Keep the Faith- Part V (Final)

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Well here we have the last and final segment for Keep the Faith. I want to first thank everyone who has come and visited the site and have been forever patient with me while I put all of this together. I couldn't do it without you. Tell me what you think and share your thoughts- leave a comment! So the first four segments were CRAZY. I mean Faith has been through the gamut, true hood type of life. But yet somehow she comes across to me as honest. I know she's done her share of dirt. Keep the Faith never left me feeling like she was being dishonest or embellishing in anyway. I can imagine it's difficult for someone to share such an intimate part of themselves and know that people are going to go to great lengths to question EVERYTHING. We have to remember this is HER story, from HER experiences and HER life. People often make the mistake to want to now why so and so did such and such- what does that have to do with THIS story? If you wanna know about Kim, check for her book or movie, if you wanna know about Tupac, check for his story. Don't make the mistake to be checking for someone else's story through another person's eyes. In the book, Faith had some candid pictures, I would've preferred if she either put more or different one's. They didn't interest me much. They were kind of bland. But that's just my opinion.

Faith naiveness for a lot of the things that were going on around her astounded me. I couldn't believe how blind she was to numerous things. The "Industry" strikes me as a place where everyone knows what's going on with everyone. She didn't seem to know what was going on right under her nose most of the time...it just struck me as odd. Faith's judgement about Tupac stuck out like a sore thumb. Tupac thought Biggie had something to do with him being shot, Tupac goes to jail, gets out, comes back and wants to not only meet Faith but record a song with her. Odd no? She rolls with dude feeling extremely uncomfortable. WHY? No one forced her to do anything with him. I just don't understand why she allowed for herself to be placed in that situation. People do strange things and make even stranger decisions. The drama between her and Kim was straight comedy...Kim has always talked a good game, but Faith seemingly has always delivered on her promises of tearing that ass up. Not once have I heard Kim get at Faith, ever. So on that note I will not hesitate any longer....

Highlights Chapter XXI- Beginning of the End
I don't even know where to begin to set this up....

• Faith's friend Rufus questions Missy's loyalty to Faith. Missy was a good friend of Faith's and rumors had been circulating that her and Kim were hanging out like they were cool. That didn't sit too well with Faith. She felt like Missy was trying to play both sides of the fence and pointed out that it was indeed Missy who called her one night to tell her that Kim was at the studio (see Part IV for story). Faith asks Missy about the Kim situation and Missy admitted that she was trying to work with her on a song but wasn't trying to hang with her like that. Faith made the decision to cut Missy out. She felt like Missy was trying to play her and felt like she couldn't remain a trusted member of her circle. There was no phone call, confrontation, nothing. After some time Missy calls and Faith refuses to speak to her. It was said that Missy sounded like she was going to cry.
• Big and Faith were still going through the motions. He would come over almost every Friday for dinner and try and spend the night with it only ending in Faith sending him home. Around Christmas, Big wanted Faith to come and bring the kids to his home in NJ on Christmas day. Faith was a little leery, due to the fact that Big was messin with Tiffany "Charlie Baltimore" and perhaps other women. She couldn't understand why he was so insistant with her and the children coming over. Faith decided to scope out the spot Christmas Eve and lo and behold....drama. Here's an excerpt:

     

     I can't believe how bold I was. I knew all his boys were probably there. And anyone in there could have shot me on sight, thinking I was an intruder. I moved slowly, tiptoeing through the house silently.
     I got to Big's bedroom door, turned the knob, and went inside. As soon as I saw the small lump next to Big's large frame, I flew into a rage, ran over to the side of the bed, and pulled back the covers. I grabbed some chick out of the bed and started beating her ass. At some point, the chicks wig came off in my hand: It was a short, cropped wig. I stopped throwing punches for a minute to get a good look at the chick I was beating up. It was Lil' Kim. She was completely butt-naked, yelling as I pushed her around the room.
     "So you not fucking her right?" I screamed at Big. "Yeah, you not messing with her anymore, right?"
     When they heard all the commotion, Cease, D-Roc and Gutter came running into the room.
     "Oh, shit!" they yelled in unison. "It's Faye! How the hell she get in here?"
     Big sat up in the bed and pointed at Kim, who was standing there in the corner of the room, trying to cover her naked body with her hands while I was still yelling at Big.
     "Yo, get her outta here," Big said. They led Kim out of the room, and she screamed and cursed the whole way.
     It was absolutely crazy in that house. Kim was naked and being led somewhere to get dressed. I was still screaming at Big. Damion, Cease, and Gutter were laughing in amazement that I would be so bold. And Big looked like he was just too through with all of us.

• After that confrontation, Faith actually had sex with Big that night. When leaving several hours later to return with the kids, Faith noticed Kim keyed her Land Cruiser from hood to back bumper. She decided despite having sex that very night with him she was totally through. She was tired of catching him with chicks and handing out beat downs, tired of always getting into it with Big, tired of just dealing with all the BS. She returns with the children the next day as if nothing had happened and enjoyed a nice quiet Christmas.
• Faith returns the favor to Kim by slashing two of her tires to her new Lexus in front of the Bad Boy offices several weeks after Kim keyed her car.
• Faith purchases a home in NJ around this time.
• Big is in LA laying down tracks and final touches to his second album Life After Death.  He was out there for about a month and Faith was concerned especially since things were so intense after Tupac's death between the two coasts.
• Faith was preparing to travel out the LA, her and Big spoke by phone. They get into an argument over something silly and Faith notes that was the last time she actually spoke to Big.

Highlights Chapter XXII- Til Death Do Us Part
This Chapter covers the days leading up to Big's Murder

• Faith flies out to LA. She sees Big at the airport. She basically ignores him. Her friend takes their son CJ over to Big for several moments to see the four month old. That would be the last time Big got to see his son.
• Faith does a radio interview while she's out there.
• She hangs out with Big's friends and they happen to bump into each other at a red light. Faith hid in the backseat because she wasn't quite ready to deal with Big. She wanted to deal with him one on one in private, not with a crowd. She didn't know if Big knew she was in the car or not. He told his friends that he was looking for her.
• She hangs out and does the lowkey deal. Goes to a celebrity basketball game. At the game her and her friends discuss going to the Vibe Magazine party that night. The date is March 8, 1997.
• Faith and her friends go the Petersen Automotive Museum where the party is being held. They purposely get there early to scope out the place. As the night goes on, eventually Big and the crew show up. Cease comes over and kicks it with Faith for a few moments and asked whether she was going over to say hello to Big and the rest of the guys. She said that she would and he heads back across the room. She never made that journey across the room.
• As they DJ was playing Big's song Hypnotize, the party comes to an abrupt end with police and fire department citing the venue as overcrowded.
• As Faith and her girls leave, she says that they heard three pops, but it wasn't loud enough to make them duck. They thought nothing of it and climbed in the car to head to Andre Harrell's party. Faith had no idea those three shots had killed her husband.

