Download or read book Soulacoaster written by R. Kelly and published by Hay House, Inc. This book was released on 2012-08-12 with total page 395 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Who is R. Kelly? Three-time Grammy winner, who has sold more than 35 million records worldwide. Legendary writer and producer, who collaborated with such music icons as Michael Jackson, Celine Dion, Jay-Z, and Aretha Franklin. Visionary cultural messenger, who created the hip hopera phenomenon Trapped in the Closet. Creative genius. Sex symbol. The man who puts the "R" in R&B. Through the iconic anthem "I Believe I Can Fly" and such sexy R&B mega-hits as "Bump N’ Grind," "Ignition," and "When a Woman’s Fed Up," R. Kelly has proven to be one of the greatest musical talents of his generation. Yet his rollercoaster ride to the top has been as perilous as it has been exhilarating. In Soulacoaster: The Diary of Me, Kelly shares his life story through episodic tales and exclusive color photographs, exploring his meteoric rises and sudden falls. From the crippling learning disorder that rendered him unable to read or write, to the teacher/mentor who prophesized that his destiny was in music, not basketball, we follow his evolution from Chicago street performer to struggling L.A. musician and beyond. Kelly reveals his hard-won ascent to superstardom and his battle to move forward after legal and personal ordeals that threatened to destroy his life. Now back at the top, Kelly recounts the surprising twists and turns that have taken him to new heights of maturity and artistry. Part memoir, part keepsake, Soulacoaster unlocks the door to R. Kelly’s story as only he can tell it, promising his fans an intimate and unforgettable ride.
Download or read book The Man Behind the Man written by Demetrius Smith Sr. and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2011-06-06 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the pursuit of honesty and success the author bares his entire soul for the readers in "The Man Behind The Man". Throughout this book, readers will follow him on his lifes journey as he reveals his addictions, his faults, as well as his journey working for 13 years as personal assistant/tour manager for Grammy Award Winning Singer/ Song Writer/Producer R. Kelly.He tells his story and he tells it all; raw and uncut. This story is not for the faint of heart. Demetrius takes his readers on a tour with him as he crosses paths with the likings of Craig Hodges, Bernie Mac, Lisa Raye, Aaliyah, Gerald Levert, Salt-n-Pepa, LL Cool J and this is just to name a few. Demetrius has a brave narrative to share in this story. This book emphasizes the reality of who The Man behind the Man" really is. Many would disagree that this book is just another tell-all. Reserve judgments until you have read it for yourself. "As an avid reader, I believe plot purpose, and poignant point of view top my list as must haves where book selection may be concerned.No story lends itself to this proven theory better than this testimonial tell-all authored by Demetrius Smith, Sr." Submitted by Mical Roy! This book is truly a good one to read, and one you wont want to put down.
Download or read book Soulless written by Jim DeRogatis and published by Abrams. This book was released on 2019-06-04 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The essential account of R. Kelly’s actions and their consequences, a reckoning two decades in the making In November 2000, Chicago journalist and music critic Jim DeRogatis received an anonymous fax that alleged R. Kelly had a problem with “young girls.” Weeks later, DeRogatis broke the shocking story, publishing allegations that the R&B superstar and local hero had groomed girls, sexually abused them, and paid them off. DeRogatis thought his work would have an impact. Instead, Kelly’s career flourished. No one seemed to care: not the music industry, not the culture at large, not the parents of numerous other young girls. But for more than eighteen years, DeRogatis stayed on the story. He was the one who was given the disturbing videotape that led to Kelly’s 2008 child pornography trial, the one whose window was shot out, and the one whom women trusted to tell their stories—of a meeting with the superstar at a classroom, a mall, a concert, or a McDonald’s that forever warped the course of their lives. Soulless: The Case Against R. Kelly is DeRogatis’s masterpiece, a work of tenacious journalism and powerful cultural criticism. It tells the story of Kelly’s career, DeRogatis’s investigations, and the world in which the two crossed paths, and brings the story up to the moment when things finally seem to have changed. Decades in the making, this is an outrageous, darkly riveting account of the life and actions of R. Kelly, and their horrible impact on dozens of girls, by the only person to tell it.
Download or read book Soula Coaster written by R. Kelly and published by Smileybooks. This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The R & B performer and producer traces the story of his life and career, describing his battle with a learning disorder, his collaborations with such icons as Michael Jackson and Aretha Franklin, and his difficulties with personal and legal challenges.
