"While we neglect and sometimes even refuse to talk about all of these obvious but crucial issues, young black women and men wonder around in stupidity ignorance-glorified stupidity all dressed up in Nike sportswear and sneakers. The result: when uniformed young African males and females grow up we become uninformed black adults who engage in relationships in which love is war." (Souljah, S. pg.xi) This quote from Sister Souljah's No Disrespect sums up the flavor of the book. No Disrespect is written by Sister Souljah, and published in 1994. Sister Souljah was born Lisa Williamson in 1964, in New York. She attended Cornell University's advance placement summer program, and Spain University of Samamanca study abroad program. She majored in American History and African Studies at Rutgers University, which is also the school Paul Robeson attended. She has given lectures all over the world, and her most recent stop has been CSUN. In the mid-1980's she founded incorporation with United Church of Christ the African Youth Survival Camp located in Enfield, North Carolina. Its purpose is to help the children of homeless families. In 1992 Souljah released her first and only rap album. It was titled 360 Degrees of Power. The militant lyrics were very controversial. In fact President Clinton verbally attacked her during his presidential election. At a rally on June 3, 1992 he charged that "Souljah had made racist remarks and advocated violence against whites." This negative publicity plunged Souljah into national attention and increased her album sales.
On the third cut of her album titled, "The Hate that Hate Produced" Souljah sings:
I am an African first, I am black first
I want what's good for me and my people first And if my survival means your total destruction, then so be it
You built this wicked system
They say two wrongs don't make a right
But it damn sure makes things even"
This extremely bold prologue of Souljah's album is not printed in the lyric book. Neither is the following message before the song, "The Final Solution" Slavery's Back in Effect." It reads:
"If your white great great great grandfather killed my great great great grandfather And your white great grandfather sold my great grandfather And your grandfather raped my grandmother And your father stole, cheated, lied, and robbed my father What kind of fool would I have to be to say 'come my friend to the white daughter and son.'"These lyrics and beliefs came from a much younger Sister Souljah. Now she is married, has a small son, and lives in New York. In 1994 Souljah once again came under attack for her boldness. She was being sued by her former producer Michael Shinn. She listed him on the album as a "two-faced back stabber." Shinn filed the suit claiming the phrase was a libel that had damaged his reputation in the music business.
No Disrespect was originally published in 1994 by Times Books, and was in hard cover. The book that I have was released in paper back by Vintage books. And is in its first Vintage Books Edition. Vintage and Times are both divisions of Random House. No Disrespect was also printed in Canada and Toronto by branches of Random House.
It was very interesting to read the views and perceptions from others, on No Disrespect. My reviews were very accessible using the internet. The first review came from The Women's Review of Books, and was written by Trice Rose. Rose commends Souljah as a person:
"Souljah has herself been publicly attacked for her relentless emphasis on white supremacy and its crushing impact on African Americans. Her bravery is poignant and inspiring, especially now, when there is very little room in the mainstream public sphere for a straightfoward unyielding attack on the systematic brutality of racism in this country. Those of you who have ever heard Souljah speak know that her powers of oratory are exceptional; she stands well above most any public figure in America today, age race and gender notwithstanding."
It's obvious from this statement that Rose has tremendous respect for Sister Souljah and her cause. But she does not agree with some of the point in No Disrespect. One of the points Rose disagreed with was the anti-homosexual connotation:
"The relentless construction of heterosexuality as the only non-deviant form of intimacy, and the heterosexual nuclear as the only acceptable basis for community building, is insistent, disturbing and oppressive."Rose ends her review with this statement:
"Black feminist scholars Patricia Hill Collins has reminded us to take care in defining what constitutes black feminist thought, and to remember that such thought is a process rather than a fixed unchanging position to be achieved. Being a black woman does not necessarily make you a black feminist, and black feminism will not always remain the same. In these slippage's lie pitfalls and promises; the pitfalls are no more apparent than in Sister Souljah's No Disrespect."
