industryLIFE: The Young, Restless & The Rappers

At the time, he was just an up and coming rapper but he and his click were making a lot of noise in the industry. While on a trip to to LA he met a young woman, a dancer. She was a beautiful girl, kinda in the "girl-next-door" sorta way and the two connected. The story goes that he mistook her for her sister, a choreographer responsible for quite a few music video routines. After the mistaken identity was cleared up, the rapper became quite smitten with the chick. There were trips and frequent calls between the two.

On one occasion, the Rapper did a show in Atlanta where baby girl lived, she and her crew were invited to the show. The chick and her crew were always trying to make moves in the business and tonight would be no exception so she accepted. Seems one of the chicks in the crew had heard that this guy was preparing to fund some films and she had some ideas she wanted to put in his ear. They decided that this would be the place to make the introduction and put the play into motion. Little did they know that nothing planned would happen. As time came to make it to the venue, one of the chicks in the crew decided she didn't wanna be VIP, she just wanted to see the show. This chick, whom some liked to call a weed head, had been home all day smoking and sipping wine without eating anything (bad combo!). Well as the day turned to night she was feeling great or so she thought. When they arrived, the venue was packed and dude had looked out for them. He got them in with no problems & backstage with no problems. But near the stage was another story. The AC stopped flowing like it should and the place became a sweat box.

As luck would have it, people were everywhere and the stage area was not the best place to be. The chick sensing this, decided to get to an exit ASAP and try to catch some air but as she walked, the place just started spinning. People's faces were jizz saw puzzles. She moved as fast as she could through the crowd. Just as she got close to the door, they announced that the Rapper was coming to the stage! Everybody else in the place began rushing towards the stage, pushing her back in the direction that she had just come from. She fought to get to an exit but just as she did, she felt her body falling backwards and then...black out!!!!!  Now some people who witnessed this hot mess, say she would have busted her ass that night but just as she was falling another rapper whom some would describe as a "has been" saw the whole thing and caught her! The chick so dazed from smoking and drinking all day with no food on her stomach, passed out for a while. When she did open her eyes, there holding her head was a rapper from back in the day holding her head and asking, "Are you ok?" Embarrassed, confused and again a hot mess, she immediately recognized him and replied with, "Father, is that you?" (Father was apart of the performance name he used.) He laughed, said yes and asked someone to get her some water. Well the night went on and "Father" got the chick to her car. He stayed with her until her friends returned but needless to say "Father" and hot mess missed the show.

Now as baby girl was passed on the dance floor of the club, her friends were getting the VIP treatment backstage at the show...

Get your hands on a copy of Industry Life & Times ebook series to find out how this story ends.

#ILBS - Working with The Queen of Pop & her Thugged-Out Prince of R&B

When I first got the call to work on the project, I was excited! Who wouldn't be, she was the Queen of Pop!!! She had sang for Kings and Queens, sold million of albums, won multiple Grammy's, traveled all over the world and her voice was amazing. The project in the works was to support her comeback efforts. See she had been getting a lot of flack for her behavior over the years and to make matters worse, it seemed the whole world blamed her husband. Sure he was the resident bad boy who had multiple baby mamas, was a regular in court/jail but truth be told this dude was really talented. Hell I personally bought his first solo album three times!!!

On this particular day, we were to be on set at 7am. I had met with the producers the day before to pick up money for supplies but all anyone could talk about what how bad she looked and how crazy dude was. At first I thought, they really need to stop hating, it can't be that bad!!!! Anyway, when the date arrived, I left my house at about 6 am and arrived to the location about 6:30 am. It was busy. Equipment trucks were everywhere. It was a crew of say 20 people, some extras and we were all waiting on the stars!! Her call time was 10 am. So in the three hours before she arrived we prepped everything. We made sure no press had access, we made sure all the parking signs were discreet, we made sure the extras were comfortable as the could be and we made sure we had everything requested on her rider including the Earl Grey tea. Time was moving and before we realized it it was 12 noon! Now let me just say that the Thugged-out R&B prince was not suppose to be involved with the project but we all knew that he would surface at some point. Now here we were six hours into the day and we were still waiting for them to arrive! Another few hours passed and like a rocket they arrived, I guess it was about 2 - 2:30. Anyway they pull up in a black Cadillac Escalade with the music blasting. The windows were down and the Thugged-out R&B prince was driving, with half his body hanging from the window. He came at an alarming speed and everyone was running like hell to get out of the way. We got them parked and with out turning down the music the occupants of the car started to get out. There was the Queen, her baby girl and her mother, who was about 60, all inside this vehicle with blaring rap music. Anyway, we get the Queen to wardrobe and after what seemed like hours she finished and came out to set. The Queen's stand in was a young woman about 18 and green to the business. She was very pretty and for some reason she came out and sat right next to me. She looked frustrated so I asked, is everything OK? She took a drink of water and said, I'm speechless. About what I inquired. She told me that at 18 she was a size 1 and what had taken so long was that all the clothes that had been pre-fitted for the queen had to be taken up because she was smaller than a size one! Now since I was working, I really didn't spend much time looking at this woman but when I did she did look deathly thin. I will say she looked so thin that I shed a tear.