Download or read book Closet Drama written by Catherine Burroughs and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-09-03 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Closet Drama: History, Theory, Form introduces the emerging field of Closet Drama Studies by featuring twelve original essays from distinguished scholars who offer fresh and illuminating perspectives on closet drama as a genre. Examining an unusual mix of historical narratives, performances, and texts from the Renaissance to the present, this collection unleashes a provocative array of theoretical concerns about the phenomenon of the closet play—a dramatic text written for reading rather than acting.
Download or read book The Unbearable Lightness of Being written by Milan Kundera and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2023-03-28 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Far more than a conventional novel. It is a meditation on life, on the erotic, on the nature of men and women and love . . . full of telling details, truths large and small, to which just about every reader will respond.” — People In The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera tells the story of two couples, a young woman in love with a man torn between his love for her and his incorrigible womanizing, and one of his mistresses and her humbly faithful lover. In a world in which lives are shaped by irrevocable choices and by fortuitous events, a world in which everything occurs but once, existence seems to lose its substance, its weight. Hence, we feel "the unbearable lightness of being" not only as the consequence of our pristine actions but also in the public sphere, and the two inevitably intertwine. This magnificent novel is a story of passion and politics, infidelity and ideas, and encompasses the extremes of comedy and tragedy, illuminating all aspects of human existence.
Download or read book E A R L written by DMX and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2003-10-21 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The dark journey of a boy who became a man, the man who became an artist, and the artist who became an icon. A talent for rhyme saved his life, but the demons and sins of his past continue to haunt him. This is the story of Earl Simmons.
Download or read book Ten Ways Not to Commit Suicide written by Darryl McDaniels and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2016-07-05 with total page 122 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this surprising and moving memoir, the legendary rap star and cofounder of Run D.M.C. keeps it a hundred percent, speaking out about his battle with depression and overcoming suicidal thoughts—one of the most devastating yet little known health issues plaguing the black community today. As one third of the legendary rap group Run D.M.C., Darryl “DMC” McDaniels—aka Legendary MC, The Devastating Mic Controller, and the King of Rock—had it all: talent, money, fame, prestige. While hitting #1 on the Billboard charts was exhilarating, the group’s success soon became overwhelming. A creative guy who enjoyed being at home alone or with his family, DMC turned to alcohol to numb himself, a retreat that became an addiction. For years, he went through the motions. But in 1997, when intoxication could no longer keep the pain at bay, he plunged into severe depression and became suicidal. He wasn’t alone. During the same period, suicide became the number three leading cause of death among black people—a health crisis that continues to this day. In this riveting memoir, DMC speaks openly about his emotional and psychological struggles and the impact on his life, and addresses the many reasons that led him—and thousands of others—to consider suicide. Some of the factors include not being true to who you are, feelings of loneliness, isolation, and alienation, and a lack of understanding and support from friends and family when it’s needed most. He also provides essential information on resources for getting help. Revealing how even the most successful people can suffer from depression, DMC offers inspiration for everyone in pain—information and insight that he hopes can help save other lives.
Download or read book Black Will Shoot written by Jesse Washington and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2008-02-05 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Marq Wise is a talented, ambitious young writer with a good life, a gorgeous girlfriend -- and the inescapable feeling that something is missing. When he's offered a job at Fever, his favorite hip-hop magazine, Marq finally realizes just what that is. Now he can uncover the real, gritty stories -- unless his older brother, Dontay, a one-hit-wonder producer turned crack smoker, ruins everything first. As Marq immerses himself in his beloved hip-hop, his world slowly collides with Dontay's, and both begin to unravel. And the more Marq discovers about the gangsters and criminals who really run the rap game, the deeper and deadlier the danger. Black Will Shoot is a compelling look at the most impactful and influential American cultural movement of the past thirty years. Jesse Washington -- entertainment editor for the Associated Press and a former top editor at Vibe and Blaze magazines -- has written a fearless page-turner set amid the glories and evils of the rap world. His unique experience and sophisticated yet street-smart prose make this remarkable debut the first literary novel to truly capture the flavor, influence, and significance of the sound track to a generation.
