Tag Archives: faith evans

Book Review: Dancing with the Devil by Mark Curry

Dancing With The Devil: How Puff Burned the Bad Boys of HipHop
by Mark Curry
(New Mark Books)
5 out of 5 Stars


mark curry dancing with the devil on amazondotcom

Did you ever want to know what it’s like rolling with Diddy and being a part of the world-famous Bad Boy Records? Mark Curry gives you his experience with the mogul in Dancing With The Devil: How Puff Burned the Bad Boys of HipHop. Curry fans away the smoke and dismantles the mirrors with his debut release as an author. What you will find is the good, the bad and gritty lifestyle that Diddy provides to those artists unfortunate to get caught up in the Bad Boy empire.

Although Curry had the talent to carry Bad Boy into the new millennium after the death of The Notorious B.I.G., Diddy dangled a lucrative multimillion dollar career in front of Curry to use him for personal development for Diddy as a HipHop artist. A perfect example of this mimicry is seen and heard in the “Bad Boy For Life” video where Diddy emulates Mark Curry’s style perfectly. Throughout the decade Curry spent getting swindled for his knack for being a superb lyricist and performer, Curry either saw or experienced what Diddy did to become a media magnate. From enticing his artists with riches to doling out terrible contracts to injecting himself on each track and in each Bad Boy video, Diddy did what ever it took to make him richer.

If you grew up listening to HipHop during the Bad Boy era, Dancing With The Devil will give you an intriguing history of rap music during that time from a person lived it. Curry’s attention to detail and ability to weave his personal experiences and research makes this book easy to read and hard to put down. This is more than an expose from a disgruntled artist. Dancing With the Devil is a journey that separates the fact from the fiction. This book shows you the music industry for what it is — harsh and cut throat. If you can go online, Google and YouTube will be your best friend as you journey with Mark Curry through the maze of music, murders and mayhem.

Fans of The Notorious B.I.G. and 2Pac will find Dancing With The Devil especially interesting. Curry links together Diddy, Suge Knight and their associates in a way that is sure to get you sitting on the edge of your seat fully attentive to a captivating back story that lead to the early deaths of the brightest HipHop stars the world will ever know. If you thought there was more than meets the eye with Diddy’s situation with Shyne, Curry will lay out what he saw as Shyne’s room mate in one of Diddy’s three-bedroom apartments during the time of the club shooting and Shyne’s subsequent prison sentence. If you wanted to know who wrote the rhymes while Diddy wrote the checks, Curry will give you an inside look at what means to be heard but not seen.

As a biographer, Curry makes this book much more than an expose on Puffy and Bad Boy. He documents his own history, even shedding light on his musical roots. Curry does a great job of detailing his families roots in Gospel, his dad’s connection to early Rock and Roll and his own immersion into the hip hop culture swept across America in the late 70s and early 80s. He even details his experience with the then prepubescent music in Atlanta in the late 80s and early 90s. There is also a section of pictures in the middle of the book that gives you a look in the development of Mark Curry from a little boy to a grown man. It’s almost like Curry invites you into his house to sit down and have dinner with him.

Once you finish with this book, you will have taken a trip that few have the heart to speak about. Dancing With The Devil is more than a one-sided account of a wannabe artists mad at the world. You will have a thorough understanding of why artists such as The L.O.X., Faith Evans, 112, Total, etc. are no longer a part of Bad Boy’s roster. You will hear those Bad Boy classics in a new light once you gain the understanding of why Diddy added his chatter to songs and his presence to the videos.

You might even feel sorry for current Bad Boy artists such as Danity Kane (or what’s left of them), Day 26 and Da Band. The infamous contract signing scenarios take on a new meaning once you are aware of Diddy’s history of jerking people with terrible deals. Curry acts more like a journalist than anything else as he sifts through tons of information and personal experiences to show how the music industry can promise you diamonds with intentions of giving you coal.

