As a pure-bred Alpha Male, I possess the abilities to lift heavy objects, burp in public, stare people in the eye, drive without fear of being in an accident, build and fix things, eat red meat, watch football, spit on the concrete in front of people, teach younger relatives to fight, curse out strange people, and urinate behind buildings anywhere and dare someone to say something.

Yep…being a manly man embraces the atmosphere with power. But there is always that one weakness, the weakness that caused me to rip through the cold steel wires in my body called veins and tap into my soft side which I never knew existed. Like Nas, Jay-Z and others, Carmen Bryan became my Kryptonite. Yes, I was hooked on trashy gossip for three days.

As you may know by now the woman who birthed the child of Nas, Hip Hop’s Royal Majesty, has written a tell-all book entitled It’s No Secret. The title is self explanatory as Carmen dumps the entire bag of chips onto the kitchen table in this 259 page Hip Hop drama.

After reading a couple of paragraphs of Carmen discussing her adventures with Allen Iverson on the internet I became intrigued. I got locked into the documented gossip and couldn’t help but wonder what the book was like. When I first heard about it I thought, “Another groupie, gold digger trying to make money, I’m not reading that trash.” Four days later, I ended up in the Barnes and Nobles embarrassed to ask for the book. I waited for the employee at the information desk to be alone before finally going up and asking, “Do you have a book by Carmen Bryan?” Without hesitation she reached behind her back while still staring me in the eye and handed me the book. My manhood was at risk. I couldn’t let people see me walking around the bookstore with this. The cover photo was feminine and gossipy looking. I told myself I would snatch the cover off right after I bought it.

I stayed hypnotized the entire time. Throughout the story, puzzle pieces from over the past 10 years slowly came together. I always wondered why Nas never did any songs with the late Notorious Big and Jay-Z in the 90’s. Now Allen Iverson’s comment to Jay-Z during a game and Nas duking it out over wax with Jay-Z all makes sense to me now. Carmen’s book backs up Nas’ lyrical artifacts from earlier years when he rhymed about not doing shows, splurging money, fighting with Carmen, the truth behind the QB chain robbery, project life in the Bridge, his daughter and dealing with his mother’s illness.

Maybe I’m naïve but after reading this book I can not say that it’s all fabricated garbage. What I will admit is that it was the most feminine three days of my entire life. It isn’t exactly a prize winner or a must read but anyone who likes Hip Hop or wants to know what size poinker Jay-Z, Nas and Allen Iverson have may enjoy Carmen’s drama.

Posted by Marcus on Monday, December 18th, 2006 and is filed under SICKWIDIT, REVIEWS, BOOKS.