Highlights Chapter XXIIIV- Walk with Me
This chapter covers the preparation for Big's funeral and the funeral itself

• At the beginning of the chapter, it picks up where the Preface left off with Faith and other Bad Boy family in the waiting room after being told Big was dead. Faith didn't have the opportunity to see Big's body before she was lead out the hospital by her friend Roz. They go back to Faith's hotel room which had essentially turned into Command Central. It was complete unrest. Constant questions of who, what and why.
• Ms. Wallace, Big's mother prepares to fly out to LA with Jan, Big's daughter T'yanna's mother to identify the body and begin the funeral preparations.
• Faith, Ms. Wallace and Jan all go to the morgue to identify and claim the body. On the way to the morgue, Ms. Wallace was extremely disturbed by the fact that with Big's whole entourage he managed to be killed and no one could really explain how it happened. She was also very PISSED that Puffy wasn't there. They get to the morgue and the Examiner met them in the waiting area. Instead of being lead to his body, the Examiner brings out three polaroid photographs of Big instead to identify him. Faith says,

     "I could describe every detail of how Big looked in that picture. But I will not. It's too painful. Not just for me. But for Ms. Wallace, too. I will say this: He looked like he had been fighting for his life and had just passed away before the pictures were taken."

Ms. Wallace was extremely upset with not being able to see her son to identify the body.

"I can't identify my son this way!" Ms. Wallace screamed. "How do I know for sure that's my baby? I need to see him! Let. Me. See. My. Son!"
Ms. Wallace began to cry hysterically. Jan and I tried to comfort her. Her cries grew louder and she continued to yell out.
"I don't know for sure. That could be someone else!"
"That's him, Ms. Wallace," Jan whispered. "That's him."
"No," she said, shaking her head vigorously. "How do you know?"
Ms. Wallace looked at me.
"Faith?" she asked.
I nodded. "It's him," I said. "Ms. Wallace, that's Christopher."

• While preparing for Big to be flown back to New York, Ms. Wallace wanted to go back to the place where Big is shot. She felt like she had been cheated out of seeing her son and not having the chance to say goodbye and felt the only place that she could do so was at the scene of the crime.
• They had to delay the funeral for several days due to Ms. Wallaces sister getting married that very weekend. They felt that it made more sense to celebrate before they grieved.
• Ms. Wallace and Faith go to Big's home in Teaneck, NJ and begin to clean up and locate important and necessary paperwork. They decide that Ms. Wallace should stay at the home until it was sold. On one of the days they were there cleaning, they receive a phone call from Tiffany (known to us as Charlie Baltimore). They wanted to make sure that they had secured Big's personal assets, which included his cars. They learned that one of the cars, a Land Cruiser, was in Philadephia at Charlie Baltimore's home. After confirming the address of Charlie's home, Faith instructed the car dealership to seize the car and have it returned to the dealership. Faith says that someone told her that Charlie had a fit and was crying saying Big gave her the car. Faith points out that the car wasn't paid for. So a flatbed came in the middle of the night and took the car.
• A friend Lisa told Faith that upon learning of Big's death, Charlie Baltimore supposedly attempted suicide. Ms. Wallaced also mentioned to Faith that Lil Kim was crying and told her she wanted to come with her and Jan to LA and Ms. Wallace said, "I said over my dead body..."
• They decide at the funeral home when they were called to give approval of Big's preparation that they would hold a invitation only funeral, meaning if you arrived on foot, you were not allowed to the service. Everyone attending were to arrive by towncar or limo. It was also decided that they would ride through Brooklyn on the way to the crematorium.
• Faith says at the beginning of the service during one of the songs being sung, Lil Kim began to make somewhat of a spectacle of her self by crying out, "Yes I will! I will always love you..." "Oh yes...oh yes..Yes. I love yoooou..." Ms. Wallace becoming increasingly annoyed whispered, "Somebody better calm her down or take her out!" Faith says she knows people grieve in different ways but she felt like Kim was being a little extra.
• Charlie Baltimore was in attendance.
• Faith said that Kim was accompanied by Mary J. Blige up to Big's casket and as they offered condolences and words, she says when Mary reached her she didn't utter one word to her. Faith was angered and offended by Mary's brazen disrespect
• Faith had decided prior to the funeral that she would not sing. However, at the service, she says that she could hear Big asking her, "You can't sing for me? You better get your ass up and sing, girl." She decided to sing after all.She sang "I Want Jesus to Walk with Me"

Highlights of Chapter XIV- Every Breathe I Take
This chapter covers the recording of I'll Be Missing You and Faith still grieving but trying to move on

•  Puff asked repeatedly for Faith to come to the studio to work on and record the song I'll Be Missing You. After telling her that the song was dedicated to Big and all proceeds would go to the kids Faith decided to go to the studio. She says that it was extremely emotional for all of them in the studio. Faith also says she wasn't thrilled about shooting the video. She wasn't ready to be a performer again so soon.
• Faith begins to pick up where she left off with Todd Rusaw. She hadn't been with Big when he had passed and was already beginning to move on with her life and began to have feeling for Todd but she was still very much a hip-hop widow in the public eye and didn't want it to appear that she was being disrespectful to Big's memory by moving on.
• MTV had invited Puff, Faith and 112 to perform the song at the award show and Faith was not ready to go and perform in public at that time and avoided Puff every chance she could until he tracked her down at the studio on night and basically told her if she wanted to backseat her career that was fine by him but she wasn't going to mess it up for him. So she reluctantly agreed to perform the song.

Highlights of Chapter XV- Life After Death
This chapter covers Faith continuing to move on, dealing with Big's estate issues and leaving Bad Boy

• Faith was beginning to work on her third album and was upset by the fact that Puff seemed by to be more interested in working with Lil Kim and Junior M.A.F.I.A, when they weren't even on the Bad Boy label. She felt as an artist of the label, she never really had the support she needed and given the attention she deserved.
• Faith finds out she is pregnant with her son Joshua and her and Todd decide to marry.
• Several months after remarrying, her attorney urged her to deal with Big's estate. She really wasn't ready to deal with it but knew that she needed to especially having remarried and expecting her first child she would have to. She learns that he affairs were not in order and was frustrated that Big hadn't been more savvy to attend to his affairs better than he had. During what was suppose to be a meeting with her attorney and Ms. Wallace, somehow word got out that they were dealing with the estate and people came out the wood works to attend the meeting. Faith so frustated left the meeting.
• Faith starts contemplating leaving Bad Boy. She begins to record on her own without waiting for approved budget from Bad Boy and took a risk of using her own resources and money. It paid off when she played the song You Gets No Love for Puff. He began to show interest in the project and she and Puff began to bond.
• Around this time Puff began talks to take Bad Boy from Arista to Universal. Faith was uneasy about the change and felt like all her hard work had gone to waste. She really begins to consider cuttig ties with Bad Boy.
• Faith meets with Puff at his home and tells him that she wanted to be released from her contract. She was very candid with him and surprisingly he did not throw a tempter tantrum he's known for and agrees. Naturally he wasn't thrilled but understood where Faith was coming from. She was released from Bad Boy.
  

Talk and Tag

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I saw this on my girls Odara's site http://www.gimmethegoodies.com/ and decided to play along as well. Here we go:

4 Things I'm Passionate About:

• Life
• Love
• Pursuit of Happiness (no matter what the cost)
• Family

4 Words or Phrases I Use Often:

• True
• Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiid
• Yum
• "I am NOT the one...."

4 Things I Want to do Before I Die:

• Sky Dive (hopefully later this year! YES)
• Continue to be a better individual
• Do a professional photoshoot
• Meet President Obama

4 Things I Learned from the Past

• You can't recreate the past, you can only shape your future
• Karma is a BISH
• Good things come to those who make things happen
• Hurt heals, Love is what you make it, LOVE YOURSELF

4 Places I want to See or Visit

• Seychelles
• St. Barts
• Australia
• Italy (2010! YES!)

4 Fav Restaurants

• Cafe Colonial (NY)
• Sammy's (Baltimore)
• Cracker Barrel (Whenever I can get to one!)
• The Rockfish (Sweet baby Jesus.....delish!)

