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Monday, September 15, 2008

Literary Review- Keep the Faith

Author: Faith Evans
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
ISBN: 0-446-19950-8
Pub. Date: 2008
Price: $24.99
Pages: 353

Keep the Faith was a book way overdue, but right on time too. This book reads like a long conversation between you and your favorite cousin playing catch up after missing each other for a lot of years.

Faith Evans keeps it real abut her life with Biggie Smalls, aka The Notorious B.I.G. who is considered by some, the greatest rappers of all times, and she clarifies a lot of the rumors that evolved around her entrance into the music industry, life, with her husband, and dealing with life after his death.

Faith wanted to make it clear that her career started before her encounter with the soon to be martyred rapper Christopher Wallace. She had success writing and working with people that included Christopher Williams and Al B. Sure. She was later introduced to Sean Puffy Combs who fell in love with her musical style both her voice and her lyrics and immediately wanted to sign her. It was during a photo session that she met who was soon to be the man that changed her life and become the father to her daughter China and son CJ.

Faith was always attracted to men that had a little thug in them. When she was a youth, she was in a relationship with a man that was abusive and that relationship played a part in the type of men that she would soon choose later in life. She was also in a relationship with a fellow musician named Kiy who fathered her daughter. It was at a photo shoot that she met Biggie Smalls and they became friends. They begin to hang out a lot and then a relationship began to brew.

There was a lot of drama between the beginning and end of their relationship which includes multiple affairs that Biggie had with women who included Charli Baltimore and Lil’ Kim. There were confrontations and phone calls that led to arguments and some knock down, drag out fights but in the end, Faith was always forgiving of her man and they stayed together.

Faith also speaks on the many friendships that she had in the music industry that included Missy Elliot, Monie Love, and Mary J. Blige. She talks about how Missy instigated the fight between her and Lil’ Kim. How her and Monie Love would play pool together and how she and Mary were very good friends but Mary ignored her at the funeral of Biggie.

Overall, the book was a great read because it was not a tell-all, but a book of clarity that many people who are hip hop junkies will be pleased with. It gave an inside look to the Biggie Small situation in almost its entirety. There is a lot that many people didn’t know and had their own conceptions. Keep the Faith invites you in to the affairs of their lives without holding her tongue.

I was one that had my opinion of what went on between her and Tupac Shakur, who is also an artist that has become a legend in the hip hop industry. I saw the infamous picture that she spoke of in the book that sparked off the drama between the two feuding rappers. I read the article where Tupac and Suge Knight spoke about Faith. It was not until reading Keep the Faith that I had to take a change to my thoughts.

Check out this book and share you thoughts…

Heather Elitou- Reviewer

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This Sounds Book Must Be Great!!!!!