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| big meech music: BMF Mara Shalhoup, 2011-01-18 In the early 1990s, Demetrius Big Meech Flenory and his brother, Terry Southwest T, rose up from the slums of Detroit to build one of the largest cocaine empires in American history: the Black Mafia Family. They socialized with music mogul Sean Diddy Combs, did business with New York's king of bling Jacob The Jeweler Arabo, and built allegiances with rap superstars Young Jeezy and Fabolous. Yet even as BMF was attracting celebrity attention, its crew members struck fear in a city. When the brothers began clashing in 2003, the flashy and beloved Big Meech risked it all on a shot at legitimacy in the music industry. At the same time, utilizing a high-stakes wiretap operation, the feds inched toward their goal of destroying the Flenory's empire and ending the reign of a crew suspected in the sale of thousands of kilos of cocaine — and a half-dozen unsolved murders. |
| big meech music: My Letter To Big Meech Aka Demetrius Flenory TJ Clemons, 2023-09-21 It is my personal opinion that we seriously need to look into and further investigate the United States federal government, and all of their illegal drug trafficking activities, that also lead to the mass incarceration of literally tens of thousands of its own citizens. And they have continued to duck and dodge any form of responsibility for their deliberate illegal participation in the drug trade, and for flooding this great country with tons of illegal drugs that ultimately led to one of the greatest drug epidemics that this country has ever seen in its great history. This leads me into the whole entire reason why I decided to write this book in the first place. Because, Demetrius Flenory is a notorious drug trafficker and a founding member of the criminal organization Black Mafia Family (BMF). He was convicted in 2007 and sentenced to 30 years in prison for running a drug trafficking empire that distributed thousands of pounds of cocaine across the United States. He is currently serving his sentence in a federal prison. During the 1990s, the United States experienced a surge in drug-related crimes, which led to the implementation of strict drug sentencing laws. One of the most significant laws passed during this period was the 1994 Crime Bill, which included the three strikes and you're out provision. This law mandated a life sentence for anyone convicted of a third felony offense, including drug-related crimes, regardless of the severity of the crime or its overall impact on American culture. |
| big meech music: BMF Mara Shalhoup, 2010-02-27 In the early 1990s, Demetrius Big Meech Flenory and his brother, Terry Southwest T, rose up from the slums of Detroit to build one of the largest cocaine empires in American history: the Black Mafia Family. After a decade in the drug game, the Flenorys had it all—a fleet of Maybachs, Bentleys and Ferraris, a 500-man workforce operating in six states, and an estimated quarter of a billion in drug sales. They socialized with music mogul Sean Diddy Combs, did business with New York's king of bling Jacob The Jeweler Arabo, and built allegiances with rap superstars Young Jeezy and Fabolous. Yet even as BMF was attracting celebrity attention, its crew members created a cult of violence that struck fear in a city and threatened to spill beyond the boundaries of the drug underworld. Ruthlessness fueled BMF's rise to incredible power; greed and that same ruthlessness led to their downfall. When the brothers began clashing in 2003, the flashy and beloved Big Meech risked it all on a shot at legitimacy in the music industry. At the same time, a team of investigators who had pursued BMF for years began to prey on the organization's weaknesses. Utilizing a high-stakes wiretap operation, the feds inched toward their goal of destroying the Flenory's empire and ending the reign of a crew suspected in the sale of thousands of kilos of cocaine — and a half-dozen unsolved murders. |
| big meech music: The Trap Ronnie Bo, 2012-06-26 Trap life will never be the same again once these illuminating street scriptures hit the streets and the jails throughout the nation. This classic urban literature contains timeless knowledge, wisdom and understanding with real stories from a young street hustler/up in coming rapper who reveals his own experiences of THE TRAP and delivers messages that honorable street legends like Larry Hoover might teach if he was still able to get his word out to the streets. Ronnie Bo is a modern day Moses of the urban culture who comes in the form of a dope boy as God’s divine messenger. THE TRAP shall be revered by rappers just like the Bible is revere d by Christians. Nevertheless, Ronnie Bo hereby insinuates that mainstream music overseers are participating in the government conspiracy to mislead black youths by prohibiting artists of his kind from clinching mainstream attention; implying that 2Pac was assassinated so that Jay-Z and other influential artists could take the spotlight and mislead our culture and that real niggaz have been hindered from holding the preeminence that 2Pac had in the game ever since. Knowing that his music career would be hindered by the industry if he had taken the approach of attempting to enlighten the urban culture through his music, Ronnie Bo decided to provide us with his illuminating guidance through a book—THE TRAP. Ronnie Bo is a real street nigga with a lot of empowering nwoledge. I have read many great books in my lifetime from “The Art of War” to the “48 Laws of Power” and I even wrote a book of my own but I could honestly say that “THE TRAP” is one of the most indispensable books that has ever been written. --Pimpin Ken, author of Pimpology: 48 Laws of the Game |
