September 16, 2004
It's Just The Beginning
Melo says, "It sounds crazy to write a book about my life before I turn 21, but so much has happened to me so quickly. I wanted to share my story with kids because I had a rough childhood with a lot of bumps in the road, but I was able to overcome things. I grew up in the rough streets of Brooklyn and Baltimore and I've seen things no child should see. Streetcorner drug dealing, prostitution, gangs, armed robberies, violence and murder was all around me. I saw my first deadly shooting when I was 10."
The book is a whopping 48 pages in length and in the book Carmelo explains some of the missteps he has taken on his road to the NBA. He also discusses growing up and being a depressed child among other things. Anthony was reluctant to write the book at first and says, "When my agent, Calvin Andrews, suggested that I write a book about my life, I didn't think anybody would want to read it. I was wrong. ... My story is a reminder to kids that they can make it, so stay strong because it's just the beginning."
I imagine this book is available at your local or internet retailer and is priced at $15.95. If you have impressionable young children that want to read this book, I would advise flipping through it first. I can't trust any book written by Carmelo Anthony to be a good read for children.
Okay, if Carmelo Anthony is writing a book, where the hell do I sign up for a book deal? I have stories to tell for days. I'm sure someone wants to hear them. I have novel ideas floating around in my pea brain as I type. I mean really. I love Carmelo Anthony. The boy has got game for days and days and he's adorable. At the same time, he sounds like he has a mouth full of marbles and can't string together one intelligible phrase, yet he gets to write books. What a mess. The story sounds good and it should be a nice positive read for young children. Then again, my child would not get a $16 book with only 48 pages in it. I understand Melo is a bit on the young side, but could he have not come up with more than 48 pages for this drama filled life that he's bragging about? I bet there are pages and pages of pictures in this book too.
Not for nothing, I'm sure Melo's story is interesting, but at the same time just about every other man in the NBA has the same exact story. Him seeing drugs and violence is nothing new. The majority of black males in inner city America have stories similar, they just don't end up in the NBA. Let's give them all a book deal why don't we? Where the hell is Lebron's autobiography? He's had an interesting life also.
Okay, I'm not knocking Melo and as soon as his agent sends me a copy of this book, I'll read it. That statement isn't ridiculous unless we all understand that I don't know Melo or his agent and neither of them will be sending me a damn thing.
Puffy And Misa
Last week Sean "Puffy" Combs spoke to the Associated Press about the child support lawsuit filed by Misa Hylton-Brimm, the mother of his eldest child Justin. Puff thinks that Misa's financial demands are outrageous. He said,
"We've had a great relationship, and then all of the sudden I got hit with a lawsuit for more money. My son goes to the best schools, has full time tutors. I wouldn't know what else to do to give my son."
Misa filed a lawsuit to increase her monthy support payments from $5,000 to $35,000, the same amount awarded to Kim Porter who is the mother of Puff's youngest son, Christian. Misa was awarded the $35,000 payment, but Combs is appealing the ruling and claims that Misa is looking for adult support, because she is in the midst of divorcing her husband a former employee of Def Jam Records.
Puffy said, "It's not about child support, it's about adult support. I love the mother of my first child. I would never want to do anything to hurt her, but I have to defend the kind of father that I am. The fact is that the mother of my first child gets more money than the mother of my second child."
We've been over, under around and through Puffy and Misa and their child support woes, so I don't have much to say. I'm sure he provides many things for his children, in addition to what he pays to their mothers monthly, but it's absurd that he can try to justify giving one mother $35,000 a month, while the other only gets $5,000. No matter how good a father he is, that imbalance is ridiculous.
Is Free Pregnant?
There are rumors abound that Free, co-host of BET's "106 and Park" is pregnant. The father is allegedly a player for the NFL's New England Patriots. They've been talking about Free on NYC's Hot 97 morning show lately and they've all speculated that she was pregnant due to her recent weight gain.
I haven't seen "106 and Park" in ages, so I tuned in for a minute yesterday to see what all this talk was about. Free has put on some weight. It doesn't necessarily look like she's pregnant, but that may be the case. Miss Jones called Free out during the morning show and spit a bunch of nonsense about Free not wanting it with her. Miss Jones made some valid points about Free and her co-host A.J., but the entire thing was really ghetto. Miss Jones is also really ghetto.