During one break, I noticed the Queen and a few of her immediate entourage standing in a circle in prayer.  The Queen who was leading the prayer began to jump up and down and praise God for everything and things seem to be going well regardless of us being behind that was until the Thugged out R&B prince got comfortable. Now the craft services folks had provided some very tasty Swedish meatballs and the Prince really like them. He seemed to have gotten the impression that they were all for him and not the crew. Well the craft services folk tried to keep them coming but the Prince and his crew were eating them as quickly as they put them out. Now since they were for the crew, other members would walk over to the table and snack etc. Well as night fell one crew member an older gentleman made his way to the table to look over the spread. Just as he was grabbing a had full of nuts, the Thugged-out R&B prince who was coming back to the table for a 10th or 11th time, saw this guy with his hands in those nuts and nutted up!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He began screaming, What the f*ck are you doing? Who told you to come put yo nasty hands on my food?! I was in shock and as luck would have it, I found myself right in between the Prince and the older gentleman. I stopped and looked at the Prince scared to death! I turned to see who exactly he was talking too because I hadn't touched the table, that's when my eyes met the gentleman's who was at least 60 years old. He didn't look scared but he did know that this crazy anger was directed towards him. He did not say one word and continued to eat the nuts from his hand. I could feel the Prince coming closer and knew it was time to run when a whole crew of people got up and started grabbing him begging him to calm down....

Get the rest of this story & tips on how to deal with situations like this when you read Industry Life & Times ebook series.

#ILBS - Is This A Rap Concert or Church?

A few years ago, I was invited to visit a church with some family friends. They asked me weeks before and since I was not really into the church thing at the time I put them off. Well time passed, life was getting harder and I was in search of something. I contacted my friends and asked if the invitation was still on? They said of course! Great, we planned that they would pick myself and a friend up on the following Sunday and off we would go.

As Sunday was coming around, the friend who would be accompanying me asked if I knew who the pastor? I didn't but felt it was no big deal and would ask once they arrived to pick us up. When they did arrive we got into the car and rode off. The church was quite a distance from my house so I asked the question as we rode, "whose the pastor?", to my surprise I did not get an answer so I asked again and still no direct response except, you are going to love it!

When we arrived at the church it was not a traditional little brick church, it was a old bank building and the parking lot was packed! We walked in and being a former church kid, I instantly grabbed a program and looked for the pastor's name. To my surprise it was a former rapper who had found Christ!!!! Ok, I admit I was shocked but hey you can't knock somebody on how and why the find Jesus Christ. As we are sitting and the deacons were having the opening prayer, I whisper to my friend, hey look who the pastor is....he does and OMG...state of shock. Having a big voice he tried to whisper, no take that back he didn't try but said out loud, NOT THIS N*GGA, Ain't he signed to G-unit??? I could have died but he was right. The pastor had recently struck a deal of some sorts to be apart of the rap crew G-Unit. I managed to calm my friend just as the rapper/pastor entered the church. He was dressed in a very nice suit, not tailored but nice, and loads of jewelry. He looked just like he had from all the rap videos and even had the same annoying laugh. My friend wanted to leave immediately but we persuaded him to stay and just hear him out.