| big meech music: Crime and Music Dina Siegel, Frank Bovenkerk, 2020-12-07 This unique volume explores the relationship between music and crime in its various forms and expressions, bringing together two areas rarely discussed in the same contexts and combining them through the tools offered by cultural criminology. Contributors discuss a range of topics, from how songs and artists draw on criminality as inspiration to how musical expression fulfills unexpected functions such as building deviant subcultures, encouraging social movements, or carrying messages of protest. Comprised of contributions from an international cohort of scholars, the book is categorized into five parts: The Criminalization of Music; Music and Violence; Organised Crime and Music; Music, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanity and Music as Resistance. Spanning a range of cultures and time periods, Crime and Music will be of interest to researchers in critical and cultural criminology, the history of music, anthropology, ethnology, and sociology. |
| big meech music: The Streets Have No King Jaquavis, 2018-07-11 New York Times Bestselling AuthorAfter seven years in prison, multimillionaire drug mogul Kane Garrett is back. But instead of diving back into the drug game he's teaching a college class, infusing business principles with the ruthless edge he developed on the streets. When a student ― and heavy heroin dealer ― named Basil catches his eye, Kane takes him on as a protégé. Together, they build the biggest, smartest drug trafficking business the state has ever seen. But when Basil meets Kane's only daughter, lines get crossed and their business union becomes a deadly rivalry. |
| big meech music: A Hustler's Dream Chauncey Stevens, Don Twain, 2013-03-12 Tragedy and triumph leaps from every page of this sensational memoir by Chauncey “Chino Dolla” Stevens. This book chronicles the personal and professional adventures of a boy, blindly chasing his dreams to become a man. After the death of his grandmother, Chino Dolla finds himself lost in the city streets of Atlanta, GA surrounded by drugs, money and murder. Running from his past demons, Chino Dolla enters the world of entertainment by starting a record label called MasterMind Music. The label helps him find a piece of himself and discover a charismatic rapper by the name of Yung Joc. After executive producing Yung Joc’s 2006 Platinum debut album New Joc City, Chino Dolla finds himself face-to-face with some of the world’s most famous stars. Including world figures like P. Diddy, Jay-Z, Rick Ross, T.I., Beyonce, Big Meech, Young Jeezy, Janet Jackson and more. Along with success Chino also faces betrayal, deceit and the most prolific tragedy of his life. This well-written, educating, and entertaining memoir delivers a powerful message about following your dreams and making the right choices in life. |
| big meech music: Rap Capital Joe Coscarelli, 2022-10-18 An “impassioned tribute” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) to the most influential music culture today, Atlanta rap—a masterful, street-level story of art, money, race, class, and salvation from acclaimed New York Times reporter Joe Coscarelli. From mansions to trap houses, office buildings to strip clubs, Atlanta is defined by its rap music. But this flashy and fast-paced world is rarely seen below surface level as a collection not of superheroes and villains, cartoons and caricatures, but of flawed and inspired individuals all trying to get a piece of what everyone else seems to have. In artistic, commercial, and human terms, Atlanta rap represents the most consequential musical ecosystem of this century. Rap Capital tells the dramatic stories of the people who make it tick and the city that made them that way. The lives of the artists driving the culture, from megastars like Lil Baby and Migos to lesser-known local strivers like Lil Reek and Marlo, represent the modern American dream but also an American nightmare, as young Black men and women wrestle generational curses, crippled school systems, incarceration, and racism on the way to an improbably destination atop art and commerce. Across Atlanta, rap dreams power countless overlapping economies, but they’re also a gamble, one that could make a poor man rich or a poor man poorer, land someone in jail or keep them out of it. Drawing on years of reporting, more than a hundred interviews, dozens of hours in recording studios and on immersive ride-alongs, acclaimed New York Times reporter Joe Coscarelli weaves a cinematic tapestry of this singular American culture as it took over in the last decade, from the big names to the lesser-seen prospects, managers, grunt-workers, mothers, DJs, lawyers, and dealers that are equally important to the industry. The result is a deeply human, era-defining book that is “required reading for anyone who has ever wondered how, exactly, Atlanta hip-hop took over the world” (Kelefa Sanneh, author of Major Labels). Entertaining and profound, Rap Capital is an epic of art, money, race, class, and sometimes, salvation. |
