December 14, 2025
DoItAll and Khairi Williams release ‘You Can Do It All.’
Newark Councilman Dupre Kelly has accomplished many things throughout his life, including a career in music and becoming the first American platinum hip-hop artist to be duly elected to political office. He has now added children’s author to his list of accomplishments.
Along with co-author, educator, and media producer Khairi Williams, the pair has recently released a children’s book titled “You Can Do It All,” a play off his professional stage name and rap moniker, DoItAll from the group, Lords of the Underground.
The two men recently held a picture-book reading and meet-and-greet at the Newark Public Library’s main branch. As they stood on stage to discuss the book’s contents, both men took the opportunity to engage with the audience, explaining why the book was written and how it would help children (and adults).
BLACK ENTERPRISE spoke with the co-authors, who explained how the book idea came about and what they want readers to take away.
The book, released in November, follows a young boy who harnesses self-belief and capitalizes on opportunities to achieve his goals. It can be viewed as an autobiography of DoItAll, detailing his love of hip-hop, his success, and his drive to build on that success to become a politician.
Williams explained that he brought the children’s book idea to DoItAll and convinced him to proceed.
“Well, I really was on dude for a long time about doing these memoirs and putting some sort of book together. But I was just reflecting on a lot of stories that he’s told me, peaks and valleys through life, the fails and the triumphs of just life. And I said, ‘Wow, we need to articulate this in a way that’s digestible for children, but parents can read it to them and even take in some of these lessons.’”
DoItAll admitted that the book could only be completed with Williams taking the lead, and through Williams’ persistence, it was accomplished. He explains why they chose a children’s book rather than a regular book or a biography.
“Well, the reason that we chose a children’s book and this platform is because when you reach the babies, you reach their parents, right? You remind their parents. So we wanted to pour into the children because it’s bigger than us. It’s about the youth. It’s not about us anymore.”
He goes on to say that although everyone wants to be an influencer, they wish to inspire.
“Influence is powerful, right? But we wanna inspire, because when you’re inspired by somebody, you are in spirit with them. When you influence somebody, you know, usually you’re not yourself. You’re under the influence. When I have ever been under the influence of anything, I have not been myself.
“We want people to add on, to be greater than the thing that they love, and that’s when you are in spirit with it. So that’s why we chose a children’s platform, because they’re the next generation for real.”
Check out their reading below:
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