Deadass: Ronald Wimberly’s “Prince of Cats” Will Always Be A Classic Graphic Novel Mixtape

“I live by the 10 crack commandments Either you earn respect or you demand it”-Jadakiss You know when you listening to a hip-hop track and hear a bar so gutta it makes you release a lil’ involuntarily growl? That visceral “grhmmmmmmm” from the back of your throat’s basement and shit. A bar that’s so meaty and hardy that you drop your knife and fork in disgust cause you don’t even wanna eat no more cause you full now. You were about to enjoy a 20-ounce prime cut steak but that bar done went and fucked up your appetite. That feeling of hearing something so solid, so raw, that you couldn’t possibly want for more? It’s a rare feeling that doesn’t come often but can frequently be achieved from the perfect body of work. I’ve read a lot of comics, and heard a lot of poetry, and seen many performances that evoked that emotion but I never saw a body of work encompass it page after page until I read Ronald Wimberly’s Prince of Cats. Wimberly dropped Prince of Cats on us back in 2012. All we knew is that this story would be a retelling of Romeo and Juliet from the perspective of Tybalt, that it’d take place in New York, that the characters would be Black, and that muh fuckas would be rocking swords with the flyest kicks. I was like, “nuff said.” I like poetry, this shit goin’ be in iambic pentameter, I’m fucking with it. Listen, maaaaaan. I read that opening scene and saw Wimberly having these kids bending this “high brow” era language to fit the mold of their environment and their slan…