| big meech music: Black Mafia Family St. Louis (The Untold Story) Jerry Haymon, 2014-06-02 Danny Dog Man Jones began selling American Bulldogs to the notorious brothers Demetrius Big Meech and his brother Terry Southwest T Flenory. He went from selling dogs, rehabbing houses and driving for some of the BMF members to eventually gaining the trust of one of the brothers and becoming one of the managers of the St. Louis faction of BMF.With brothers Big Meech and Terry indicted and behind bars, life changed for Danny overnight. He was gunned down, surviving seventeen bullets from a .40 caliber semi-automatic weapon, which riddled through numerous parts of his entire body. After several surgeries and regaining consciousness, Danny reiterates, The Dog Man is alive and the truth must be told he states. Danny tells his story in this seventeen chapter memoir, each chapter representing the seventeen bullets which could have ended his life. |
| big meech music: The Autobiography of Gucci Mane Gucci Mane, Neil Martinez-Belkin, 2017-09-19 The highly anticipated memoir from Gucci Mane, one of hip-hop's most prolific and admired artists (The New York Times). |
| big meech music: Take This Hammer Paul Rekret, 2024-08-27 A study of contemporary music in light of transformations to work and social life. The emergence of the popular music industry in the early twentieth century not only drove a wedge between music production and consumption, it also underscored a wider separation of labor from leisure and of the workplace from the domestic sphere. These were changes characteristic of an industrial society where pleasure was to be sought outside of work, but these categories have grown increasingly porous today. As the working day extends into the home or becomes indistinguishable from leisure time, so the role and meaning of music in everyday life changes too. In arguing that the experience of popular music is partly conditioned by its segregation from work and its restriction to the time and space of leisure—the evening, the weekend, the dancehall—Take This Hammer shows how changes to work as it grows increasingly precarious, part-time, and temporary in recent decades, are related to transformations in popular music. Connecting contemporary changes in work and the economy to tendencies in popular music, Take This Hammer shows how song-form has both reflected developments in contemporary capitalism while also intimating a horizon beyond it. From online streaming and the extension of the working day to gentrification, unemployment and the emergence of trap rap, from ecological crisis and field recording to automation and trends in dance music, by exploring the intersections of work and song in the current era, not only do we gain a new understanding of contemporary musical culture, we also see how music might gesture towards a horizon beyond the alienating experience of work in capitalism itself. |
| big meech music: Dancing with the Devil Mark Curry, 2009 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] |
| big meech music: Fashion Killa Sowmya Krishnamurthy, 2024-09-03 A cinematic narrative of glamour, grit, luxury, and luck, Fashion Killa draws on exclusive interviews with the leaders of the fashion world to tell the story of the hip-hop artists, designers, stylists, and unsung heroes who fought the power and reinvented style around the world over the last fifty years. Set in the sartorial scenes of New York, Paris, and Milan, journalist Sowmya Krishnamurthy's reporting on the intersecting histories of hip-hop and contemporary fashion focuses on the risk takers and rebels-the artists, designers, stylists, models, and tastemakers-who challenged a systemic power structure and historically reinvented the world of haute couture. Fashion Killa is a classic tale of a modern renaissance; of an exclusionary industry gate-crashed by innovators; of impresarios-Sean Diddy Combs, Dapper Dan, Virgil Abloh-hoisting hip-hop from the streets to the stratosphere; of supernovas-Lil' Kim, Cardi B, and Megan Thee Stallion-allying with kingmakers-Anna Wintour, Donatella Versace, and Ralph Lauren; of traditionalist fashion houses-Louis Vuitton, Fendi, and Saint Laurent-transformed into temples of rap gods like Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, and Travis Scott. Krishnamurthy explores the connections between the DIY hip-hop scene and the exclusive upper-echelons of high fashion. She tracks the influence of music and streetwear on the most exclusive (and exclusionary) luxury brands. At the intersection of cultural commentary and oral history, Fashion Killa commemorates the contributions of hip-hop to music, fashion, and our culture at large-- |
| big meech music: Black Mafia Family Mara Shalhoup, 2010-12 In the early 1990s, brothers Demetrius and Terry Flenory, known as 'Big Meech' and 'Southwest T', rose from the slums of Detroit to build one of the largest cocaine empires in America: the Black Mafia Family. After a 10-year climb to the top of the drug game, the Flenorys had it all: a fleet of Bentleys, a 500-man workforce and an estimated quarter of a billion dollars in drug sales. Yet even as the BMF was attracting celebrity attention, they created a cult of violence that struck fear into a city - and threatened to spill beyond the boundaries of the underworld. |
