I interviewed Pepa this morning from Salt n Pepa fame, and she was everything I hoped she would be. I finished reading her book over the weekend, and I wouldn’t necessarily call it a tell-all. I was trying to figure out what the difference is between an autobiography, a tell-all, and a memoir. When speaking to Kim Osorio, who also has a book called “Straight from the Source” about her experience as editor-in-chief of the hip-hop bible, she made a good point. Memoirs/tell-alls are not specific to hip-hop but for some reason when these women write these books they are slammed for it. I mean, Dennis Rodman has his (Bad As I Wanna Be) where he talks about other NBA players and the sexual demands Madonna placed on him. Bobby Brown has been discussing his “Being Bobby Brown” book for a minute now, and there’s even excerpts online about Janet Jackson, Karrine Steffans, and of course Whitney and how she may have married him to cover up those pesky lesbian rumors. But somehow when a woman writes a book she is condemned.
Pepa tells some interesting stories about the beginning of her career, which was all smooth sailing and a ‘right place right time’ situation. She was working at Sears with Salt, Kid n’ Play, and Martin Lawrence at the same time. How could you not get involved with entertainment? Hurby LuvBug put the girls together and had them record a diss song against Doug E Fresh and Slick Rick: “Showstoppers.”
She also dated Prince Markie Dee from The Fat Boys for a minute, and that didn’t go so well… but she did tell me that he called her after he read the book to apologize for how he may have treated her. Pepa is not ashamed to talk about how badly her son’s father, Tyran, used to play her. I won’t give away too much, but when she wrote about the things she would do for him I wanted to have a sitdown with her and just say, “Girl, he’s not that into you!”
She discusses her strong intuitions that at times saved her life and prevented her from being gang raped at one point (yes, it got that deep). Her intuition didn’t stop her from hooking up with and marrying Treach from Naughty by Nature. I told Pepa there were parts of the book where she described how badly he would abuse her and I would literally feel pain while reading. It was similar to how the guys in the room felt when Pinky (the porn star) told the story of how she jumped on this guy’s d*ck in a movie and must have bent it too hard because the condom filled up with blood. Ouch! Without getting into too much detail, for all you people who feel like your husband can’t rape you… yes he can.
She couldn’t understand why people who interviewed her focused so much on the Treach aspects, but they were a well-known hip-hop couple - he was even in her “Whatta Man” video (she had no choice). And although she has been reluctant to say anything negative about him in interviews, stating that people change and grow, and sometimes go through things in their life, I couldn’t help but feel like she was scared of what he might say… or do. Please note that she hasn’t spoken to him since the book came out, but I doubt he’ll be as understanding as Prince Markie Dee.
The behind-the-scenes info about her split with Salt is also addressed in the book, and you really feel how lost Pepa was without her partner. She admits that no one wanted to book her by herself so when she had the opportunity to do “The Surreal Life” it was a godsend for her. I know people are quick to judge, and have a negative view of women who choose to reveal the intimate details of their life, but after reading her book I liked her even more. And in the words of one of my bosses, Geronimo, I just wanted to give her a hug.
-Angela Yee
