PLATINUM

The desperate lives of rappers’ wives throw a veteran hip-hop journalist for a loop.

Dishing the dirt on the world of famous rappers comes naturally to longtime entertainment journalist and biographer King (co-author, Original Gangster, 2010, etc.), who unveils some wild stories for her fiction debut. King’s doppelgänger is hip-hop journalist Alex Maxwell, who’s struggling with the death of her industry but is not yet ready to give up the ghost. Fortunately, she lands a dream gig crafting a story about the glamorous lifestyles of the wives and girlfriends of the country’s biggest rappers. It turns out to be a small world. Among Alex’s subjects is Kipenzi Hill, a legendary singer-songwriter whose legend has outstripped that of her longtime partner Jake Giles. One of Kipenzi’s friends is pregnant Beth Saddlebrook, who fools herself into thinking that her husband Z isn’t dooming their relationship with crack and extracurricular sex. There’s also Ras Bennett, whose wife Josephine fantasizes about shooting an industry whore named Cleo, who’s writing a tell-all book about her exploits with rappers and ballplayers. For Alex, who’s about to be married to an up-and-coming artist named Birdie, it all starts to look far too familiar. “No, not much,” she thinks in pondering her own relationship. “Just to take care of your daughter. Front you cash when you need it. Pretend I don’t know you at industry events. Lie to your manager about where you are. Rub your back after a show. Cook for you. Clean up after you. Tell you that your music is wonderful…”

The men get the short end of the stick, but women looking for a steamy, gossipy beach read will find it right here.