| big meech music: Summary of Jeezy's Adversity for Sale Milkyway Media, 2024-01-14 Get the Summary of Jeezy's Adversity for Sale in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. Adversity for Sale chronicles Jeezy's life from his early days of petty theft and familial influences in Hawkinsville, Georgia, to his rise as a successful artist and businessman. Jeezy's grandmother, Mrs. Mattie Pickett, and local entrepreneur Mr. Russell shaped his understanding of relationships and business. Despite a transient childhood due to his father's military career, Jeezy developed an entrepreneurial spirit, starting with selling stolen electronics. His family's history of poverty and lack of generational wealth, compounded by the crack epidemic, influenced his street hustle and understanding of loyalty and silence. |
| big meech music: Listening to Rap Michael Berry, 2018-06-14 Over the past four decades, rap and hip hop culture have taken a central place in popular music both in the United States and around the world. Listening to Rap: An Introduction enables students to understand the historical context, cultural impact, and unique musical characteristics of this essential genre. Each chapter explores a key topic in the study of rap music from the 1970s to today, covering themes such as race, gender, commercialization, politics, and authenticity. Synthesizing the approaches of scholars from a variety of disciplines—including music, cultural studies, African-American studies, gender studies, literary criticism, and philosophy—Listening to Rap tracks the evolution of rap and hip hop while illustrating its vast cultural significance. The text features more than 60 detailed listening guides that analyze the musical elements of songs by a wide array of artists, from Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash to Nicki Minaj, Jay-Z, Kanye West, and more. A companion website showcases playlists of the music discussed in each chapter. Rooted in the understanding that cultural context, music, and lyrics combine to shape rap’s meaning, the text assumes no prior knowledge. For students of all backgrounds, Listening to Rap offers a clear and accessible introduction to this vital and influential music. |
| big meech music: The Autobiography of Gucci Mane Gucci Mane, Neil Martinez-Belkin, 2017-09-19 The New York Times bestselling memoir from the legendary Gucci Mane spares no detail in this “cautionary tale that ends in triumph” (GQ). For the first time Gucci Mane tells his extraordinary story in his own words. It is “as wild, unpredictable, and fascinating as the man himself” (Complex). The platinum-selling recording artist began writing his remarkable autobiography in a federal maximum security prison. Released in 2016, he emerged radically transformed. He was sober, smiling, focused, and positive—a far cry from the Gucci Mane of years past. A critically acclaimed classic, The Autobiography of Gucci Mane “provides incredible insight into one of the most influential rappers of the last decade, detailing a volatile and fascinating life...By the end, every reader will have a greater understanding of Gucci Mane, the man and the musician” (Pitchfork). |
| big meech music: Freeway Rick Ross Rick Ross, Cathy Scott, 2014 A notorious drug kingpin reigning over Los Angeles, California and operating across numerous other states, Rick was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1996. But following the discovery his drug source was linked to the CIA and he had been used as a pawn in the Iran-Contra scandal, he received a reduced sentence. |
| big meech music: American Rap Scenes Lavar Pope, 2025-05-01 American Rap Scenes examines the history and legacy of rap music in 25 American cities through factors of geography, migration, movements, music, and technology. Providing area-centered analysis of a culture many see as monolithic, Lavar Pope highlights the unique histories of rap music and Hip Hop culture - how and why these scenes developed - in 25 mid-size and major cities across the country. More so than other genres of music, rap offers historical record of a multigenerational Black music that is region- and locale- specific and opens a window into the Black experience in America. Highlighting global stars and key local artists alike, American Rap Scenes features artists contextualized within their city of origin from Andre 3000 (Atlanta), Kendrick Lamar (Compton), and Common (Chicago) to Too Short (Oakland), Freddie Gibbs (Gary), and Akon (Jersey City). The 25 scenes covered in this book are South Bronx, Manhattan and Harlem, Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Hempstead, Philadelphia, Newark and Jersey City, Boston, Los Angeles and Compton, Oakland and the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle and Portland, Chicago and Gary, Indiana, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Detroit, Houston, New Orleans, Memphis, Atlanta, Miami, Hampton, Virginia, Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Honolulu, San Juan, Puerto Rico and Saint Thomas, USVI. These scenes have been chosen for the documented and longstanding histories of their local music-making communities as well as similarities in the evolution of the local environment and geography, the proximity and timeline of Black, Latinx, and Caribbean migrations, and the impact of the Civil Rights, Racial Justice, and Women's Movements. |
