Diddy: Fame, Power and Consequences The Unauthorized Biography of Sean Combs" From Harlem streets to global superstar, Sean Combs - aka P Diddy - has lived a life of unbridled ambition and unparalleled success. This captivating biography delves into the highs and lows of Combs' remarkable journey, from his early days as a budding entrepreneur to his ascension as a hip-hop mogul. With exclusive insights and untold stories, "The King of Empire" reveals the drive, creativity, and resilience that have made Combs a household name. From founding Bad Boy Records to launching fashion lines, restaurants, and more, Combs' innovative spirit and relentless work ethic have redefined the entertainment industry. Discover the triumphs, setbacks, and sex accusations that have shaped Combs' life and legacy, and explore the enduring impact of his innovative vision on popular culture.
Tracing the careers of hip-hop's three most dynamic stars, this deeply reported history brilliantly examines the entrepreneurial genius of the first musician tycoons: Diddy, Dr. Dre, and Jay-Z. Being successful musicians was simply never enough for the three kings of hip-hop. Diddy, Dr. Dre, and Jay-Z lifted themselves from childhood adversity into tycoon territory, amassing levels of fame and wealth that not only outshone all other contemporary hip-hop artists, but with a combined net worth of well over $2 billion made them the three richest American musicians, period. Yet their fortunes have little to do with selling their own albums: between Diddy's Ciroc vodka, Dre's $3 billion sale of his Beats headphones to Apple, and Jay-Z's Tidal streaming service and other assets, these artists have transcended pop music fame to become lifestyle icons and moguls. Hip-hop is no longer just a musical genre; it's become a way of life that encompasses fashion, film, food, drink, sports, electronics and more -- one that has opened new paths to profit and to critical and commercial acclaim. Thanks in large part to the Three Kings -- who all started their own record labels and released classic albums before moving on to become multifaceted businessmen -- hip-hop has been transformed from a genre spawned in poverty into a truly global multibillion-dollar industry. These men are the modern embodiment of the American Dream, but their stories as great thinkers and entrepreneurs have yet to be told in full. Based on a decade of reporting, and interviews with more than 100 sources including hip-hop pioneers Russell Simmons and Fab 5 Freddy; new-breed executives like former Def Jam chief Kevin Liles and venture capitalist Troy Carter; and stars from Swizz Beatz to Shaquille O'Neal, 3 Kings tells the fascinating story of the rise and rise of the three most influential musicians in America.
Kim Unplugged: UNVEILING THE UNTOLD STORIES OF LOVE, LOSS, AND LEGACY – The Real Drama Behind the Glitter! Step Behind the Glamour – Into the World of Secrets, Scandal, and Unbreakable Bonds In the world of fame and fortune, few stories have captivated the public quite like the one between Kim Porter and Sean "Diddy" Combs. From the glitz of Hollywood to the harsh realities of life behind the spotlight, Kim Unplugged reveals the never-before-told stories of love, betrayal, loss, and the legacy left behind. This isn’t just another celebrity biography – it’s a raw, unfiltered dive into the turbulent lives of those living in the limelight. Explore the Story Behind the Fame: Kim Porter: The California Dreamer, Mother, and Eternal Muse – Discover the woman behind the headlines, a loving mother and muse whose life left an indelible mark on everyone she touched. Sean “Diddy” Combs: From Bad Boy Mogul to Pop Culture Phenomenon – Uncover the real Diddy, beyond the empire and music, as his love story with Kim Porter unfolds in both its beauty and tragedy. A Love Story Unlike Any Other: Chapter by chapter, Kim Unplugged takes you through the highs and lows of one of pop culture’s most iconic couples. From their magnetic first encounter to their on-and-off romance that endured decades, this is a love story built on fame, tested by scandal, and shaped by loss. Their Complex Relationship: Dive into the heart-wrenching story of a love that was both empowering and devastating, filled with breakups, reconciliations, and public intrigue. Kim's Posthumous Memoir: In an explosive twist, read about Kim's hidden memoir, "Kim’s Lost Words," that shook the world with dark revelations about her relationship with Diddy, exposing a side of their love few knew existed. Scandal and Legal Battles: From abuse allegations to Diddy’s recent legal crises, this book unearths the scandals that rocked both their family and public personas, leaving a permanent impact on those left behind. Behind the Headlines – A Legacy That Lives On: From their children’s struggles to the legal battles over custody and Diddy’s potential downfall, Kim Unplugged sheds light on the lasting influence of Kim Porter, the impact of her passing, and how those closest to her continue to navigate life in the shadow of fame. The Women of Diddy’s Life: A revealing look at Diddy’s romantic entanglements, from his high-profile relationships with stars like Jennifer Lopez and Cassie Ventura to his more private bonds with Kim and others. The Public and the Private: Feel the ripple effects of their love story through the eyes of their children, their fans, and the public. How have they survived the turmoil of growing up in the public eye? The Media Frenzy and the Dark Side of Fame: Explore how their saga has been portrayed in the media, from social media’s sensational reaction to 50 Cent’s explosive documentary on Diddy’s dark side, and how it changed public perception forever. More Than Just a Hollywood Love Story Kim Unplugged is an emotional journey through love, loss, scandal, and resilience. It’s a story of a woman who remained a muse and a mother despite unimaginable challenges, and a man whose empire may crumble under the weight of his own demons. Get ready to dive deep into the truth behind the glitter, where the real drama unfolds in the untold stories of love, pain, and the unshakable legacy Kim Porter left behind.