I doubt free will respond to Miss Jones, because Free doesn't seem like the type to want to be caught up in that type of back and forth nonsense. Free strikes me as having more class than that.
Free denies that she is pregnant and blames the weight gain on her eating and workout habits. I don't know if Free is pregnant or not, but if she is, she's a grown ass woman and she's employed. Two things that it's good to be when becoming a mother.
Miss Jones And The Hot 97 Morning Show
Since we're talking about Miss Jones, is it just me or has she gotten extra ghetto over the last few years? She is on the radio every morning sounding like a pure damn chickenhead. She's got to be damn near 40 years old and
that's just too old for that kind of behavior. It's really pathetic. It's like she's doing a bad Wendy Williams impersonation each morning, but even Wendy has more tact than this woman. I just think she was much more
civilized back when she was on the morning show with Star and Bucwild.
I know everyone doesn't live in New York, so I'm going to get off of the topic of Hot 97 very soon. Before I do that, I must say that the morning show over there is a mess. It's so ghetto. I like Miss Info, but Miss Jones has pretty much shut her down since she's been there. Joe Budden has been on there for the past few days and as much as I hated him when he was a regular, he seemed to bring a little order to the show. Joe Budden was a breath of fresh air.
The best thing about the show is that they have good guests and they will ask them anything. That, I like. They don't bite their tongue for anyone. At the same time, that morning show is straight buffoonery, live and on the air every morning and I can't believe that Hot 97 isn't trying to replace that motley crew of miscreants. I don't know why they got rid of Star, but they need to get him back in there like yesterday.
Lebron James
Our rookies from last season seem to be awfully busy these days. While Carmelo Anthony is running around
risking life and limb over LaLa, Lebron is awaiting the birth of his first child. Well, he may or may not be awaiting the birth of his child, but let's just say he is.
The rumor is that his high school girlfriend, whose name escapes me right now, is pregnant. His reps refuse to confirm or deny the allegations, making it appear that it's more than likely true. Other rumors have Lebron expecting two children. I don't know how true this is, but I really hope that little boy is not having babies already. He needs to enjoy some of his new money without shelling out a million a week in child support payments. Not to mention he is still a teenager and needs to be doing whatever it is that multi-millionaire teens do, without the pressure of being someone's father.
If the rumors are true, congratulations to Lebron and the girl. If not, good for both of them. They have the rest of their lives to have children.
Kanye West, Best Gospel Album
It seems that there is an uproar in gospel music, because hip hopper, Kanye West was nominated for a Stellar Award. The Stellar Awards Gospel Music Academy has placed West's album "College Dropout" on a ballot for Best
Gospel Rap Album based on his hit song, "Jesus Walks." The gospel community is upset because they feel that Roc-A-Fella Records in general and the rest of Kanye's album represents anything but gospel music. They also feel that
because the song "Jesus Walks" had to be censored it should not be nominated.
The Academy claims that there were mistakes made on the ballots and there will be changes, but they did not specify whether College Dropout will be removed from the ballot.
I concur that College Dropout should not be in the category for best gospel rap album, because in essence, it is not a gospel album. The song should definitely get some nods for best gospel rap single or something similar. Nobody is nominating any mainstream gospel rappers for American Music Awards and the like, so I can understand why some of the holier artists are perturbed about Kanye honing in on their territory.
I would really like to see "Jesus Walks" win a gospel award. It's a phenomenal song and it's a different Christian perspective than you would normally hear from a gospel artist. That song is the one and only reason you can walk up in a club in any city and have people screaming about Jesus at the top of their lungs. I am not mad at that at all.
Raz B
Not too long ago, we discussed former B2K member Raz-B and his legal woes. I can't remember exactly, but I think he was arrested for rape and road rage. Apparently Raz is out of jail and has spoken with Sister 2 Sister magazine.
He claims that he did not rape anyone and doesn't know where that charge stems from. He says, "I don't know where that came from. De'Mario 'Raz-B' Thornton has never raped anybody or came at a girl disrespectful, ever. And
all my fans know that and they know how I am with my fans. So that's just the devil trying to work."
When asked about his time in prison Raz said, "They treated me good. Nevertheless, I was in there for a few hours. I got in and out. It was just time to think. Where I'm going with my life and the pedestal that God has put me on, He don't want no strongholds, no tickets, no warrants, no nothing on me. I was in there talking to people about God and letting them know."