4 Things that Happened Yesterday

• I awoke
• I showered
• I ate
• I chilled

4 People I Tag:

You, You, YOU AND YOU!

QUOTE OF THE DAY-CLASSIC (OBAMA)

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(Seen man wearing Obama shirt today)

"They wouldn't give us 40 acres & a mule, so we took all 50 states and a White House."

Dirty Martini™

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.

Lil Kim Tells Her Side of the Story-Notorious the Movie

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Hip Hop weekly had an exclusive interview with rapper, Lil Kim, to give her thoughts on the movie Notorious.

On her thoughts of the movie:

"I want the world to be clear, I have NOTHING to do with that movie. That movie is Faith and Ms. Wallace's story. Most of the story is bulls---. There are a lot of lies in the movie. I had no idea it was even going into production, until one day I got a call from my manager at the time, Lance "Un" Rivera, and he said "Yo! You know they cast this girl Naturi [Naughton] to play you in the Biggie movie." I was outraged. I was upset, because to me, to do an autobiography about someone's life, you want it to be as authentic as possible. I was not involved in the movie. They never came and asked me anything about Biggie, but again this was Faith and Ms. Wallace's movie. I couldn't believe it. I was outraged."

She goes on to state that she contacted her lawyer demand and obtain the script along with audition tapes. Kim says that of all the people who auditioned, Naturi was the WORST choice to portray her and was very disappointed in their casting choices along with who they cast to play Biggie. Kim also stated that no one ever approached her for her side of the story or to even play herself as Lil Cease and other mafia members did. She said the only casting choice the producers nailed on the head was the actress Antonique Smith, who portrayed Faith Evans. Kim went on to say that her and her laywer told producers of the movie that they would have to do something in order to use her name and likeness in the film- which meant they needed to break her off. She goes in hard on Faith calling her nothing short of phony:

"...Me and Scott [Storch] even thought of doing a record with her, thinking about how big it would've been for hip hop and for the Biggie family. She even sent her daughter Chyna, who I love and took care of sometimes, down to talk to me, and Chyna was like, " I love you Kim and my mom told me to tell you  she loves you and hi." But, here we go years later, I guess funds must be low; because somebody told Faith, "you gotta write a book and you gotta come at Kim in the book."

          
She then adds further insult by saying:

"She could never play poker because she already exposed her hand. Faith, you know me, I'm an extremist, I go hard. Once I start I don't stop."

Kim said that she would rep Big all day and no one could stop her from doing so because she still has mad love for Big. She was disappointed with Ms. Wallace for saying in a radio interview that her and Kim never mourned together and that she never knew Kim. Kim says that she lived with Ms. Wallace for eight months after Biggie died and shared five percent of her publishing earnings with Ms. Wallace and the children out of the love and kindness of her heart. When asked would she go and see the movie when it came out, kim had this to say:

"Hell No! I might watch it on bootleg, for legal reasons. I just want people to know, I have nothing to do with the film and I'm not supporting it. I'm currently working on my life story where people will get the "Naked Truth" about Kimberly Denise Jones a/k/a Lil Kim.

Hip Hop Weekly also interviews Faith Evans for her side of the story. Faith had this to say:

"As far as the film goes, I was neither a writer nor producer of the film. I really had nothing to do with it at all. That's totally inaccurate. If I'm not mistaken, everybody that is in the movie was in a book ["Unbelievable: The Life and Death of the Notorious B.I.G."] by Cheo [Hodari Coker]. I think the screenplay was written initially based on the interviews in the book, and I believe Kim was one of those people that did an interview for that book." 

Faith goes on to point out that everyone who portrayed in the movie had to sign a rights agreement and that Ms. Wallace had the discretion to alter or change anything she wished in the movie- that this was her project.

Wow, I'll end this post by saying, what a shamless plug for her {Kim's}own joint, LMAO!

Keep the Faith-Part IV

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Well, we're three quarters of the way through and it seems that most of what everyone wants to hear is in this portion of the book. I actually felt tempted the skim through these chapters to get to the good good but I wouldn't be getting my $26.49 worth right? Things start to get outta pocket in these next set of chapters. Tupac is out of jail and seemingly plotting some serious get back, Faith and Big are barely maintaining their marriage, Kim is starting to smell herself....the drama is rampant.

Here we go.....

Highlights Chapter XVI-Danger Zone

This chapter covers Faith visiting LA for work and meeting Tupac for the first time

• Faith swings another ep with Roger Short while in LA
• During the same time, while hanging out at Hollywood Athletic Club, Treach from Naughty by Nature, introduces Tupac to Faith.
• Tupac proposes doing a song together. Faith discusses it over with Big first, especially in light of the fact that Tupac was convinced Big possibly had something to do with him being shot. Big gives Faith the thumbs up. Faith states that neither she or Big felt like Tupac was an issue or threat. Big couldn't understand how Tupac felt like he had something to do with what happened.
• Coincidentally, Faith and Tupac were to attend the same event for Waiting to Exhale. Upon arriving, Tupac jumps into her limo as it taxied up to the event. It appeared like they had arrived together, when that was not the case. Nicci from Brownstone accompanied Faith to the event. Faith states she was quite uncomfortable with being around him for the evening as he made himself comfortable with her. She felt like something was "off.
• After getting clearances, they arrange for Faith to go be picked up to go and collaborate on the song Tupac was working on. A car service was suppose to pick Faith up from where she was staying, but to her surprise Tupac came personally himself to take her to the studio. She continues to have a nagging feeling about Tupac and she's petrified when she learns that he was apart of Death Row Records.

Highlights of Chapter XVII- Live From Death Row
This chapter covers Faith recording the song with Tupac and the events that transpire immediately following the recording session

• After the recording session, Pac promised that his attorney would drop Faith's check off at the hotel where Tupac was staying. Knowing she wanted her money up front, he offered for her to return with him to the hotel after the session or come by the next day. Against her better judgement she went back to the hotel with him. After arriving to the hotel and going up to the room to wait, she says Tupac's friendly demeanor changed. He became sinister. Faith says that Tupac tells her "You know someone set me up right?" And repeats it several times. She responds back, "You don't really believe that bullshit." She begins to feel like she was in danger and tells Tupac she just wanted her check and to roll out. Here's a snippet of what she says transpired:

"The situation with the money is like this," he said. "If I give it to you, then you my bitch."
"Your what," I said. I felt a chill go up my back.
"You heard me. You gotta be my bitch."
I got up and moved further away from where he was standing.
"I'm not anybody's bitch," I said, trying to keep my voice even and steady.
"You Biggie's bitch."
"I'm his wife."
"I thought ya'll broke up?" he asked.
"We still married."
"Whatever."

She then goes on to say that she tells him she did the song and she just wanted her money and that was it. Then the following:

"Oh word, it's like that? You just want your money?"
"So you not trying to suck my dick?"
"What!" I screamed. "What are you talking about?"
Tupac raised his voice. "You know you want to suck my dick, bitch! Don't fucking lie." I burst into tears and grabbed my purse. "I have to get out of here."

Faith says he went on ranting and calling her "bitch." She said she felt like something was going to happen to her. She leaves and takes the waiting limousine back to her friends house. She was determined to get her check. The next day she calls him up and demands for her money. Tupac tells her to come back to the hotel to get it. Her friend Curtis Baldwin (who played Calvin on 227) drops her off at the hotel and tell her he'd be back to get her in thirty minutes. Tupac never comes downstairs with her money. Faith leaves in tears disappointed that she got herself into that situation especially with Tupac.