| big meech music: A Big Girl's Revenge Ms. Michel Moore, 2019-03-26 Life is good for thick-boned Keisha Jackson. With a good education, well-paying job, and supportive parents, she has everything a young woman could ask for, except maybe a healthy dose of self-esteem. But after a chance meeting with Rico, the neighborhood “bad boy,” her fairy tale life is quickly dismantled. Blinded by emotion, she gives in to all his cruel intentions. Under the false claim of love, Rico vindictively tears down all that good-girl Keisha has built. His sole purpose seems to be to make her miserable. Rico has no limits on the grief he causes and the disrespect he shows. Having endured physical, mental, and sexual abuse, Keisha finally sees the light, and she’s not having it anymore. The tables are turned, and Rico feels her well-deserved wrath. It ain’t no fun when the rabbit got the gun, and Rico will soon find out what A Big Girl’s Revenge truly feels like. |
| big meech music: 808s & Otherworlds Sean Avery Medlin, 2021-09-14 September’s Most Anticipated LGBTQIA+ Literature —Lambda Literary Most-Anticipated New LGBTQIA+ Books of 2021 —Paperback Paris An elegant mash of memoir, poetry, tales of appropriation, thoughts on Black masculinity, Hulk, Kanye. —Christopher Borrelli, Chicago Tribune 808s & Otherworlds announces a bold and incendiary new voice in Sean Avery Medlin. Against the backdrop of the Phoenix suburbs where they were raised, Medlin interrogates the effects of media misrepresentation on the performance of Black masculinity. Through storytelling rhymes and vulnerable narratives in conversation with both contemporary Hip-Hop culture and systemic anti-Blackness, 808s & Otherworlds pieces together a speculative reality where Blackfolk are simultaneously superhuman and dehumanized. From the gut-wrenchingly real stories of young lovers unmythed by segregation or former classmates appropriating Black culture, to the fantastic settings of Hip-Hop songs and comic characters, Medlin weaves a tapestry of worlds and otherworlds while composing a love letter to family and self, told to an undeniably energetic beat. |
| big meech music: Billboard , 1995-07-01 In its 114th year, Billboard remains the world's premier weekly music publication and a diverse digital, events, brand, content and data licensing platform. Billboard publishes the most trusted charts and offers unrivaled reporting about the latest music, video, gaming, media, digital and mobile entertainment issues and trends. |
| big meech music: Y.B.I. Butch Jones, Ray Canty, 1996 |
| big meech music: Flatbush Zombies - 3001: A Prequel Odyssey Rob Markman, 2021-10-26 A Prequle to Flatbush Zombies' 2016 debut LP, 3001: A Laced Oddyssey The official prequel to the Flatbush Zombies’ debut album. Erick, Meech, and Juice were just three friends from Flatbush with the power to really move a crowd—until a supernatural crystal changed everything! Now, dark forces are invading the neighborhood to unleash a nightmare entity at Brookyln's world-famous West Indian Day Parade...and only the Flatbush Zombies stand in their way. By writer Rob Markman (Marvel's Voices; Solo) and the premiere of interior artist J.J. Lopez, plus featuring brand-new character designs by Marvel Comics artist David Nakayama! |
| big meech music: Black Brothers, Inc Sean Patrick Griffin, 2005 In June 2005, a prominent and politically influential Muslim cleric, Imam Shamsud-din Ali, became the latest person convicted in a massive federal corruption probe in Philadelphia. As the revelations emanating from the probe continue, a critically acclaimed author and leading authority on organized crime exposes for the very first time the disturbing contemporary and historical ties between Ali, the city's notorious Black Mafia, and the sweeping federal probe. The Black Mafia was one of the bloodiest crime syndicates in modern US history. From its roots in Philadelphia's ghettos in the 1960's, it grew from a rabble of street toughs to a disciplined, ruthless organization based on fear and intimidation with links across the Eastern Seaboard. Known in its legitimate guise as Black Brothers, Inc., it held regular meetings, appointed investigators, treasurers and enforcers, and controlled drug dealing, loan-sharking, numbers rackets, armed robbery and extortion. Its ferocious crews of gunmen grew around burly founder Sam Christian, the most feared man on Philly's streets. They developed close ties with the influential Nation of Islam and soon were executing rivals, extorting bookies connected to the city's powerful Cosa Nostra crew, and cowing local gangs. The Black Mafia was responsible for over forty killings, the most chilling being the 1973 massacre of two adults and five children in Washington, D.C. Despite the arrests that followed, they continued their rampage, exploiting their ties to prominent lawyers and civil rights leaders. A heavy round of convictions and sentences in the 1980's shattered their strength â only for the crack-dealing Junior Black Mafia to emerge in their wake. Researched with scores of interviews and unique access to informant logs, witness statements, wiretaps and secret FBI files, Black Brothers, Inc. is the most detailed account ever of an African-American organized crime mob, and a landmark investigation into the modern urban underworld. Griffin did extensive research and backs up his claims carefully...If you're a crime buff, a history lover, or if you just want something fascinating to read, it's a book you can't refuse.---Terri Schlichenmeyer, syndicated reviewer and host of The BookWormSez A gripping story...Griffin richly documents the Black Mafia's organization, outreach and over-the-top badness. --Joseph N. DiStefano, Philadelphia Inquirer |
