The book excerpts will go up now. Book comes out this Tuesday, Sept. 9. Here’s another preview…
Excerpt from pages 14-15…
By the year 2000, the hip-hop industry was comparable to a male football locker room. Most of the top executives were men, the majority of hip-hop artists were male, as were almost all of the producers, video directors, engineers and DJs. That basically left video model or personal assistant as the most likely career option for a woman. But as a female, if you were successful, and rose to the top of the corporate ladder, your reputation became that much more vulnerable. If you looked halfway decent, then the misconception was that you slept your way to the top. On the contrary, if you were not easy on the eyes, then you must either have been gay or related to someone. As a woman, I knew it would be hard to beat the odds. But because I had put so much time in, I wasn’t about to let the odds come between me and what I wanted.
But a woman doesn’t only have her resume to worry about, she’s also got her reputation, and when it comes to a woman’s reputation in the business of hip-hop, it’s almost customary to define her by the men she’s been linked to. Pick up any hip-hop magazine and compare the stories done on women to those done on men. I guarantee you’ll find out more about he woman’s past sex life than you will about the man’s. That code doesn’t just apply to celebrities, it’s the same behind the scenes as well. For me, it was no different. The more successful I became in the industry, the harder it became to keep people out of my personal business.
My days and nights revolved around the magazine and around hip-hop, and my social network was composed of people who were just as obsessed with money, power and hip-hop as I was. Therefore, the majority of the men that I met along the way had some sort of function in the music industry. But in this particular sect of the industry, known to us as the hip-hop culture, the usual double standard applied to women is administered in much bigger doses. Once Snoop said “Bitches Ain’t Shit,” it was a wrap for us.
The Official Site of Kim Osorio 
I Love You Kim!!
WiLL YOU MARRY ME?
cant wait to pick up a copy, all the best and congrats on the release of your book!
~lissa
i know right i just got a copier from the library well i got it off my library card
but…. aren’t you using your sexual past to sell this book? Even if you are trying to make a point?
Let me just say [real grown talk here], I am so proud of you. Damn I’m speechless…
I will be picking up a copy which one day you can sign.
Keep doing the things that others won’t do.
SS1
Congrats on the book.
Vincent
thimk.wordpress.com
Hello Ms. Osorio we would like to interview you in the near future for a project we are doing on the overall impact of HipHop culture. You have been on the front (page)lines of it for quite a while. Please feel free to contact us, Thank you
info@precisemindsfilms.com
Damnit Kim, you got me! There was no way I was gonna buy another Hip-Hop book, especially since the majority of them are garbage. Plus, when I heard it was you writing one & it was gonna be a “gossip” book… oh hell nah! But once again, from everything I’ve peeped online it ain’t the ordinary book & of course the writing is superb. So you got me! There goes my $25 right into your pocket! I hope you’re happy!
Seriously, as a fellow Boricua & a 35 year old cat who’s been living Hip Hop since ’79 I applaud you for the work you’ve done in this industry. You are a role model to Females coming up ( including my 2 yr old lil’ one!). Yeah, I used to hate The Sauce & you as well when that beef was on, but it was really misguided anger. I wish you nothing but success with this project! You gotta fan for life yo! Real Talk! Peace!
Miguel
No doubt, if the rest of the book is as honest as the excerpt, you’ll get on the Best Seller’s list.
I told you I was copping that book Chica, ordered it from Amazon today!
Unlimited success to you Kim!
P.S. Is Faith Evans giving you some residuals? Let me find out the special deal was to order your book and her “Keep the Faith” album! 🙂
Kim nice interview w/ hot97 yest morning, good to hear what’s going on with you.
xo
I just finished reading your book and I loved it. I do book reviews on our library website (from Ft. Lauderdale, FL) and I’m definitely writing up yours. Congratulations on the book and for taking a stand, and for taking the time to write the whole story down for us to read it.
Hope you come down to Ft. Lauderdale or Miami on your book tour.
Kim:
I read your book and I felt compelled to share my thoughts.
Having remembered the decline of The Source and mentally debating each of its final Benzino-led issues to determine whether there was any actual merit to the Source’s agenda against Eminem and others, I was really disappointed to find out there wasn’t and that the genre’s most important magazine was created by an egomaniac asshole who tried feverishly to manufacture a rap career armed with a magazine and zero scruples.
But I was also disappointed in you. Benzino was an ass and so was Dave–and everything regarding how you were treated by them was clearly wrong. But as a writer I expected some level of soul-searching, some deeper level of introspection on your part. Yes, you agreed to be Benzino’s henchmen because you needed a paycheck, but in your book there were instances where it appeared you might have reveled in “it” too much.
I just can’t believe that someone with your intelligence and education couldn’t have found another gig–easily.
I walked away from the book feeling that if Benzino called you up today with a new Source–and your money was funny–you’d jump write back on the Source boat.
That’s fucked up.
About one minute ago, I finished reading Straight from the Source. It was a wonderful book in more ways than one. This book gave a wonderful perspective on the downfall of the Source and of the climate of Hip Hop. It also gave me more information about your career and your grind as a journalist. Most importantly, the book details the role of women in the Hip Hop industry and the struggles they face within an industry they love. As a young 22 year old woman who has loved Hip Hop her whole life and still finds it hard to continue her love, I found your book insightful. Taking a stand against the Source and the bull#$%t they put you through is very courageous. You are a role model for women of the Hip Hop industry and community and I have the utmost respect for you. Congratulations on the book!
Dope!
Blog is the hotness
e.
I’m from Kenya. My address is P.O. Box 43199 – 00100 Nairobi. Please give me a free copy of your new book, please.
@ Noah…
LMAO!!! SMH…….
@Blaze1X:
Thanks for the review of the book. Sorry, you are disappointed in me, but I still appreciate you taking time to read the book. You say you expected a level of soul searching, and I believe I tried to do that in many passages , which I can point you to if you need be. I believe there were many times I acknowledged how I “reveled” in it.
Still, I thought you’d be interested to know, since you say you walked away from the book feeling that I’d jump back on the source boat if I needed the money, that while many would (and I wouldn’t judge another person for making a decision like that…you may understand this when you have children), I can confidently say that I wouldn’t ever go back. And to be totally honest, I am bound by that decision that I would never go back, which was made a while ago. Hope you understand what that means, but that is really all that can be said.
Furthermore, the job market is much harder than you think. I’ve been blessed by the opportunities that I’ve been given, but I am more sympathetic to others who haven’t been, so for you to say that finding another gig is easy, it leads me to assume that you haven’t spent much time in the job market. I have friends with Masters degrees, law degrees, and the like who have struggled trying to find jobs.
Thanks for visiting the blog.
Looking 4ward to Reading.
I used to subscribe to the Source as a young teenage in the 90s. I watched it decline and was sad to hear it go under. I hadn’t heard about your book until I stumbled on your blog today. I will definitely look for it, because it would be nice to hear what happened from your point of view.
i read ur book it was really interesting i loved it
@jelaena Thanks! hopefully, there are more to come.