Highlights Chapter XVIII- The Seed
This chapter covers word gets back to Big and Puff about Faith supposedly sleeping with Tupac and Faith getting pregnant

• Word gets back that a jumpoff session transpired between Tupac and Faith. Faith gets a heads up call from someone at Bad Boy about the rumor. Big confronts Faith upon her return to New York. She tells him that nothing happened and Faith says Big was livid. She never told Big about the ep she swung while in LA with a producer she was working with and Roger Short.
• A few days later she saw where Big and other people got this information from. There was an interview with Suge Knight and Tupac in New York Times Magazine.  In the article Suge urges Tupac to tell where he got the outfit he was wearing from.

"The wife of top rapper bought this for him," Suge says, razzing Tupac. "Who's that?" Tupac smiles. "His name is an acronym." Suge smiles. "Notorious B.I.G.'s wife, Faith Evans." "She bought him this suit and some other stuff," Suge says. "And how did you thank her, Tupac?" Tupac pauses. "I did enough," he says rather salaciously.

• Faith consults with her lawyer to possibly bring a defamation suit against Tupac. Her attorney advised her it would only bring more scrutiny and would be a long dragged out process. She decided reluctantly not to move forward with it.
• Faith wondered why know one warned her about Tupac when she went out to LA. She had no idea he was signed to Death Row until she arrived at the studio to record for the song.
• Her and Missy Elliot had a very strong bond and friendship during this time. Faith often confided in Missy and Missy even watched Faiths daughter, Chyna and would sing backup for Faith in a pinch.
• Faith changes her tattoo of "BIG" to BIG FAYE" Biggie was a little hurt by it, but Faith did it to show that she was beginning to move on even though they still ocassionally hooked up and spoke.
• A couple of days after Valentine's Day, Big calls her and tells her to come out to New Orleans to come and chill. They have sex and she gets pregnant with their son Christopher.
• After finding out she was pregnant she calls Big. She decided to proceed with the pregnancy.

He didn't sound happy or sad. Just very noncommittial. "You keeping it?" he asked.
"Yeah, I am," I said.
It was quite for a moment. "Are you sure?"
I wasn't sure what he meant by that. "Yes I'm sure..."
Big made a weary sound. "Homegirl got pregnant, too."
"What does that have to do with me?"
"I made her get an abortion," he said.
"So what are you saying?"
"You sure this is the right time?" he said.
"Look," I told him. " I wasn't prepared for this, either. I know we're not together. But now we're going to be parents. And we'll have to make it work. You can figure out how to relay all of that to your little girlfriend."

• Faith attends goes to a club and hears that Big and Kim are there. She says that she didn't say anything to Big and didn't see Kim. When standing outside talking with a friend she says, Kim rode by really slow mean mugging her. Kim drove around the block several times but nothing happened.
• She heads to LA for the Soul Train Music Awards, performs with fellow Bad Boys artists although they are really chillin like that.
• She meets runs into her future husband Todd Russaw while he and Missy were on 702's album. After a trip to LA to take care of some business they began to vibe with each other.

Highlights Chapter XIX
This chapter covers Faith trying to keep a low profile during her pregnancy, Missy comes to do some things for Bad Boy and Faith finally gets at Kim

• While chilling at Faith's house, Puffy calls over there looking for Missy and wants her to work on a project. Missy excitedly leaves for the studio and soon after sees Kim at the studio and calls Faith to let her know she was there. Faith quickly gets dressed and hauls ass over there.
• She gets to the studio with her cousin Candy and searches every room for Kim. Mind you she is very pregnant. They see her in a studio and Faith almost didn't recognize her at first. She busts the door in and jumps on Kim and starts beating her ass. Puff and some other who were in the studio scramble to get Faith off of Kim. After being able to get Faith off of Kim, Kim manages to scramble to the other side of the room and grab a chair to try and defend herself.
• After returning home, Faith's doorman informs her that there are several ladies in the lobby. Missy was at Faith's home at the time. Faith had no intentions to fight at the entrance of her building. She wasn't trying to get down like that at her house. Then Kim somehow gets Faith's number and begins to taunt her over the phone. Biggies finds out about the altercation and calls Faith and scolds her for fighting while being pregnant.
• She is nominated for four Soul Train Awards and several days before leaving for LA, Big calls her and tells her Tupac got shot. Faith says she could hear in his voice he was crying or had been. At the time news reports were stating he was expected to survive. And that worried them both....

Highlights Chapter XX-Jagged Edge
Faith wins two Soul Train Awards, tries to keep a low profile and Tupac dies

• After the awards, Faith kept a low profile and hung out with Todd Russaw and some friends at an after party. She says they really connected.
• After returning home to NY, she got the news Tupac had died. There was a lot of speculation and worry. Tensions between East Coast and West Coast began to become more intense.
• Faith says Big was dazed by Tupac's death and felt like something wasn't right. It kept nagging him.

About a month later, Big was involved in a car accident breaking his leg. She waited some time before going to see him. When she finally did, she was surprised that he happily acknowledged her as his wife after all the time had past since they weren't together. Big was publicly moving on with Tiffany, or known to us as Charlie Baltimore.

"Something ain't right, Faye," Big told me.
"I know. What's going to happen?"
"I don't know all that," he said. His voice was low and small. "But something is not right, Faye. That was my nigga right there. Shit got fucked up somewhere along the way. But that was my nigga."

• Todd and Faith started seeing one another more often. And tries to keep it under raps from Biggie.
• Faith was preparing for the birth of her son, as she and Big were deciding what to name their son she begins to go into labor. After giving birth the entire Bad Boy family came through with the highlight of their visit was Lil Cease saying, "He looks like a Puerto Rican Biggie!"
• Faith says in the two years they had known each other she saw a definite change in Big going from "ashy to classy."
• She asks Big about the song "Brooklyn's Finest" and in particular the line stating she was having Tupac's kid. He admitted it was messed up for him to do that and apologized.
• Faith begins to look for a house in New Jersey, wanting to get away from the city and provide her children with a nice, quiet environment.
• While in Atlanta for Puff's birthday, she and Kim had another encounter where, Faith was asked by Big to sit with him (which she did for the entire night). People were coming by the table to say hello and Kim comes by mean mugging. Big tells her to keep it moving and she then gives Faith a nasty look in which Faith smirks back at her.
• That same weekend Faith was pushed through a plate glass window after an altercation with a police officer who used excessive force on her for no apparent reason. She was arrested and had glass removed from her back and had continued back issues following the incident.

Wow. The next post will have the final chapters of the book and my complete and final review. Till next time...

Keep the Faith-Part III

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Faith's story at this point in the book sounds fast paced and chaotic. I'm actually winded...lol. Both Faith and Big's careers are going full force while their marriage suffers. Kim's presence and mouth is more pronounced in this part.