My next review came from the Kirkus Service, Inc., and is titled Kirkus Reviews. It's pretty easy to tell that the review was written by a male. Because of the vivid description of Sister Souljah's appearance. This review was much more positive than the last one:
"It must me hard being right all the time, but controversial rapper and black activist Sister Souljah doesn't mind, judging from her remarkable smug, occasionally uplifting memoir. Let there be no doubt, this "young sultry, big, brown-eyed, voluptuous, wholesome, intelligent, spiritual, getto girl" has opinions. She is for belief in God, hand work, self-respect, community service, political activism, a strong family structure, and black women sharing their men in the face of a huge supply shortage."The rest of the review raved on the great aspects of No Disrespect. There were no negative comments about Souljah or her book. No Disrespect deals with the trials and tribulations of African male-female relationships. Souljah examples come from real life experiences. The book has seven chapters and seven characters. Each character has been involved in shaping Souljah and her beliefs. In chapter one the reader meets Souljah's mother. Who has gone through many bad relationships, and just experienced the bad side of life. This section more than any other shows the major events that shaped Souljah's mind. One big example was when the family fell on hard times. Because her father has epilepsy and is unable to work:
"He went on job interview after job interview only to discover that a black man has a hard and impossible task of finding andkeeping a job. A sick black man has even less of a chance."
In chapter two we meet Nathan, who Souljah meets in her freshman year in college. She was very taken by intellectual Nathan, and began to desire his touch. They get together, but later he runs off without any explanation.
"Why did you leave me Nate? I don't understand this. We were strong when we were together. Not like you are now. Where did you go that weekend? His Laugh was harsh and bitter bark. I was with my lover, David! He helped me get this way, you know. I tried to fight it. I had tried to fight the demons but no matter what I did and how I tried the demons kept coming back and coming back."
As the reader moved to chapter three he/she is introduced to Nikki. Souljah also meets Nikki while in college. Nikki was very stylish, had a new BMW, and had a nice apartment off campus. She schooled Souljah on fashion and how to use sexual power to use and manipulate men. Nikki turned out to be a world-class hustler who betrayed her loyal boyfriend Brian.
"As we headed toward Latashas house I tried to understand Nikki. Why would she gamble her relationship with Brian when she had told me that she loved him? When he treated her so well? What did she need Todd for? How did she work out the two relationships when Brian practically lived in her apartment? (Souljah, S. pg. 137)
In chapter four we meet Joseph who is a well respected political organizer, and who preaches the importance of family. Souljah is completely infatuated with him and proceeds to seduce him. Of course, the sensual Souljah gets her way, and they have a steamy love affair. Under pressure Joseph ends the fling. Souljah falsely claims to be pregnant to keep him, and is devastated when he tells her to get an abortion.
"Baby; he said, as much as it hurts me, I think it's over. We gotta cool out. I'm about to lose everything, and I've realized on thing; it's either I keep you and lose absolutely everything else, or I give you up and honor my commitments for life. Feeling as if I had been stabbed in the stomach I gasped for air and it slipped out "I'm pregnant." Joseph looked like his heart fell in his lap. He remained silent for what seemed an eternity. Then lifted his head and said softly, "get an abortion." (Souljah, S. pg196)Chapter five is titled Mona. We meet Mona earlier in the book. Souljah meets Mona in her freshman year, they became good friends and roommates. It turns out that Mona is a lesbian, and Souljah has a serious problem with that type of lifestyle. But she realizes that Mona is a good friend and that's all that matters. Until the day when Mona made advances towards her:
"I grabbed both her hands off me and held them firmly so she would be certain of my disapproval. I scolded her saying, "Mona, I love you and I dig you. And we can still be friends. But, no, we can't have a relationship cause I'm not a lesbian." (Souljah, S. pg.222)
In chapter six we meet Chance who is a character that I truly dislike. Chance is a hustler who pulls Souljah out of her developing emotional fortress only to completely crush her again. He tells her he loves her and would marry her, but it was all a scheme that he and his sick wife cooked up to get money from Souljah. This was one of the cruelest things I have ever heard of.
"Then I heard them wrestle again and she said, "Fuck that. I don't care. Fucking was never part of the deal. Marriage! She's bugging all the way out. Now you tell her." Chance got on the phone. In the role reversal of the century, this confident masculine bastion who gave all the directions and called all the shots sounded like a trained puppy dog. He said faintly, "Hello." I squeezed out of what was now my small voice, "Yes?" and with no hesitation at all he said, " I don't love you and I never did," click." (Souljah, S. pg.306)
Finally we meet Derek in chapter seven which turns out to be a weird situation. Derek was light skinned which was a quality that Souljah was not attracted to. She began to develop a "fondness" for him, as she put it. The only thing was that he already had a girlfriend. Souljah suggested to him and his girlfriend Trina that they should engage in polygamous relationships, because there was a shortage of black men black women should share.