Now dude was no fire and brim stone preacher but he was a cool speaker. The congregation seemed to be in tune with him but for me and my friend we were watching everything. Now there were a few church goers who looked like they had just left the night club but hey, we were here to get the word, and the bible does say come as you are (shrug). Anyway we sat through the "sermon" and my friend the skeptic says, that was a good talk, I'm going to tell him so. After the offering plate went around and prayer at the alter was called, we noticed that the rapper/pastor was being escorted out the side door. My friend stands and walks behind him to shake his hand but before he could, security circled him and informs him that he can't be in the hallway when the rapper/pastor is leaving. My friend a guy of scarce Muslim faith says ok but jabs them once with "but you know he's not Farrakhan right?"

As our friends joined us outside, they asked how did we like it. We kept it real simple with "it was cool." They ask if we will come back so we agree, everybody deserves a second chance. On our second visit, we were prepared. We sit quietly in the church and got to see the full show this time. The rapper/pastor is escorted to the pulpit as if he was Jesus Christ Superstar. There were several ushers or bodyguards on each side of the pulpit standing at attention watching the crowd or should I say us since we made such a loud introduction the last time. The rapper/pastor gaves his lecture, passed the offering plate and was again escorted out of the building before fellowship of any kind with his congregation!!!!! That didn't set right with me. Another friend who wanted to see it for themselves had joined us this day but excused himself early to go out and grab a smoke. When we join him in the parking lot, he told us of how we had just missed dude. Seems he literally ran out of the church like it was a rap concert with fans screaming and chasing him. He said dude had jumped into a range rover so fast that you could possibly see smoke coming from the tires as he left with his driver. Now as I mentioned, I'm a former church kid and I have never seen a pastor (except for in those mega churches) act this way. Which leads me to ask a few questions like 1). Why couldn't our friends tell us who the pastor was before hand? Were they scared we would say know off the rip? 2). Why was dude running out of the church like he had just finished a show at the Garden and 3). Why does he need bodyguards? Is there somebody out to get him?

Since my visit to his church, it has been reported that the pastor has gotten into another deal of sorts with yet another rap crew..... I still don't know what to make of it all but I do know he will never ever see me in the congregation again. I pray that he is for real but something still questions that in my mind. Also I pray that this does not end up being another Jim Jones type situation! AMEN.

Don't Film My Wife!!!!

Back in the day when there were million $ videos, artist would come from near and far to be featured in a  hot artist's video. Seeing and meeting artist and musicians were always fun until this day.

The video being shot this day was for a hip-hop fav. He was like everybody's little brother. Rapping since the age of five he was a platinum teenager. In this particular song he featured a rapper from an up and coming crew. The rapper flew in with a full entourage including a barber. Since the platinum teenager was a shot caller all hands were on deck to make this happen. Cameras were everywhere, the south's largest newspaper had sent a reporter to cover and all was well until the rapper noticed the media cameras. Being apart of the production team we had to be on top of everything!!!! I noticed a group of 4-5 men standing in a circle talking with a lot of passion and anger and a camera being tossed back and forth so I stepped to them to find out what the hostility was about.

The rappers turns to me and screams directly in my face, "I don't want these n*ggas filming my wife!!" after smelling his breath for far too long, I cleared my throat and replied, "so who is your wife"? See dude was all over the rap magazines with different chicks and who knew he was married??? Anywho, he gets in my face yelling, "if I catch any camera on her, I'm coming to see you!" WTF? Did he just threaten me? Yes he did. I stood there as the whole lot got quite, I then replied in my most professional voice, "ok I'll take care of it." and walked back to the other crew members standing near by. Everybody was in shock. Standing there in amazement somebody asked, what's up with him? So I relayed the story, he does not want us to film his wife and he's serious! Everybody had these strange looks on their faces because like I said dude was always with a gang of different chicks. Ok so we made sure not to film the "wife" cause truth be told, these dudes were kinda new to the game but their reputations proceeded them.

The day went on but since he made such a deal about the "wife" we all couldn't help but keep looking in her direction. After a few glances and positioning of where we could stand and get a better view without being seen, we all stored a mental picture of this girl, not woman but girl. ..

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We Salute Shakir Stewart

November 1, 2008 Shakir Saeed Stewart's life ended by his own hands. A successful music industry executive, engaged to be married with two small children was dead. He was 34 years old.