Highlights Chapter XI- Disappearing Acts

This chapter covers Big blatantly admits to cheating while on the road, Faith administers beat downs to these jumpoffs

• While on tour in Chicago, Faith finds out that Big has cheated on her, it may not have been the first time-however this is the first infidelity she finds out about.
• In Daytona, Faith flies out to see him perform and finds a girls name scribbled on a note pad, come to find out the girl is in the same hotel. She tells the girl to come up to the room. Faith opens the door and gets in bed with Big and tells the girl Big had something to tell her. Big says, "Yo, shorty. This right here is my wife. So you need to know I ain't fucking with you like that."
• Despite Big's extramarital affairs, Faith says she really loved him and they would always fuss, fight, make up and start all over again.
• During a tour date in VA, Big called Faith and told her he was letting someone else use his room and if she wanted to catch up with him he wouldn't be around. She thought that was odd. Pissed, she catches a plane to VA, catches Big in the room with another chick, beats her ass, then jumps back on a plane back to NY with Big right on her heels.
• Big's behavior was becoming more erratic with the more fame he gained. It proved to be a stumbling block in Faith and Big's break neck relationship.
• Another incident, after attending a christening for Puff's son, Faith and two friends head to the Bronx to give another one of Big's jumpoff's a thorough beat down in the girls entryway of her apartment.

Highlights Chapter XII- You Used to Love Me
Faith worked on getting her album complete while dealing with all the drama in her life dealing with Big

• Faith says her first album, most of the songs were reflective of what was going on at the time with Big
• Vibe publishes an article with Tupac and Pac indicates Big being behind his shooting
• She gets B.I.G. tattooed on her chest, inspite of the ongoing problems in their marriage
• She pens the song "You Used to Love Me" at this time, which insiders found the track hot to death

Highlights Chapter XIII- The Tipping Point
Faith drops her single, marital and professional issues press on

• Funk Master Flex plays her single while she's in the car on the way home for the first time on the radio
• Puff turns his focus on letting Faith be in Big's video One More Chance as a way of introducing her as not only an artist but as Big's wife
• She nearly blows the opportunity for performing on BET when caught blazing an L, it took a lot of convincing but they allowed for her to perform on the show
• It was the year 1995 and Bad Boy was clearly killing it that year dropping, Faith, Total, Junior M.A.F.I.A
• Faith and Big at this point hardly saw one another

Highlights Chapter XIIII- The Truth Hurts
This chapter covers Faith trying to hold it down for her marriage, her going out on tour and her finally leaving Brooklyn

• Faith finds life on the road extremely difficult, performing and mainly getting paid for the performances
• A friend tells her the word on the street was that someone was planning to run up in their spot and rob them. That very day Faith packed all her things and left Brooklyn, moving into a hotel in Manhattan
• She formulates a plan to start to get her stuff straight in regards to her living situation. She was bouncing around from hotel to hotel and ocassionally staying with 112 at their place
• She refused Puff's insistence to go on tour to promote herself without making money. She stood steadfast by her decision not to
• Lil Kim goes on air with Wendy Williams and airs Faith and Big's dirty laundry out:

She asked Kim something about her relationship with Big. I turned the radio up as loud as it could go.
"Isn't Big married to Faith Evans?" Wendy asked.
Kim laughed. "Please," she said. "They broke up. They not wearing no wedding rings. She moved out. They ain't together no more."
I was stunned. Why the fuck was Kim on the radio telling people about my business with Big? And why did she sound so gleeful that we were having some problems in our marriage?

• Faith finally realized after that interview speaking with Big's boys that Kim and Big were indeed having an affair and that it took Faith a year to figure it out
• She decides to go on Wendy's show herself against her better judgement to clear some things up the very next day after Kim's interview:

"You have something you want to say about Lil Kim's comments yesterday," Wendy asked.
I pulled up close to the microphone and leaned in. "The only thing I have to say is, Kim- you better watch your back. 'Cause when I see you it's on."

• Faith confronts Big about the Kim situation and he admitted that they were getting it in- and in spite of being told that they wound up having sex that night

Highlights Chapter XV- Hustling
This chapter covers Faith's continues issues with her living arrangements and Big moving to NJ and her affair with a NBA player

• Faith learns a song that she and Mary J. Blige recorded was being re-recorded and redistributed because they were taking Mary's voice off of the tracks. Faith was really upset by the change and never really got the story why the change was happening
• he finally gets herself together domestically and moves into an upscale apartment in Manhattan
• She was through with trying to track down Big's jumpoff's and handing out beat downs, but left one person on her list, Kim
• While performing in New Orleans she meets basketball player Roger Short. They swung an ep at her hotel room, she admits afterward she felt guilty for cheating on Big
• She meets Missy Elliot after hearing Missy was a fan and wanted to meet her. They soon became good friends
• Tupac was finally release from jail and soon enough the next turn of events would not be pretty

I'm really starting to get excited about reading the next couple of chapters. I know Faith is going to be stomping holes in Kim's face. I can't believe that Big was so blatant and bold to have affairs and not really be phased by Faith being upset about them. I was equally surprised that Faith was holding it down like she was with he man running the streets and constantly taking him back. I can't believe she didn't see what was going down with Kim and Big from jump.

Bartender Chronicles-Deux et une moitié

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Earlier this week, Sandra Rose threw a curve ball at Necole Bitchie regarding Necole's new banner on her site shot by renown photographer Derek Blanks. Sandra seems to go HARD on people lighter and brighter than herself. She went as far to say that Necole may have self-hate issues regarding her skintone. I personally saw nothing wrong with the photo myself and if she did appear lighter than normal, I just chalked it up to lighting and makeup. The post Sandra made seemed so random- it looked like a ploy to generate more hits on her site. If you make the choice to see what this is all about, please let me recommend that you direct your mouse and appreciated hits to Necole Bitchies site. Sandra gets NO HITS.

Your boy Kellz finally got unhitched from his wife of thirteen years, Andrea Lee. I think this is BAD NEWS for Kellz, seriously. He appeared so much more credible while married, even though he and his wife were separated for some time. Now that the trial is over and there still being speculation regarding his sexual exploits with underaged girls, it's going to be OPEN SEASON on snagging him on something, ANYTHING. My suggestion to him is to lay low and stop poppin Similac in the clubs.





As if we need yet ANOTHER reality show, VH1 will be doing a show in which T.I. is starring called "Road to Redemption: 45 Days to Go." The show that they need to be doing is, "The STYLE fail of Tiny-The Makeover." In either case, these shows are very cookie cutter now, it's sickening. NEXT!

And speaking of reality shows, G's to Gents former contestants, Shayne "Cee" Coyle and Markice "Kesan" Moore got hemmed up on charges of parole and traffic violation. This is a classic example of why you don't do reality shows- 5-0 is watching them bishes looking to hem dudes up. DUMBASSES....

And that ladies and gentlemen is the Bartender Chronicles for now.....

Open Bar-Saturday Freebies

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Toya Anitri is debuted her new radioshow several weeks ago and is doing fantastic! On blogtalkradio Friday and Saturday from 5-7.

Check it out http://www.blogtalkradio.com/boss-ladi-inc
also check out her blog http://www.olkuntryazzgul.com/

My girl is doing the damn thing with her new show! Shouts to Toya!

Also check out Mack from Sound-Savvy.com, hitting you up with the latest album reviews and spotlights on up and coming artists as well as sneak peeks at new joints almost DAILY. That man stays on his grind. Check him out also on Mindstream Radio, every Wednesday night at 9pm.

Congrats to Mack on the new look on the site and doing big things on 2009!

Congrats to JT, The Mayor of Blogadelphia, finally getting over the 100 citizen mark. '09 is definitely going to be a great one.  Happy to be part of the fam! Love to all my Delph fam. Big things in '09!

Shouts to Kriss of TheInsanityReport.com. Check his funny ass podcasts, especially the New Years Eve recap, hilarity. This dude is a funny cat be sure to check him.

