, an autobiographical account of his life, the award-winning national bestselling novel, STREETLIFE which is taught in schools, such as Fordham University, University of Texas, and others. Jihad has gone on to write 9 award winning, national bestsellers such as the trilogy Preacherman Blues, Wild Cherry, and Preacherman Blues 2, Babygirl, Riding Rhythm, MVP and now MVP RELOADED, His most cherished and most acclaimed work to date is a self-help book of true-to-life inspirational short stories entitled THE SURVIVAL BIBLE: 16 Life Lessons for Young Black Men.

Jihad calls his genre of literature conscious hip-hop fiction. His goal is to be the voice of the thousands of self taught positive prison inmates that will never be heard. As Kanye West, Common Sense, Jada Kiss, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, NAS, and other conscious hip hop artists are setting the music industry on fire with their lyrics of hope and change Jihad is doing through his writing.

Jihad is a single father of one, who lives in a suburb outside of Atlanta. Jihad is a motivational speaker, creative writing teacher at an Atlanta local college, real-estate investor, licensed building contractor, and full time college student majoring in African-American studies and Psychology. He is also the founder of The Jihad Uhuru Wake Up Everybody Foundation which is dedicated to re-educating urban youth.