Shirea L. Carroll

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Industry Events, Lessons, Shine, and Nonsense. For those new and old to the industry, who want the real story.

Hip Hop Everywhere

Posted 04/15/2008 at 10:59 PM | Comment?

What I'm Reading: Bliss (Crown Publishers) by Danyel Smith. Nooooo not because the author is my boss....well ok at first I was trying to get the brownie points, but now I've discovered it's actually a good train read back to Jerz. If you are trying to find out what the music/entertainment world really gives, this is it, as authentic as it gets. I mean, look who wrote it.

The main character Eva Glenn--is that chick: a successful powerful record executive in the hip hop/R&B genre who knows the industry inside and out. However, as the story unravels, so does she. She begins to realize she may not know herself as well as she knows the business. Readers take a journey with Eva through her drama, her highs, and her lows until she finally reaches the place where she comes to terms with herself. Although the book takes place during the late '90s, we all know "ain't nothing new under the sun," - not too much has changed. My advice: 1. Pick up a copy. 2. Get into it. 3. Get hip to the game.

What I'm Watching: VH1 Ego Trip's: Miss Rap Supreme . This show is pure comedy...I can't clown it too hard because I will tune in every Monday night @ 10 p.m. (EST) to watch. The show which premiered Monday night, gives ten loud-ghetto-butta faces, with questionable rhyming skills and who have a horrific fashion sense, a reality show similar to last year's Ego Trip's: White Rapper Show. Hosted by MC Search and MC Yo Yo, the premises of the show is not to be bashed as much as the candidates who are battling to be "Ms. Rap Supreme." So who we do we have spittin' on the mic?

Truth is MTV's Real World weirdos don't have anything on these characters. From left to right: Brie, a scary-looking boxer chick who thinks pigtails are gangsta. The swagger filled female Chiba,whose car accident permanetly damaged her left eye, causing her to wear her weave and gobs of Prostyle gel pasted around her eye. Then there is Nikki2States, who after four kids and saggy breasts clearly is the angry black woman in the group. Next, the Russian New Yorker Byata has a laid-back personality that has clearly made her my fav. Ms. Cherry, who delivers her rhymes with a southern accent and a lisp, might need to take a vacay from the mic to go to speech therapy just so we can understand her. Yes that is Khia (My Neck, My Back) who is already winner for the complete foolishness title. Lioness, the German rapper whose claim was "I spit like a llama" had her ass sent home during the first episode. The very masculine Reece Steele,daughter of old school rapper LA Starr, and has me convinced they need to check her for an Adam's apple. D.A.B, whose initials may stand for dingy/ditzy ass broad is the ex-heroin addict, who is using her rhyming as therapy. Last but definitetly not least is the more than overweight big girl Lady Twist, whose "twist" is she is the bootleg version of Bone Thugs-n-Harmony.

I urge you to tune in and partake in one of the many reasons Nas probably states hip hop is dead. Seriously, if your're watching for the love of hip hop you will be highly disappointed. However, if you are like me and simply want to be entertained by the challenges, drama, and foolishness, tune in to VH1 every Monday night at 10 pm (EST) and watch the remaining nine girls try to catch their 15 8 minutes of fame.

Unless you're Khia...