He has recorded with the biggest stars in the music business. He wrote many of the hits that made Sean "Puffy" Combs one of the richest men alive. On the surface, the multi-million dollar empire that Puff built looks like the stuff of dreams. But after working with Puff for a decade, Curry discovered that Bad Boy Entertainment is not, as Puff promised, a place where dreams come true. No, rather it is a shell game comprised of contracts designed to rob artists of their time, dreams and publishing rights. [i]Dancing With the Devil[/i] reveals startling new details about key events in the fast paced, controversial (and sometimes deadly) world of Hip-Hop. In revealing the dark side of the industry, Curry hopes to provide a road map for reforms necessary to prevent artists ending up in poverty, in prison or in the grave.Mark Curry has appeared on the following albums:[i]Gangsta Shi-[/i][i]Dangerous MC's[/i][i]American Dream[/i]Mark Curry has appeared on the following singles:[i]Bad Boy for Life[/i]
Since the early 2000s, the phenomenon of the “down low”—black men who have sex with men as well as women and do not identify as gay, queer, or bisexual—has exploded in news media and popular culture, from the Oprah Winfrey Show to R & B singer R. Kelly’s hip hopera Trapped in the Closet. Most down-low stories are morality tales in which black men are either predators who risk infecting their unsuspecting female partners with HIV or victims of a pathological black culture that repudiates openly gay identities. In both cases, down-low narratives depict black men as sexually dangerous, duplicitous, promiscuous, and contaminated. In Nobody Is Supposed to Know, C. Riley Snorton traces the emergence and circulation of the down low in contemporary media and popular culture to show how these portrayals reinforce troubling perceptions of black sexuality. Reworking Eve Sedgwick’s notion of the “glass closet,” Snorton advances a new theory of such representations in which black sexuality is marked by hypervisibility and confinement, spectacle and speculation. Through close readings of news, music, movies, television, and gossip blogs, Nobody Is Supposed to Know explores the contemporary genealogy, meaning, and functions of the down low. Snorton examines how the down low links blackness and queerness in the popular imagination and how the down low is just one example of how media and popular culture surveil and police black sexuality. Looking at figures such as Ma Rainey, Bishop Eddie L. Long, J. L. King, and Will Smith, he ultimately contends that down-low narratives reveal the limits of current understandings of black sexuality.
Using the latest research, real-world examples, and a new theory of healthy development, this book explains Hip Hop culture's ongoing role in helping Black youths to live long, healthy, and productive lives. In The Healing Power of Hip Hop, Raphael Travis Jr. offers a passionate look into existing tensions aligned with Hip Hop and demonstrates the beneficial quality it can have empowering its audience. His unique perspective takes Hip Hop out of the negative light and shows readers how Hip Hop has benefited the Black community. Organized to first examine the social and historical framing of Hip Hop culture and Black experiences in the United States, the remainder of the book is dedicated to elaborating on consistent themes of excellence and well-being in Hip Hop, and examining evidence of new ambassadors of Hip Hop culture across professional disciplines. The author uses research-informed language and structures to help the reader fully understand how Hip Hop creates more pathways to health and learning for youth and communities.
Voted by her peers as one of the best lawyers in America, and described by Time magazine as "one of the nation's most effective advocates of family rights and feminist causes," Allred has devoted her career to fighting for civil rights and has won hundreds of millions of dollars for victims of abuse. She has taken on countless institutions to promote equality, including the Boy Scouts, the Friars Club, and the United States Senate. And as the attorney for numerous high-profile clients—including Nicole Brown Simpson's family, actress Hunter Tylo, and Amber Frey, Scott Peterson's girlfriend—Allred has helped victims assert and protect their rights. Throughout her memoir, Allred offers colorful—sometimes shocking—examples of self-empowerment from her personal and professional life. Presenting nearly fifty of her most memorable cases, Allred takes us deep inside the justice system to show how it's possible to win even in the face of staggering odds. Her inspiring true stories serve to remind us that winning justice depends on the righ-teousness of the cause and an individual's willingness to stand up, speak out, and fight back. Fight Back and Win is a powerful testament to Gloria Allred's trailblazing career and the battles she has fought alongside countless brave individuals to win justice for us all.