| big meech music: Finding Platinum - A Magic City Memoir Sonya Taylor, 2007 Finding Platinum: A Magic City Memoir, is the highly anticipated novel from Sonya Taylor, who spent several years as an adult entertainer at one of the most legendary gentlemen's clubs in the world - the infamous Magic City in Atlanta, GA. Amongst the glitter and glamour of the high-priced lifestyle of exotic dancing, sex, and drugs is the poignant tale of a streetwise, coquettish young woman born and raised on the tough streets of Detroit, who migrated to the heart of the south in the late 80s and early 90s, and grew up under the dazzle of the strobe lights and the salacious eyes of men with power, money, and prestige. This book, the first in a trilogy, is a powerful love story. It revolves around the love of money, fame, and fast living. It shows how they all collided at a deadly intersection in the life of this bright, young woman. At times, her life seemed so glamorous and exciting on the outside, but it was marred by heartbreak, tragedy, and senseless murders. This book explains how life's lessons that sometimes cost so much, often show that their value is worth every dime. For more information or to order the book, please visit: www.FindingPlatinum.com, or email Sonya at: Sonya@findingplatinum.com. Born on June 2, 1968 in Mount Clemens, Michigan, raised into poverty and welfare in the city of Detroit, Sonya Taylor knew what it was like to be underprivileged, and she knew the endurance of the struggle. Taylor decided at a young age to overcome her situations, and not forget the circumstances that brought her and her family to a place of serenity, or at least a few minutes of temporary relief. As a child, Taylor had little interest in literature, but she discovered the joy of reading and writing at the age of 12. Her preference of poetry and creative-thought writing, is what Taylor has been focusing on these past years leading up to her first book, Finding Platinum, A Magic City Memoir. |
| big meech music: Popular Music Bruce Pollock, 1964 |
| big meech music: Original Gangster Frank Lucas, Aliya S. King, 2011-08-16 A suspenseful memoir from the real life American gangster, Frank Lucas In his own words, Frank Lucas recounts his life as the former heroin dealer and organized crime boss who ran Harlem during the late 1960s and early 1970s. From being taken under the wing of old time gangster Bumpy Johnson, through one of the most successful drug smuggling operations, to being sentenced to seventy years in prison, Original Gangster is a chilling look at the rise and fall of a modern legacy. Frank Lucas realized that in order to gain the kind of success he craved he would have to break the monopoly that the Italian mafia held in New York. So Frank cut out middlemen and began smuggling heroin into the United States directly from his source in the Golden Triangle by using coffins. Making a million dollars per day selling Blue Magic—what was known as the purest heroin on the street—Frank Lucas became one of the most powerful crime lords of his time, while rubbing shoulders with the elite in entertainment, politics, and crime. After his arrest, Federal Judge Sterling Johnson, the special narcotics prosecutor in New York at the time of Lucas' crimes, called Lucas and his operation one of the most outrageous international dope-smuggling gangs ever, an innovator who got his own connections outside the U.S. and then sold the narcotics himself in the street. T his powerful memoir reveals what really happened to the man whose career was dramatized in the 2007 feature film American Gangster, exposing a startling look at the world of organized crime. |
| big meech music: Candy Shop Nicety, 2012-06-05 Everything is not what it seems at The Candy Shop. Your wildest dreams could be achieved or your worst nightmares could be confirmed. There are half naked women walking around working and so-called bouncers making sure nothing gets out of order but this establishment is not a strip joint, it's storage facility. Redina Hawkins' childhood was anything but ordinary. After witnessing her parent's brutal slaughtering, she escaped and was forced to live on the streets. She stole, assaulted, and ate out of garbage cans just to survive. But her run in with an old friend, Messiah Big Meech Torres, brings about a new life that she could have never dreamed was possible. A job offer and newfound love brings about more money and more problems for Red as a chick she works with, Zadie, sets out to make her life a living hell. If Zadie doesn't have her way with Big Meech there will be hell to pay while he struggles with issues of his own. Journey into the Candy Shop where nothing is as sweet as it seems. |
| big meech music: Popular Music, 1993 Bruce Pollock, 1994-06 |