He also told the magazine that all of his recent troubles are messages from God and says, "My name Raz means revealer of secrets in Hebrew. I was the business man in the group. It was just a wake up call. At the end of the day, God allowed the group to be broken up so he could get us in the position that he wanted so he could get us on track. It didn't take much for him to really shake me up."
Raz also claims that God is not new to him and that he grew up in the church, filled with the Holy Ghost.
I don't know when Razzle Dazzle became such a holy roller, but I want him to shut up. Don't get me wrong. I'm a Christian all day. I am a firm believer in God, the power of prayer and everything else. I do not go around force feeding God or my spiritual beliefs to anyone else. He is bragging about being in jail for a good half an hour preaching to the sinners. If he was in the same holding cell they were in, what makes him think they were listening to him? Talk about the blind leading the blind.
Reverend Raz strikes me as one of those people who turn to God when things are going wrong in their lives. I've never heard anything about God from him until his group broke up and he started getting arrested every 3-5 days. God is good and if that's where his focus is, that's great. I just want him to stop bringing God up every time Sister 2 Sister asks him a question. I also need him to show me where it says that Raz means secret revealer in Hebrew. Likely story.
When Raz was bump, bump, bumping with B2K, he wasn't doing it for Jesus. Now he's so sanctified. I don't buy it. If he really wants to do something, maybe he needs to start his own ministry and help those who want to be helped. He could pick up where Mase's old backsliding ass left off. I just think the God thing is phony, which is why I don't want to hear it. The good thing is Sister 2 Sister is probably the only media outlet that will talk to him and in another day or so, even they won't have any questions for his ass.
Suede Magazine
Not to single anyone out, but ladies, Essence magazine has a new publication out called "Suede." It's a magazine devoted to celebrity interviews, fashion, beauty tips and care for African American hair. The premier issue is on
newsstands now and it features Alicia Keys on the cover. So far, some people like this magazine and others do not. I bought a copy and I love it. I haven't really read anything yet, just skimmed through it and it seems to be pretty good. I really like the layout and it seems pretty fashion and beauty focused. It appears that most of the staff from the now defunct Honey magazine have landed at Suede and it is a bit Honey-ish, only much better.
If you haven't bought one, I'd suggest doing so, if only to see whether it's something you'd be interested in or not.
Oprah
I hope everyone watched Oprah on Monday. Oprah gave everyone in her audience brand new cars. They were brand new Pontiacs, complete with the red bows you only see on cars in television commercials. The audience members were chosen because family or friends wrote to Oprah expressing that their family or friend needed a new car.
In addition, she gave $130,000 to a family facing eviction and a 4 year college scholarship to a 20-year-old homeless girl who had been through a lot of struggles in her life. She also gave the girl a makeover and $10,000 in clothes.
First of all, I need someone to write Oprah and tell her I need a new car, a house, a job on her staff, a large deposit into my checking account and anything else you can think to ask. I am that needy. Maybe it's greedy, but I would appreciate it greatly if someone could convince her to provide me with all of those things.
Enough of my nonsense. I am not the biggest Oprah fan in the world. I like her, but I'm not that into her. I know people who really, really love Oprah and would probably do anything in the world to be in the same room with her. Well after this show, I really love Oprah too and it brings tears to my eyes that she would do something so extraordinary for such a large group of people that she has never met before in her life. That's how you share the wealth. I love good people and I love it when people do things for the less fortunate. Especially when they do it out of sheer kindness, without any ulterior motives.
I'm not saying that Oprah doesn't like the tax write-off, but she seems genuinely happy when she's doing good deeds for others. I now like Oprah a little more than I did before she was giving away cars and cash. If I am ever a billionaire like Oprah (ha), I am giving away cars and cash to strangers all day long.
Omar Epps and Keisha
Actor Omar Epps and his fiancee Keisha Spivey, formerly of the Bad Boy group Total became new parents six weeks ago. Keisha gave birth to a baby girl, which the couple named K'Mari Mae. Congratulations to the both of them.
J-Lo
Rumor has it that J-Lo is unhappy in her marriage to Mark Anthony and they may be divorcing soon. This is very believable. Does J-Lo even know Mark Anthony? She broke up with Ben Affleck, hopped a plane to L.A. and married Mark Anthony all in the same day. She's such a simple ho.
- reported by Keshawnta J.