Curry’s Dancing With The Devil can easily be considered Bad Boy Records’ version of Fredericks Dannen’s The Hit Men.

Please click on the banners to learn more about each JoeyPinkney.com sponsor:

Peace in the Storm Banner
kiffany dugger banner
Barbara Grovner Banner
Teresa Patterson's Official Website
Jean Holloway Banner
til debt do us part banner

Advertise with JoeyPinkney.com for just $20 (click here).

5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… Multi-Platinum Singer Faith Evans, author of Keep the Faith: A Memoir

JoeyPinkney.com Exclusive Interview
5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…
Faith Evans, author of Keep the Faith: A Memoir
(Grand Central Publishing)

faith evans keeping the faith on amazondotcom

R&B sensation, Faith Evans, gives us a first person account of life from Newark, New Jersey to the highest echelons of the music industry.

Keep the Faith: A Memoir is Faith’s first person account of life at ground zero of hip-hop’s greatest generation. She’ll share the truth about the love affair that changed her life and the innuendo that rocked the hip-hop world to its core. From her passionate and tragically short life with Biggie, Faith will finally lay the true story on the line.

We’ll get to see the good, the bad and the ugly side of the music industry. She shared with us how she worked her way to the top without ever sacrificing her morals. Faith also give us a first-hand account of how she managed to steer her God-given talent into a platinum-certified career.

Joey Pinkney: Where did you get the idea and inspiration to write Keep the Faith: A Memoir?

Faith Evans: For many years, people have always suggested to me that I sit down and set the record straight on a lot of things that went on in my life. I wasn’t sure I wanted to do that, but there have been so many stories told ABOUT me. At some point, you have to decide to tell your own story. No one can give my truth but me, and that was my inspiration for deciding to tell my story.

JP: As a songwriter, you were able enter snippets of your emotions and experiences in the various songs you have written. Were you intimidated by a work of this length, and how was the experience?

FE: I wasn’t intimidated at all. I was ready, and I was prepared to do it. I had just had a baby. The collaborator I worked with had also just recently given birth, so it helped that we were both juggling newborns. It was intense. I definitely had to revisit a lot of painful memories, but in many ways it was therapeutic for me. I’ve learned from everything I’ve gone through.

JP: What did you want to achieve with this book?

FE: I wanted to set the record straight on a lot of issues. I wanted to connect with my always loyal fans and give them a piece of me that I haven’t shared before. I wanted to have a record of my life so far, for myself and for my children.

JP: As an author, what is your writing process? How long did it take for you to start and finish Keep the Faith: A Memoir?

FE: I got serious about getting started in May of 2007. I would speak with my collaborator a few times a week. We would trade notes back and forth. I would also enlist my friends and family to help me remember when and where certain things happened. The book came out in June of 2008, so it was just about a year from start to finish.

JP: What’s next for Faith Evans?

FE: I’m already working on the proposal for my next book!

About the Author: Faith Evans started her music career as a songwriter for artists like Hi-Five, Mary J. Blige, Pebbles, Al B. Sure, Usher, Tony Thompson, and Christopher Williams. In 1994 she met producer/impresario Sean “Puffy” Combs, who signed her to his Bad Boy label. In 1995, Evans released her debut album, Faith, which went platinum.

A high-profile career in R&B has endured, with several platinum-certified albums and appearances in films such as The Fighting Temptations, with Oscar-winner Cuba Gooding Jr and Beyonce Knowles.

Faith lives in California with her husband and four children.

P.S. Join the Joey Reviews Newsletter at http://joeypinkney.com/joey-reviews-newsletter.html

P.S.S. If you want to be feature in a 5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… series, email me at joey.pinkney@gmail.com or http://myspace.com/joeyreviews

This Post is Sponsored by:

Peace in the Storm Banner
Barbara Grovner Banner
Jahzara Writes Banner
Jean Holloway Banner
michelle larks the legacies banner
MoneyMakingBanners@gmail.com

Advertise with JoeyPinkney.com for just $20 (click here).