Got some news to share- new blog or site to check out? Hit me up at martini@martiniandscotch.com

Keep the Faith-Part II

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I have to admit the more I continue to read this book the more I'm amazed by it. I find it vivid and captivating. The stories are often amusing or just straight up hilarious. We're now starting to get to the better parts of the book, the things people really want to know. In this part, it covers Faith's signing to Bad Boy, meeting Big and the development of their relationship leading right up to marriage.

Highlights- Chapter VI First Lady

This chapter covers how Faith comes to meet Puffy again and get signed to Bad Boy Records

• Faith goes to the studio and hangs out to wait to take some of the fellas back home after a session working with up and coming artist Usher. She had no intention on singing that day but was called in to sing on one of the tracks. After only barely listening to Puff sing the lines, she was ready. Amazed, Puff sat and listened to her blow in the both. When done, he immediately on a piece of paper scribbled some numbers and told her he wanted to sign her- and she accepted.
• She soon became one of Puff's confidants, so to speak. She was one of the reasons 112 got signed to Bad Boy.
• At this time Mary J.Blige was a hit working on her second studio album and Faith sang vocals on some of the tracks. Blige, Evans and Misa Brim, Puff's then girlfriend became relatively good friends.

This chapter was a little slack in information. It continued to talk about the industry, studio sessions and just average stuff. Nothing really substantial.

Highlights Chapter VII- Brooklyn's Finest
This chapter covers how Faith and Big met, dated and then shortly after gotten married

• Puff was already fired by Andre Harrell and gearing up to really put Bad Boy on the map. He had a photo shoot set up to showcase Bad Boy's newest and upcoming artists. It was during this photo shoot Faith and Biggie met. During a break, he approached her and someone she was showing her twenty-first birthday photos to. He sat and ask could he see the photos. The entire time he was putting his plan into play to try and holla at her afterward.
• As Faith leaves the shoot, Big, Lil Cease and a couple of other people hitch a ride with Faith to Brooklyn. From that day on they were pretty much inseparable.
• On June 19, 1994, Puff threw an industry party. During the party Puff introduced Biggie Smalls as his headlining artist. That was the first time Faith had seen Big perform. She was taken back by the performance and right after he was done all he wanted to do was leave with her. They go back to her spot in New Jersey and consummated their relationship.

Highlights Chapter VIII- I Do
This chapter covers events leading up to them getting married

• Big tells Faith that she was going to be his wife. She didn't take it seriously at first, because she felt like he was still a "baby" in some ways. He was still living at home with his mother, all he wanted to do was hang in Brooklyn with the fellas and just kick it and didn't have a license or car. They discussed it and it was then she began to see that he was really serious about marrying her. 
• Big kept putting off introducing Faith to his mother which proved frustrating to Faith. She tried to reason with him that they couldn't get married without her knowing or meeting.
• Faith introduces Big to her family during a BBQ and no one is truly excited about this shotgun wedding, including Faith's mother.
• She goes to pick out wedding rings and goes to her favorite spot Mannies, but when unable to find anything she likes she goes across the street to another jewelry store, Diamond Quasar. She picks out her ring and leaves a deposit. The owner of that jewelry store is now known as "Jacob the Jeweler." It was partly due to Faith going there that day, word got around making him extremely popular.
• On August 4, 1994, Faith and Biggie drive to Rockland County, NY and marry. Faith notes she doesn't know where the rumor started that they had married after nine days, but that most certainly was not the case.

Highlights Chapter VIIII- F.E.W
This chapter covers after they have married and begin to announce it to people including Big's mother and Puff

• Everyone that they told at the Bad Boy offices were worried that Puff would lose his cool over them getting married. No one really knew that they were even seeing one another. Faith points out that Big wasn't the least bit intimidated by Puff and noticed that Big could get away with things that the other artists couldn't. When they told Puff, he was shocked. He was actually pretty much speechless.
• Big's mother heard through the grapevine that Big had gotten married. She waved off the rumor because she didn't think that it could possibly be true. It wasn't until Big admitted to his mother that it was. Several days after the wedding Faith met Ms.Wallace.
• Big was adamant about staying and living in Brooklyn. After several attempts at looking at some apartments, Big was satisfied with one located on Carlton Avenue.
• Big accepted Faith's daughter, Chyna, as his own. They developed a very close relationship.
• After deciding to go puff on an L and chill, Faith was almost arrested for the first time at the bodega where Big often went to cop. He was too lazy to go inside himself. She lied to the cops saying she was there to pay her rent.
• One of their first arguments as a married couple, Faith was upset that Big was going on tour in Europe for weeks and that between that and working and chillin they hadn't spent much time together. They argued and she dumped his duffel bag of clothes out the window. She then storms out and leaves before he's off to the airport. She returns to find all her clothes were shredded to pieces by Big.
• On November 30, 1994, Tupac is shot. It's revealed that Big and Tupac were indeed cool. He goes to the hospital to check on him. She says Big had much respect for Pac and with Big being at the studio working on his album at that time just made it appear that Big was behind the shooting. Faith believes he had nothing to do with the shooting.

Highlights Chapter X- Changing Faces
This chapter covers becoming familiar with Lil Kim and Faith coming out as an artist

• Faith had never met Kimberly Jones, or Lil Kim until she was on the set of Big Poppa. She said she didn't think anything of it at the time-just that Kim was a new artist signed to Big's new label. She even says,

Over the years, Kim has talked about how she and Big were supposedly childhood sweethearts. So much has been said about her relationship with my husband. All these years later, people still don't know what to believe. I do know this. When Big and I were together, she played her position- in the back. Way back. When I came out on tour dates to see Big, she either was not around or made herself scarce when I arrived. I knew Big knew Big was working on her image and trying to make her marketable.

• Faith mentions that Big didn't really treat Kim with the utmost respect and Faith began to notice for herself that Kim hanging out with Junior MAFIA put her in a vulnerable position. Faith recalls one afternoon, Kim coming by Faith and Big's home and Big calls Faith. Kim gestures to Faith not to say that she was there. Big winds up finding out that she is. He tells her, "I don't want Shorty in my house ever."
• There was another incident where Faith says she doesn't know what set Big off but he was yelling at Kim threatening to drop her and bring on "Inga" or Foxy Brown. She says Kim was begging and crying for him not to do so.
• Faith admits that her BS detector was in the "off" position when it came to Kim.

Now things are starting to heat up with this book. Now Kim is on the scene and I know some stuff is about to jump off. The next set of chapters coming up is about to be on some straight drama. While this is Faith's story, I feel like there's so much honesty to it. She doesn't come across like she's dropping jewels for the sake of gaining something from it like Ms. Jones as of late. But Kim's role will be becoming a lot more apparent as will Big's jumpoff ep's. True drama indeed.

Keep the Faith-Part I

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On the heels of the movie NOTORIOUS coming out in theaters in about a week, I've decided to cover Faith's book noting highlights and review. I traveled in inclement weather and managed to snag the last one off of the shelf (doing victory dance in the aisle). I didn't even bother to look at the cost. When the cashier rung it up I took a step back and eyeballed her like so:

The total was $26.49. Some people would've said, "Hell with that, I'd spend $9.25 to see the movie!" I threw a mental penalty to myself and reasoned that I get to read the story in her own words and that's priceless. I've never been known to be laconic, except on rare occasion, however this won't be one of those times. I will be throwing penalties like a mugg.

I'll break it down into sections to make it easy reading for those who have A.D.D and can't focus longer than a millisecond that it takes just to read one word. There are twenty five chapters in total. So I'll break this up in 5 sections. Easy enough right?