Download or read book The House Girl written by Tara Conklin and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2013-02-12 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A stunning New York Times bestselling novel that intertwines the stories of an escaped slave in 1852 Virginia and an ambitious young lawyer in contemporary New York and asks: is it ever too late to right a wrong? Lynnhurst, Virginia, 1852. Seventeen-year-old Josephine Bell decides to run away from the failing tobacco farm where she is a slave and nurse to her ailing mistress, the aspiring artist Lu Anne Bell. New York City, 2004. Lina Sparrow, an ambitious first-year associate in an elite law firm, is given a difficult, highly sensitive assignment that could make her career: finding the “perfect plaintiff” to lead a historic class-action lawsuit worth trillions of dollars in reparations for descendants of American slaves. It is through her father, the renowned artist Oscar Sparrow, that Lina discovers Josephine Bell and a controversy rocking the art world: are the iconic paintings long ascribed to Lu Anne Bell really the work of her house slave, Josephine? A descendant of Josephine’s—if Lina can locate one—would be the perfect face for the reparations lawsuit. While following the runaway house girl’s faint trail through old letters and plantation records, Lina finds herself questioning her own family history and the secrets that her father has never revealed: how did Lina’s mother die? And why will he never speak about her?
Download or read book King of Rock written by Darryl McDaniels and published by Thomas Dunne Books. This book was released on 2001-04-20 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Darryl McDaniels, better known as DMC, is only one-third of the groundbreaking rap group Run-DMC, but his trendsetting style and street-smart wisdom have made him a star in his own right. Darryl formed Run-DMC fifteen years ago with two friends, and since then the group has been transforming rap and hip-hop into the most popular music in the world, while building a fan base that quietly rivals the biggest acts in rock and roll. From the streets of Hollis, Queens, to the world's largest arenas, Darryl and Run-DMC blazed the trail that would take rap and hip-hop to the top of the charts, but as pioneers the group would also face a number of trials and tribulations. In King of Rock: Respect, Responsibility, and My Life with Run-DMC, Darryl candidly talks for the first time about his career as a rap artist and the people he has met throughout the years. Through hilarious anecdotes and thoughtful reflection, Darryl shares the wisdom he has accumulated in his thirty-five years, detailing his battles with fame, money, drugs, and alcohol. Darryl's sharp, flavorful tales of the rise of the group and the fascinating behind-the-scenes glimpses he offers of the rap and hip-hop world capture the excitement and the hardship of being in the spotlight, while also revealing the knowledge he has gained along the way. Written from the distinct perspective of an artist who has been an integral part of the rap and hip-hop scene since day one, King of Rock is at once the story of Run-DMC and the memoir of Darryl McDaniels-a boy from Queens trying to make it in the big time. With confidence, compassion, and an acute awareness of life's troubles and rewards, Darryl traces his experiences growing up and into the rap mogul DMC, and finally settling into marriage, fatherhood, and a shift of focus to respect, responsibility, and peace. King of Rock is a sharply observed, unpretentious, and often very funny account of being a part of one of the most important acts in the history of popular music.
Download or read book The New Girl written by and published by Random House Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2013 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Based on 'Victorious' and 'The bird scene,' written by Dan Schneider
Download or read book Making Michael Inside the Career of Michael Jackson written by Mike Smallcombe and published by Clink Street Publishing. This book was released on 2015-10-20 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: MAKING MICHAEL delves deep inside the career of one of the most successful, enigmatic and controversial entertainers of all time: Michael Jackson. Side-stepping sensationalism, journalist Mike Smallcombe enters unchartered territory as he takes you behind the scenes to reveal the real Jackson, a man few people ever got to know. Interviewing over sixty of Jackson's associates including managers, lawyers, music executives, producers, musicians and engineers - many of whom are speaking about their experiences publicly for the first time - he provides exclusive access to one of the biggest-selling recording artists in history. Featuring a foreword by Matt Forger, one of Jackson's longest serving and most loyal collaborators, MAKING MICHAEL takes readers into the studio with the King of Pop, charting the creation of record-breaking albums including Thriller, Bad, Dangerous and HIStory and the twists and turns that occurred along the way. Untold stories, revelations and secrets finally see the light of day as Jackson's career outside the studio is also examined. Smallcombe remains objective and doesn't shy away from exploring Jackson's ruthless traits, his addictions, his fall outs, the relentless pursuit of perfectionism, the financial chaos and those shocking final weeks. MIKE SMALLCOMBE is a British journalist living and working in the UK. www.makingmichael.co.uk Twitter: @mikesmallcombe1
Download or read book Dearest Creature written by Amy Gerstler and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2009-09-29 with total page 65 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A surreal new collection from an acclaimed poet Hallucinogenic plants chant in chorus. A thoughtful dog grants an interview. A caterpillar offers life advice. Amy Gerstler’s newest collection of poetry, Dearest Creature, marries fact and fiction in a menagerie of dramatic monologues, twisted love poems, and epistolary pleadings. Drawing on sources as disparate as Lewis Carroll and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, as well as abnormal psychology, etiquette, and archaeology texts, these darkly imaginative poems probe what it means to be a sentient, temporary, flesh-and-blood beast, to be hopelessly, vividly creaturely.