First reports stated he had been shot, possibly killed in a robbery attempt. Then confirmation, Shakir committed suicide. He lead a life filled with star power. Forever the friendly, charismatic, laid back guy who had the details on who was having a party, rockin a show or recording the next big track. His demeanor was cool and friendly, when you'd see him at a gathering, party, video shoot or just grabbing a bite to eat at Marco's Pita, Shake radiated warm energy.

2008 something changed. Friends remembering seeing him in April of that year and noticing he was a little different. Still cool, obviously working but a bit aloof. In early June it was announced that he would take the spot Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter left vacant and become Senior VP Def Jam Records. Shake had hit a career milestone. He was at the top of the food chain, something he had worked for and earned. Then fall came. The day after All Hallow Eve. That Saturday morning began with text messages, phone calls, email messages etc. Calls from LA, New York and Atlanta all asking "What the hell is going on with Shakir?" Nobody had solid answers. Then confirmation from a life long friend. Shakir was dead, he committed suicide. Silence replaced the buzzing phones and message lines. Weeping filled the air. People gathered in small groups to try to make since of it. Was he dealing with some deep depression? He had been deeply affected years prior when his longtime girlfriend was killed in a traffic accident during Christmas. Was it the pressures of the music business? With a position like the one he was in, sure there was going to be pressure but what kind to make you take your own life in the house with your fiance and children? No one knew except for the man who lay dead on the bathroom floor.

The service in his honor at Morehouse's King Chapel was filled with celebrities, friends, acquaintance, business partners past and present and associates.You could hear a pin drop. The speakers spoke of the man who lived a full life. The video showing his life in pictures had the room choked up but still very much composed. As we watched and sat silent, the elephant in the room whisper why? But still no answers.

Most have come to grips with the idea that they will never know the truth as to why Shake took his life. Some have committed to remembering the man that they knew as just that, the man that they knew. A cool dude always trying to make something pop. It is with that notion that we also remember Shakir Saeed Stewart, a smart, charming, well dressed and respected son, father and friend. May your memory live on.

Industry Life and Times Writers

Before #AmberRose or #KimKardasian...

Before I knew what a Kardashian was or even heard of Amber Rose, we got to see the plays of one we will call Ms. Pretty.

When Ms. Pretty arrived on the scene,  it was during the time that a chic would have to be tight!... not just cute, but exotic beautiful, not just cute shape, but killer body, to be considered a suitable side piece for particular men in the music business and she fit the bill. Off top, the first adjective to describe her in conversation was pretty. She had grown up in one of those "off to the side" mid-west big cities and as young adults sitting and talking she shared that she was on a two-fold mission, to go to college yes, but most important to also snag a dude with money. She told us, her mom put and kept her up on game. Plain and simple.

One day we noticed she was moving. She said her mom had transferred her to the all girls school a few blocks away because it had a more prestigious name. *wink* We only saw her occasionally after that but when we did we saw the changes. Sure she had been seen in almost every hot car but now she was driving a fly truck or two. She dropped the thick herring bone necklace she was known for sporting and replaced it with a diamond tear drop necklace with matching earrings and bracelet. She went from being seen on campus to being seen ridin' through, sometimes solo but often shot gun with random rappers, producers and actors. She was seen at parties in their entourages and there are those pictures floating around with she and Tupac on vacation. It became so common place for her to be associated with people of name that you just stopped listening. But everything does change, as time passed we got older, people tried their hands at different careers and she attempted to transform or reinvent herself into a stylist. Nothing ever really came of that but she was still a very big staple on the scene.

Then word came around that she was preggers, ok but what everyone wanted to know was by who? It could have been a number of people but we knew it was NOT a 9-5 type dude. When she gave birth, a popular gossip site known for inventing stories had for once, gotten it right, a high profile, controversial and wealthy music mogul was the dad....Check Mate!

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Industry Life and Times

Industry Life and Times began as a project to document and record experiences from those who have worked, lived and been apart of the music and entertainment world. We set out to create a capsule of stories, experiences and appropriate fodder from across the current music, entertainment and sports community.

Since that time, our goals changed and grew into more. From the blog came the ebook and then the ebook grew into a series. We are very happy that you have decided to stop by and visit with us and as always we hope that in creating this space, where we document and share adventures from the life and times of those in and round the business of music and entertainment, that you enjoy our stories, learn from our mis-steps and share your feedback.

(Note: We change or do not mention some of the names involved to protect the guilty.)

Industry Life Book Series