| big meech music: Hurricanes Rick Ross, Neil Martinez-Belkin, 2019-09-03 *NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER* *AN XXL BEST RAPPER-PENNED BIOGRAPHY* “A gripping journey.”—People The highly anticipated memoir from hip-hop icon Rick Ross chronicles his coming of age amid Miami’s crack epidemic, his star-studded controversies and his unstoppable rise to fame. Rick Ross is an indomitable presence in the music industry, but few people know his full story. Now, for the first time, Ross offers a vivid, dramatic and unexpectedly candid account of his early childhood, his tumultuous adolescence and his dramatic ascendancy in the world of hip-hop. Born William Leonard Roberts II, Ross grew up “across the bridge,” in a Miami at odds with the glitzy beaches, nightclubs and yachts of South Beach. In the aftermath of the 1980 race riots and the Mariel boatlift, Ross came of age at the height of the city’s crack epidemic, when home invasions and execution-style killings were commonplace. Still, in the midst of the chaos and danger that surrounded him, Ross flourished, first as a standout high school football player and then as a dope boy in Carol City’s notorious Matchbox housing projects. All the while he honed his musical talent, overcoming setback after setback until a song called “Hustlin’” changed his life forever. From the making of “Hustlin’” to his first major label deal with Def Jam, to the controversy surrounding his past as a correctional officer and the numerous health scares, arrests and feuds he had to transcend along the way, Hurricanes is a revealing portrait of one of the biggest stars in the rap game, and an intimate look at the birth of an artist. |
| big meech music: Under the Influence of Classic Country Sheree Homer, 2019-10-29 The music today known as classic country originated in the South in the 1920s. Influenced by blues and folk music, instrumentation was typically guitar, fiddle, bass, steel guitar, and later drums, with lyrics and arrangements rooted in tradition. This book covers some of the genre's legendary artists, from its heyday in the 1940s to its decline in the early 1970s. Revivalists keeping the traditions alive in the 21st century are also explored. Drawing on original interviews with artists and their associates, biographical profiles chronicle their lives on the road and in the studio, as well as the stories behind popular songs. Thirty-six performers are profiled, including Ernest Tubb, Ray Price, Loretta Lynn, Bill Anderson, Faron Young, Mickey Gilley, Freddie Hart, Jerry Reed, Charley Pride, David Frizzell, The Cactus Blossoms, The Secret Sisters, and Pokey LaFarge. |
| big meech music: E.A.R.L. DMX, Smokey D. Fontaine, 2003-10-21 The dark journey of a boy who became a man, the man who became an artist, and the artist who became an icon. A talent for rhyme saved his life, but the demons and sins of his past continue to haunt him. This is the story of Earl Simmons. |
| big meech music: The Art of Human Chess: A Study Guide to Winning Pimpin' Ken, 2015-04-26 The Art of Human Chess: A Study Guide to Winning is a masterpiece. Its intended purpose is to teach the science of winning, giving the ordinary person on the streets and the person fresh out of college a chance to compete with the ruthless sharks in today's marketplace. This book is for those who choose to win in all walks of life. To buy it is to invest in your future and guarantee yourself an edge on your competitors, making you the ultimate human chess player. |
| big meech music: Never Again, No More 4 Untamed, 2021-09-21 Never Again, No More 4 explodes with secrets and lies that begin unraveling from one character to the next, showcasing what goes around, truly comes around again. As Pooch works tirelessly to realign the Dope Boy Clique from prison, Trinity and Terrence seem to be falling apart at the seams. Trinity wonders if Terrence is truly the man she thought he was, and Terrence begins to question Trinity’s actions around those closest to him. Although they love each other, are they right for each other? Unknowingly, they must brace themselves for the wrath of Pooch. Life has moved on for LaMeka. She has the career and the new man she’s always wanted. Gavin is playing for keeps, but Tony is alive and well. With a new lease on life, he wants his family back and will do whatever it takes to remove Gavin from the picture. Lucinda struggles to adapt to the new normal of her stepdaughter, Jessica, and Aldris’ ex-fiancée, Jennifer. Admittedly, Aldris doesn’t make the transition easy, and as Jennifer and Aldris get close again, it causes a rift between Lucinda and Aldris. When Lucinda finds solace in an unexpected friend, Aldris is left struggling to keep his blended family together. After Lincoln shows up and wreaks havoc for Charice and Ryan, it’s Ryan who’s left having to correct his errors to make his wife happy again. However, the secret they are withholding about the paternity of their baby may be the one thing that rips this perfect union to shreds. |
