Terrance Dean Wendy Williams Interview - Listen to the Hiding in Hip Hop Author Talk About Being Molested as a 13-Year-Old…
Terrance Dean on Wendy Williams - Listen to the whole interview online…
Terrance Dean is starting his publicity tour for Hiding in Hip Hop, and he came to the Wendy Williams show first.
I grew more and more empathetic towards Terrance Dean as he talked about suffering the loss of his mother, who was a prostitute and a heroin addict who contracted HIV, had his baby brother — who was born with HIV — and both of them — along with another brother of Terrance’s — died of AIDS.
Listen to Terrance Dean on the Wendy Wiliams show
Down Low Parties…Turn-Out Parties…Taco Card Parties?
Terrance talks about being invited to his first “turn out” or did they say “taco card?” –definitely down-low party in Los Angeles. It wasn’t The Swagger Club, they say — whatever that is.
The Hollywood DL
But it was fascinating to know that the Hollywood DL is on another level from the regular DL. With top Hollywood stars, it sounds like a modern-day Caligula scene with lots of fine liquor.
Sheena, Lola, Asia…
These are some of the female names bandied about, disguised into character personas that leave us guessing and so shocked as to who they might be.
R & B stars, a big Hollywood movie star whom Wendy said could buy her radio station.
Oh my…
May 11th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Well, I purchased this book from Borders Books two (2) weeks ago so I don’t understand how it has a release date of May13th. That being unimportant, I only recently (as in Friday afternoon) had a chance to read the book.
As a Black brother “in the know”and “on the low”, I figured I’d check it out and see what he had to say, figuring it would be an expose of people I knew and those I suspected lived DL lifestyles. Much to my surprise it was not. The funny thing is I was able to figure out most of the pseudonymed figures by the context clues and by former/present associations.
The book is a good read and I was able to finish it on my looooooooooooooooooong flight back to Boston from Osaka. If you like this kind of “tell-all,” then you won’t be able to put it down either. For those naive individuals who have no knowledge of our lifestyle, it is quite informative and educational.
I liked it; I’m going to read it again to make sure I didn’t miss anything and I recommend you add it to your summer reading list.
May 17th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
My first question to you is, How are you “in the know” and “one the low.” I was a bit confused by your statement.
Terrence Dean was very subtle when it came to how he described the characters, figures(whatever you wish to call them)in the book. Like I posted in my previous blog, it did nothing but turn me off.I figure if you are going to have big enough balls to sit down and publish a so called “tell it all”, then that is what you should do.
That book was his right to passage. To me God allowed him to write that book for a reason but I don’t think that he served his purpose. He allowed man to put fear in his heart. There is no serving God half way. There was and still is a need for salvation when it comes to our black people. We can’t keep allowing this behavior to go one without some type of consequence. These men have to understand as well as you, that being a down low male isn’t morally right and nor is it in good character. If you are gay then be just that but don’t drag others into your cyclone. Don’t put others in your life at risk due to your selfishness. We black women admire our black men more than you obviously will ever know but as time persist, it looks as if that admiration may faulter into a non existence.
June 24th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
I was TRULY dissappointed by this book.
After reading that video vixen crap I said I wasn’t buying another book like it. But I listened to him on Wendy Williams talk about how this is a memoir. No it’s not just a book talking about the folks he coyly, but not really, outs. So, shame on me, I buy this crap.
I got friends in places so if I wanna know if so-and-so is schtupping dudes, I can just ask. This book had so many moments to be such a compelling story and help folks out there and he just, in my opinion, missed the ball. Period.
Friggin “Video Vixen” by Terence Dean. Unbelievable.
But hey, it’s HIS memoir. Just wish I didn’t buy it. You can best believe I won’t buy any other “psuedo-celebrity” story.
July 4th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
I had the pleasure of reading Hiding in Hip Hop by Terrance Dean. I found this book to be enlightening as well as educational. I feel a tremendous amount of respect for people who can put it all out on the line for the whole world to see and read. This book like so many others “Confessions of a Video Vixen” by Karrine Stephans, “A Piece of Cake” by Cupcake Brown and “What I Know for Sure” by Tavis Smiley all have a message and I think a lot of the the behavior in these books are due to the abuse and neglect of these individuals as children. We must understand that abuse in any form shapes a child’s life. I think that if people could see the results of what abuse does and the effects they have we would be a more conscious society.
July 30th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Hi i just finished hiding in hip hop this morning and i found some common similarity between . Terrance and i but I’m sure were not alone in those similarities. I thought i was a fascinating story . There were moments the book really made me question my self although i was never on the down low and went straight to being gay. I was a little discouraging how Terrance view homosexuals that were active in the gay community. I felt like there was a love hate relationship going on there. But i was glad to see in there in he progressed past certain parts of that . I also thought it was great the he started Men’s Empowerment and i wish there was a program like that here in Indianapolis. But the book was greatly informative and enlightened me on so many levels. It showed me how dl men think and how ruff life was for them. It also gave me insight into the entertainment industry that I so aspired to be apart of. But the ending Terrance you kinda left me hanging. I thought that you did it so you can have something for yourself and also that you didn’t want to disclose any more information. But i do have a couple question like are you going to make Men’s Empowerment national. I know that wasn’t you plan to have grow as big as it did. Also what advice would you give some one that is aspiring to break in to your line of work. Because I’m a 25 yr. old trying to get it together and i really use some words of wisdom