Prologue & Chapters 1-5

The prologue begins with the week Faith was out in California for the Soul Train Music Awards and the events surrounding the day Biggie died. She mentions that her pride got in the way of actually speaking to him that night and she wanted him to see that she had moved on with her life. But she admits that she still felt something for him. On the way to Andre Harrell's party, Heavy D was the deliverer of bad news. He stopped the car Faith was in and advised her to go to the hospital; he thought something happened to Big.

She gets to the hospital and Puff, D-Roc, Mark Pitts (Big's Manager), Stevie J and a security guard are already at the hospital. Faith says that she was praying so much and so hard and went into full scale panic when the doctor came out:

"Mrs. Wallace," the doctor said. "We tried to revive your husband. We massaged his heart several times to get it beating again but we were unsuccessful."
"What are you saying?" I asked him.
"The bullets ricocheted through his body. We could not revive him."
"You're not going to try again? You have to try again!"
"Mrs. Wallace, we can't."

The entire prologue was engaging. It made you feel as if you were there and could feel the emotion, you could sense color and time-the vibe. I never will forget the day I heard Biggie died. I was sitting in my room listening to Hot 97, it was cold and icky out and Angie Martinez basically cuts into the middle of a song and reported that Christopher "Biggie Smalls" Wallace had died. I remember sitting there numb and confused. Biggie Smalls dead? Nah, it can't be. Someone doesn't have their story straight. Angie will come back and say it was a rumor and everything will be cool. You could hear in her voice she was choking back some emotion. It wasn't until they started playing all his songs virtually on repeat it sunk in. I'm naturally not an emotional person, expressive- definitely, maybe even somewhat "cold," but I actually found myself sitting there crying like I had lost a friend.

Highlights Chapter I -Let the Sun Shine In
Faith recounts her childhood growing up between FL and NJ

• Her singing debut at age 3 at Emmanuel Baptist Church
• Born in Lakeland, Florida to and African American mother and Italian father
• She's never met her father but only knows his name, Richard Swain
• Her older cousins primarily raised her
• She has a younger sister, Janeal, who is 13 years younger
• She and  friend were extras on KRS One's video "You Must Learn"

Highlights Chapter II- Dangerously in Love
This chapter touches on her first serious relationship with a man while still in high school

• Attended school with nationally recognized doctors known as the Three Doctors
• She talks about her first serious relationship with someone she calls "JT" whom she begins dating while she's still in school. He was a small time drug dealer and she would often chill at his place because he gave her a key. As any relationship, everything was all good until he heard she was talking to a male friend and the abuse started. Here's an excerpt:

"Where were you today?" he asked. I could tell immediately that he was angry.
"I went to school and then I came home."
"I need to talk to you. Come to my house. Now."
"Why?" I asked. "What is your problem?"
"What's my problem? You always walking around talking to other niggas- that's my problem!"
I rolled my eyes at the phone and took a deep breath. "Are you talking about Jonathan?" I asked. You know we're just friends."
"You need to come down here. Take a cab."
"I don't have no money for a cab."
"Just call the cab Faith. I'll pay for it when you get here."

It ends with him dragging her out of the cab, not paying the driver and he punches her in the face wearing a gold ring 3-D detailing on his index finger giving her a bloody nose. He then drags her upstairs and calms down a little by the time they get to his apartment. He cleans her up and sweet talks her. Come to find out he was out creeping but buggin if he thought she parted her lips to talk to some dude. There was another incident where she describes she heard about some chick he was seeing on the side and she decides to show up to his place unannounced and it helped that she had a key. She finds him and homegirl chillin and drama ensues. The side chick bounces and JT, picks Faith up and carries her head first toward the window pulling the screen out and dangling her from the window for jumping in his face about the side chick. They were on the eleventh floor and she was fifteen years old.

Highlights-Chapter III- Faith Is Just to Fly
She continues to recount her rocky relationship with "JT" and the baby steps of her budding career

• She continues to see JT and reveals that not too long after the "window" incident she found out that she was pregnant, and this was not her first pregnancy (Faith was previously preggers in a previous relationship and had the pregnancy terminated). Her mother was extremely disappointed and accompanied her to have the procedure again.
• During a family trip to Florida, Faith receives a tip that her man was creepin with a prostitute while there and upon return from the trip she was infected with a venereal disease and was hospitalized.
• She had a friend Tyrone that lived in the Bronx and would often sneak out to go work on music. Her grandparents were strict and secular music was a big no-no. Tyrone happened to mention Faith to a small time dealer who happened to be an acquaintance of Teddy Riley. He hears a couple of tracks and is interested in hearing her sing in person. At age sixteen, she sings in the hotel lobby for Teddy Riley, nothing comes of the impromptu audition, even though he compliments her.
• The chapter title references her getting earrings made to say, "Faith Is Just Too Fly" but the jeweler misspelled "too" so she just rolled with it. These are the same earrings she wore to the impromptu audition for Teddy Riley.
• She began to develop a relationship with a man named William, a musician, whom she knew from singing in gospel concerts locally. At the time their relationship developed, she was seventeen and he, thirty-five years old- and married. 
• Her first professional singing gig was singing background vocals for High Five
• She received a full scholarship to Fordham University and wasn't aware she had received a scholarship until it was announced at her high school graduation.

Highlights Chapter IV-Teenage Love
Recounts hooking up with Kiyamma, move to LA

• At nineteen she runs into Kiyamma Griffin, who was sixteen at the time on the way to the Bronx and runs into him. She'd seen him around before around the way. He invites her to the studio and at the time he was working with Christopher Williams. Faith would then go on to sing background for him on a couple of joints.
• People told Faith that Kiyamma had a crush on her but seemed unfounded because he never showed her that he was interested. One thing leads to another and they have a couple of jump offs in the studio a couple of times. During one of the jump off sessions she got pregnant. Again she was faced with being pregnant. She didn't think that Kiyamma would care one way or another about her decision to abort but was surprised when he told her to keep the child, move out to LA with him and that he'd marry her. They weren't in a relationship and she contemplated the move and eventually decided to.
• After moving to LA, Kiyamma started cuttin up. They developed a "relationship"-it was anything but. One night Faith and a new friend Toni were hanging out at the crib and sees Kiyamma roll up in a car with a chick. She proceeds downstairs to confront the both of them. She demands the woman to roll down her window and like a dumb ass she does and gets jacked in the face by Faith.
• It wasn't until after she had gotten pregnant by Kiyamma, she finds out that he is only sixteen years old through a conversation with his mother prior to going to LA. She admits she really didn't know him that well.

Highlights Chapter V-Mama
Leaving LA, Moving on to bigger and better

• While still living in LA, Faith is asked to do vocals for a song and meets Sean "Puffy" Combs. 
• Her pseudo-relationship with Kiyamma comes to a dead end and she's stuck in a predicament of being pregnant and broke, longing to go back home to Newark, NJ. She calls one of her closest friends who tells her Reggie, her friends brother, whom Faith dated some years back and remained friends, was in San Diego performing and if she could catch up to him he would help her out with money to get back home. Reggie is known to us as Redman.
• On the way to San Diego from LA, while pumping gas at a station, Faith is shot in the arm while six months pregnant. She doesn't seek medical attention because she didn't feel it was that bad.
• Redman gives her money, she heads back to LA and is Newark bound within a matter of days.
• She gives birth to her daughter Chyna and goes back to LA because she didn't want her daughter not to know her father. Kiyamma was enamoured by his new newborn daughter, but was still all over the place. After several weeks Faith heads back to Newark.
• A friend asks her to come to the studio on night to help out with vocals for Al B. Sure. They formed a tight bond and she worked religiously in the studio with him.