"I thought this must be Trina. Three o'clock in the morning. She must be flipping. I asked her to hold on again. I went to the bathroom and ran a cold washcloth across my face and came back. "Are you still there?" I asked. "Why are you filing my man's head up with this polygamy bullshit? Can't you get your own man?"" (Souljah, S. pg.331)No Disrespect is a straightforward and hard-hitting book. Souljah does not hold back what she means or feels. She writes what she means so the reader feels the cold, hard, blunt impact of her statement. The major point or theme of the book is African male-female relationships. With a strong emphasis on why African females act as they do in relationships, and how to they receive their concept of womanhood. The reader can pickup how Souljah is learning and growing from each situation. Her final point was one that she developed early on, and continued to apply it to ever possible situation. And that was how white racism had affected the Black family. In terms of uprooting the black man from the head of the family. It was done by slowly but steadily destroying his self-esteem and self-worth. Which also caused single African men to go into relationships with a warped sense of what love is.
No Disrespect is a very explicit book due to the strong sexual content. Souljah's sexual descriptions are very descriptive. Which I believe is a major selling point. Because the book is so outrageous it cause the reader hunger for more. But I would have to recommend this book to no one younger than a high school senior. Because anyone younger may not be able to get past the explicit descriptions to get the message of the book. It is one of the most powerful and interesting books I've read, and definitely the most sexually explicit and bold. Souljah uses this as a tool to explain the dysfunctional relationships between African males and females. I would definitely give this book a perfect score, on a scale of importance to the preservation of African male-female relationships.
I disagree with Tricia Rose on many points. But most of all on her criticism against Souljah about her views of homosexuality. Souljah has a right to hold these opinions and share them with the reader. Because it gives us a better understanding of who Sister Souljah is and where she's coming from. I agree with both critics on the fact that Sister Souljah is an incredible, brilliant, beautiful, African-American woman.
Jeffery, Don. "Jury Will Hear Sister Souljah Libel Suit." Billboard Magazine 12 Mar. 1994, v106 n11 pg27 (1) Database: Expanded Academic ASAP 16 May 1996
"Kirkus Reviews" The Kirkus Reviewing Service, Inc. 15 Dec. 1994 0-8129-2483-5 Nexis. Online. 16 May 1996 Moore, Andrew. "Some Shocking Lyrics" Iowa State Daily Publications 20 June 1995. Nexis. Online 16 May 1996
Rose, Tricia. "Book Review" The Women's Review of Books June 1995, v12 n9 pg21 (2). Database: Expanded Academic ASAP. 16 May 1996.
Souljah, Sister. No Disrespect. New York: Vintage Books 1994
Jeffery, Don. "Jury Will Hear Sister Souljah Libel Suit." Billboard Magazine 12, Mar.1994, v106 n11 pg27 (1) Database: Expanded Academic ASAP 16 May 1996
Summary
This article in Billboard Magazine discussed the libel suit against Sister Souljah. In which former producer Michael Shinn is claiming she damaged his reputation in the music business. Souljah listed Shinn on her album under the section "two faced back stabbers."
Summary
This was an article that reviewed Sister Souljah's No Disrespect. It was an extremely positive review. The author, who's name was not mentioned was very impressed by Souljah as a person and writer. He/she loved the book and raved on how bold she is.
Summary
This article was written by a student from Iowa State University. He found the lyrics of Souljah's album 160 Degrees shocking. At one point he says, "Souljah believes that we are in a state of war." He quotes several passages from cuts on the album as evidence, and I have listed these passages in my paper. He concludes his write-up by saying; "Maybe if I grew up a Black man in Brooklyn, I would agree with Souljah. I sure hope not for the world's sake.
Summary
This was the longest review that I had. Tricia went into great detail about the major points on No Disrespect. She disagreed with many of the messages or views of Sister Souljah. She also found the book to be bold and sexually explicit. But she commends Souljah as a person for what she has accomplished and what she stands for. And she says that she has a great deal of respect and admiration for Souljah.