Download or read book Dear Fahrenheit 451 written by Annie Spence and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2017-09-26 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A librarian's laugh-out-loud funny, deeply moving collection of love letters and breakup notes to the books in her life. If you love to read, and presumably you do since you’ve picked up this book (!), you know that some books affect you so profoundly they forever change the way you think about the world. Some books, on the other hand, disappoint you so much you want to throw them against the wall. Either way, it’s clear that a book can be your new soul mate or the bad relationship you need to end. In Dear Fahrenheit 451, librarian Annie Spence has crafted love letters and breakup notes to the iconic and eclectic books she has encountered over the years. From breaking up with The Giving Tree (a dysfunctional relationship book if ever there was one), to her love letter to The Time Traveler’s Wife (a novel less about time travel and more about the life of a marriage, with all of its ups and downs), Spence will make you think of old favorites in a new way. Filled with suggested reading lists, Spence’s take on classic and contemporary books is very much like the best of literature—sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, sometimes surprisingly poignant, and filled with universal truths. A celebration of reading, Dear Fahrenheit 451 is for anyone who loves nothing more than curling up with a good book...and another, and another, and another!
Download or read book Toxic Women Fame and the Tabloid 2000s written by Sarah Ditum and published by Abrams. This book was released on 2024-01-23 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A scathing reexamination of the lives of nine female celebrities in the 2000s—Britney, Paris, Lindsay, Aaliyah, Janet, Amy, Kim, Chyna, and Jen—and the sexist, exploitative culture that let them down Paris Hilton's 11:11 Media has optioned Toxic as a docuseries. Hilton said: “When I discovered Toxic, I was immediately taken by the depth of Sarah’s dedication, research, and writing. Sarah’s work inspired me to envision Toxic as a documentary series where we can provide a platform for similar stories of those who had to navigate intense public scrutiny, so they can reclaim their narrative from a time when they had little control.” Welcome to celebrity culture in the early aughts: the reign of Perez Hilton, celebrity sex tapes, and dueling tabloids fed by paparazzi who were willing to do anything to get the shot. The internet was still the Wild West: slut-shaming, fat-shaming, and revenge porn were all fair game, and celebrity was seen as a commodity to be consumed. And for the famous women of this era, they were never as popular—or as vulnerable—as when they were in crisis. In Toxic, journalist Sarah Ditum tells the stories of nine famous women who defined this era and explores how they were devoured by fame, how they attempted to control their own narratives, and how they succeeded or (more often) failed. Whatever you think you already know, leave it at the door. Toxic reveals these women neither as pure victims nor as conniving strategists, but as complex individuals trying to navigate celebrity while under attack from a vicious and fast-changing media. It’s time to come to terms with how these iconic women and their experiences living under the public gaze shaped the way we see ourselves, our bodies, our relationships, and our aspirations. We are all products of the toxic decade.
Download or read book The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic written by Jessica Hopper and published by MCD x FSG Originals. This book was released on 2021-07-06 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Jessica Hopper's criticism is a trenchant and necessary counterpoint not just on music, but on our culture at large." —Annie Clark, St. Vincent An acclaimed, career-spanning collection from a fiercely feminist and revered contemporary rock critic, reissued with new material Throughout her career, spanning more than two decades, Jessica Hopper, a revered and pioneering music critic, has examined women recording and producing music, in all genres, through an intersectional feminist lens. The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic features oral histories of bands like Hole and Sleater Kinney, interviews with the women editors of 1970s-era Rolling Stone, and intimate conversations with iconic musicians such as Björk, Robyn, and Lido Pimienta. Hopper journeys through the truths of Riot Grrrl's empowering insurgence; decamps to Gary, Indiana, on the eve of Michael Jackson's death; explodes the grunge-era mythologies of Nirvana and Courtney Love; and examines the rise of emo. The collection also includes profiles and reviews of some of the most-loved, and most-loathed, women artists making music today: Fiona Apple, Kacey Musgraves, M.I.A., Miley Cyrus, Lana Del Rey. In order for the music industry to change, Hopper writes, we need “the continual presence of radicalized women . . . being encouraged and given reasons to stay, rather than diminished by the music which glues our communities together.” The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic—published to acclaim in 2015, and reissued now with new material and an introduction by Samantha Irby—is a rallying cry for women-centered history and storytelling, and a groundbreaking, obsessive, razor-sharp panorama of music writing crafted by one of the most influential critics of her generation.