I found the prologue, as I mentioned before, engaging. The first chapter was a little boring because she was talking about her family and how she grew up. I just took the "fine" points of the chapter of how her environment influenced her decisions early in life. The second chapter was an eye-opener. A fifteen year old girl living her live as a grown woman. I was shocked by her admission she was one to fall in love fast and hard and how she tolerated physical and verbal abuse at such a young age. There's no way in hell I was going to tolerate getting my ass beat by some insecure dude or any type of dude for that matter. Faith hung in with JT for a minute knowing it wasn't the greatest relationship. Chapter three was also an eye-opener of her developing another relationship doomed from the start with a married man twice her age while still being off and on with JT. She was reckless with her body and began to find herself in predicaments the average young woman would never find herself in, especially at that age. After two abortions and abuse, Faith was still not grounded emotionally. However, she managed to still do well in school in spite of the drama in her life-and for that I'm impressed. Her "relationship" with Kiyamma was an odd one. He made good on his promise to have her live in LA while he and fellow producers laid the ground work for their careers, but fell short in developing a solid relationship with Faith. With her being three years older and seemingly more mature, their goals and focus were not on the same page. I was amazed at the circles she ran in, dated Redman, when he only a shy quiet guy named Reggie, hung with musicians and producers and occasionally got to meet known singers and provided vocals for some of those people. Faith seemed confident in her ability to sing, but didn't feel the need to flaunt the fact that she could often leaving people in amazement when finding out that was her voice they had just listened to not knowing she was a gifted singer in the making. But Faith got sidetracked often and when it came down to it she knew she had to put up or shut up. She was tired of being broke and dealing with a lot of the unnecessary situations and drama in her life. She wanted better but just needed that push to do it.

I found overall the first quarter of the book to be well written to lay the groundwork for a sensational multifaceted story leading up to her tumultuous relationship with Biggie. I think Biggie was a small part of the big picture overall, although her relationship with him was all people knew about Faith, the light-skinned girl from Newark who could sing. I'm siked that the next set of chapters will be a fantastic read.

Bar Bishness of the Moment-Soulja Boy & Nas

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Soulja Boy recently said that Nas was actually the one who killed hip hop. (This is for my man Fonz- ARE YOU SERIOUS?!) Funny cause Soulja Boy's album ain't even capped off 100k in album sales with this new joint and he got ganked at his own crib. Never heard Nas getting ganked at his own spot or have his own boy steal from him OR FAIL at record sales.

SOULJA BOY WINS THIS WEEKS BAR BISHNESS OF THE MOMENT FOR:

ETHERING HIMSELF, CONSTANTLY

Dirty Martini™

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.

What happened to the sanctity of love?

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Whatever happened to the sanctity of love? How and when did it become so commercial? As the New Year approached, taking a look back on all the stories and news surrounding today's "celebrities" (use that term loosely because the word is so diluted now) I was appalled. Now I don't look to "celebrities" to set the tone for what love is at least for myself and assuming many others- but it makes you wonder how "celebrity" relationships do set the tone on how us mere mortals approach our own relationships.

How in the hell do you expect to "find love" on a "reality" show? (using 'reality' loosely as well because ain't nothing real about 12 guys running an organized train on you)
Sweet minty jesus, how do you find true love on a show with 12 people in a span of several weeks? How do you make a connection with someone when you only have several minutes at a time with each person? How are you really seeking love whoring yourself on television for the sake of 2 seconds of fame?

How do you find love through a series of unrealistic tests and challenges for the chance to be in ones presence for a moment? I don't ever remember having to sleep in a rented house and share a room with trife bishes with my claws out to get some man that obviously does not have respect for himself or you for that matter. When does love come down to being forced to get a tattoo to prove your undying dedication when your dumb ass can get voted off in the next episode?

How do two brothers who are reasonably suspect to the Nth degree manage to get a show where the focus really isn't about trying to find love but more like a showcase for Real's tight ass hairdos and Chance's bishness.

                                

Now that I've managed to scar your mind with this foolishness they are showcasing on television, lets move one to a whole new facet of whoring love. It was just announced that Eva Marcille and Lance Gross are engaged and everyone seems to be enamoured with the fact black love is indeed beautiful. Looking past the boooolshit of it all, them announcing their engagement seemed more like "business" than a true display of love between two people. Essence featured "exclusive" photos of the newly engaged couple within a matter of days of them becoming engaged and had the scoop on how, what and when. Who the hell offers "exclusivity" to a media outlet to whore their love? Why couldn't it have been something more simplistic like just issuing a low key press release announcing the engagement? Don't get me wrong, getting engaged is a HUGE step to take with someone and it's a beautiful thing but when you dumb it down by creating a media circus it makes me and I'm sure others wonder why is all that necessary? Then "celebs" wonder why people are all up in their biz and then all of a sudden it's an issue; they begin to bish about it.

Classic example of media whoring of love is Star Jones. Every chance she got she was plugging and giving shout out's and excepting services gratis and even wrote a book taking about how her man "puts it down" in the bedroom (excuse me while I beeline to the porcelain god for an offering). She had a website, magazines clamouring for the chance to cover her "brainwashing thinking her suspect man was no homo" event. And let someone say something sideways about her girlfriend, my bad HUSBAND- she was ready to throw a gavel at yo ass. And after all the fanfare and ish, where did it end up? Basura...garbage. AND her ex is STILL suspect. Al, I see you mami......

Can't leave out Ms. McMillan. EVERYBODY knew dude was suspect and it took her 6 long ass years to figure that out. Guess missing silk draws didn't raise enough flags or noticing all her fem products was in his bathroom. Then was on Oprah's show airing him out and trying to still figure it out. She came back Jamaica and wrote a book about it and it was soooo good they made it into a movie starring someone who is suspect himself (I ain't naming no names). Poor delusional Terry, she really felt like that man loved her when it all was aired out. I'd love the hell outta her too, loaded with cash, can sponsor me to get a green card and citizenship and all I have to do is pretend I'm smashing Andre (to stay focused) and treat her like I wanna be treated (as a woman), piece of cake. I think she was so caught up on the ish she writes for her fans thinking that love was real she couldn't see what was so obvious- she got ganked for her dough, pride and sanity....you know she still trippin somewhere....

Sorry Terry, I just have to call it like I see it- cause you obviously didn't. You should've been giving the sideye to ya manz.....bish, bye

Jenny from the block and Skeletor may be calling it quits at a show after Valentine's Day. If that is the case I'm lumping them in with the rest noted above. If you are headed for splitsville do you and keep it private. Pulling a stunt like this to boost ticket sales hits a new low. Yeah I see ya'll....


Lastly Kim and Reggie (yeah I know....)

Kim is a well known media whore. You know it's bad when homegirl says fugg pride I'ma make that cake off my tape with wack ass RayJ. She mentioned previously she was gonna do a calendar for her mans, which is cool. But if this was suppose to be FOR HIM, why is your sloppy ass trying to make bank off this ish? See what I mean? Love don't mean ish anymore.....

On that note.... remember love knows no media circus, doesn't desire it. Love knows no checks you can receive when you pimp out something as sacred as love. Love knows its place- in one's heart and not someone's magazine spread, dumb ass reality show or in a book.

Love has no desire but to fulfill itself. To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night. To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving. ~Kahlil Gibran