| big meech music: Pastor Needs a Boo Michele Andrea Bowen, 2014-07-08 Michele Andrea Bowen made a name for herself years ago during the African-American inspirational fiction craze. Now, in Pastor Needs a Boo, she's back with an amazing journey of faith, drama, and love. It was a regular New Jerusalem Gospel United Church work day for Reverend Denzelle Flowers when Veronica Washington, Keisha Jackson, and Marsha Metcalf showed up after losing their jobs on the same day, same morning, and almost at the same time. Denzelle struggled to solve that first problem. The other problem—the lovely Marsha—would be much harder to solve. Denzelle didn't even know how to fight wanting to turn in the playah's card and getting booed up with the poster girl for church girls. Marsha Metcalf and her fellow unemployed church members aren't Denzelle's biggest problem, though. He is running for bishop, and his enemies—a more ruthless consortium of corrupted clergy—want power badly enough to go to rather extreme lengths for it because the stakes are just that high. Now, his ex-wife was back and sleeping with the enemy, digging for dirt. Reverend Denzelle can't fight this battle alone. This pastor needs a ‘boo' who will stand by his side. Before the dust settles, both Marsha and Denzelle's faith and love will be put to the ultimate test. |
| big meech music: B. M. F. Dutch, King Guru, Mike Enemigo, 2021-08-24 BMF - the Black Mafia Family - was a drug organization headed by brothers Demetrius Big Meech Flenory and Terry Southwest T Flenory. Rising up from the shadows of Detroit's underbelly, they created a cross-country cocaine network, becoming two of the wealthiest, most dangerously sophisticated drug traffickers the United States has ever seen. With an estimated net worth of $270 million, they cloaked their ill-gotten gains with legal business endeavors like exotic car dealerships, and infiltrated the hip-hop industry in a way that's never been done before, aligning themselves with megastars like Sean Diddy Combs, Jeezy, Nelly, and Fabolous. Nevertheless, through wiretaps, cross-country collaborations and shady investigation tactics, the DEA ultimately indicted BMF, crumbling the brothers' empire... In this new series, publishing boss Mike Enemigo, street lit legend and screenwriter Kwame Dutch Teague, and The Cell Block's very own best-selling author, urban fiction sensation King Guru, collaborate to bring you this based-on-actual-events tale of the rise and fall of the Black Mafia Family in a way that is sure to have you turning pages until your fingers bleed! |
| big meech music: Music & Drama , 1882 |
| big meech music: Black Caesar Ron Chepesiuk, 2013 Intro -- About the Author pg204 |
| big meech music: Popular Music: 1993 Nat Shapiro, Bruce Pollock, 1964 |
BIG | Bjarke Ingels Group
BIG has grown organically over the last two decades from a founder, to a family, to a force of 700. Our latest transformation is the BIG LEAP: Bjarke Ingels Group of Landscape, Engineering, …
CityWave | BIG | Bjarke Ingels Group
Designed by BIG–Bjarke Ingels Group with Atelier Verticale, CityWave is constructed on the last two plots of the CityLife masterplan, a major new business district in a prestigious area of …
Gelephu International Airport | BIG | Bjarke Ingels Group
As Bhutan’s second international airport, the project is a collaboration with aviation engineering firm NACO and an integral part of the Gelephu Mindfulness City (GMC) masterplan designed …
Jinji Lake Pavilion | BIG | Bjarke Ingels Group
Our latest transformation is the BIG LEAP: Bjarke Ingels Group of Landscape, Engineering, Architecture, Planning and Products. A plethora of in-house perspectives allows us to see what …
Athletics Las Vegas Ballpark | BIG | Bjarke Ingels Group
The project builds on a longstanding collaboration between BIG and the Athletics dating back to a different ballpark design in Oakland, California in 2018. The new ballpark’s roof is accentuated …
Freedom Plaza | BIG | Bjarke Ingels Group
Freedom Plaza will extend BIG’s contribution to New York City’s waterfront, alongside adjacent coastal projects that include the East Side Coastal Resiliency project, the Battery Park City …
Bjarke Ingels Group - BIG HQ
BIG HQ is BIG’s first example of fully integrated LEAP design – a collaboration between Landscape, Engineering, Architecture and Product designers. Everything from door handles to …
Gowanus 175 Third Street | BIG | Bjarke Ingels Group
Catalyzed by the major Gowanus rezoning in 2021 – one of the most significant rezonings in New York City in recent years – 175 Third Street builds on years of BIG’s prior study and design …
BIG BCN Office | BIG | Bjarke Ingels Group
BIG has grown organically over the last two decades from a founder, to a family, to a force of 700. Our latest transformation is the BIG LEAP: Bjarke Ingels Group of Landscape, Engineering, …
Google Bay View | BIG | Bjarke Ingels Group
Leon Rost — Partner, BIG The campus includes 17.3 acres of high-value natural areas – including wet meadows, woodlands, and marsh – that contribute to Google’s broader efforts to …
BIG | Bjarke Ingels Group
BIG has grown organically over the last two decades from a founder, to a family, to a force of 700. Our latest transformation is the BIG LEAP: …
CityWave | BIG | Bjarke Ingels Group
Designed by BIG–Bjarke Ingels Group with Atelier Verticale, CityWave is constructed on the last two plots of the CityLife masterplan, a major new …
Gelephu International Airport | BIG | Bjarke Ingels Group
As Bhutan’s second international airport, the project is a collaboration with aviation engineering firm NACO and an integral part of the Gelephu …
Jinji Lake Pavilion | BIG | Bjarke Ingels Group
Our latest transformation is the BIG LEAP: Bjarke Ingels Group of Landscape, Engineering, Architecture, Planning and Products. A plethora of …
Athletics Las Vegas Ballpark | BIG | Bjarke Ingels Group
The project builds on a longstanding collaboration between BIG and the Athletics dating back to a different ballpark design in Oakland, …