This heartbreaking, hilarious, and brutally honest memoir shares the deeply personal life story of a girl next door and her transformation into a household name. For more than forty years, Katie Couric has been an iconic presence in the media world. In her brutally honest, hilarious, heartbreaking memoir, she reveals what was going on behind the scenes of her sometimes tumultuous personal and professional life - a story she’s never shared, until now. Of the medium she loves, the one that made her a household name, she says, “Television can put you in a box; the flat-screen can flatten. On TV, you are larger than life but smaller, too. It is not the whole story, and it is not the whole me. This book is.” Beginning in early childhood, Couric was inspired by her journalist father to pursue the career he loved but couldn’t afford to stay in. Balancing her vivacious, outgoing personality with her desire to be taken seriously, she overcame every obstacle in her way: insecurity, an eating disorder, being typecast, sexism . . . challenges, and how she dealt with them, setting the tone for the rest of her career. Couric talks candidly about adjusting to sudden fame after her astonishing rise to co-anchor of the TODAY show, and guides us through the most momentous events and news stories of the era, to which she had a front-row seat: Rodney King, Anita Hill, Columbine, the death of Princess Diana, 9/11, the Iraq War . . . In every instance, she relentlessly pursued the facts, ruffling more than a few feathers along the way. She also recalls in vivid and sometimes lurid detail the intense pressure on female anchors to snag the latest “get”—often sensational tabloid stories like Jon Benet Ramsey, Tonya Harding, and OJ Simpson. Couric’s position as one of the leading lights of her profession was shadowed by the shock and trauma of losing her husband to stage 4 colon cancer when he was just 42, leaving her a widow and single mom to two daughters, 6 and 2. The death of her sister Emily, just three years later, brought yet more trauma—and an unwavering commitment to cancer awareness and research, one of her proudest accomplishments. Couric is unsparing in the details of her historic move to the anchor chair at the CBS Evening News—a world rife with sexism and misogyny. Her “welcome” was even more hostile at 60 Minutes, an unrepentant boys club that engaged in outright hazing of even the most established women. In the wake of the MeToo movement, Couric shares her clear-eyed reckoning with gender inequality and predatory behavior in the workplace, and downfall of Matt Lauer—a colleague she had trusted and respected for more than a decade. Couric also talks about the challenge of finding love again, with all the hilarity, false-starts, and drama that search entailed, before finding her midlife Mr. Right. Something she has never discussed publicly—why her second marriage almost didn’t happen. If you thought you knew Katie Couric, think again. Going There is the fast-paced, emotional, riveting story of a thoroughly modern woman, whose journey took her from humble origins to superstardom. In these pages, you will find a friend, a confidante, a role model, a survivor whose lessons about life will enrich your own.
'My favourite book' Tinchy Stryder BA Business Life Book of the Month The ultimate hustle is to move freely between the street and corporate worlds, to find your flow and never stay locked in the same position. This is a manifesto for how to operate in the twenty-first century, where everything has been turned on its head. Building on the runaway success of Robert Greene's The 48 Laws of Power (almost five million copies sold), the 'modern Machiavelli' teams up with rapper 50 Cent to show how the power game of success can be played to your advantage. Drawing on the lore of gangsters, hustlers, and hip-hop artists, as well as 50 Cent's business and artistic dealings, the authors present the 'Laws of 50', revealing how to become a master strategist and supreme realist. Success comes from seeking an advantage in each and every encounter, and The 50th Law offers indispensable advice on how to win in business - and in life.
A passionate, critically incisive cultural biography of hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur and an examination of the forces that shaped him. In 1996 Tupac Shakur, one of the most talented artists of his time, was murdered by an unknown gunman. Fred L. Johnson and Tayannah Lee McQuillar examine the theories surrounding his death and the story of Tupac's lost legacy in this definitive biography. For millions, Shakur gave voice to their stories, but there was also another side to him, revealed as his life spun out of control, as the whispered warnings from friends went unheeded and the denunciations of critics grew louder. Disturbingly, he sang and wrote about his impending death. When it came, it brought the music industry to its knees and ended an era when American rappers were leaders in using their art to speak the truth to corporate, government, and judicial power.
