Customer Reviews

It's No Secret: From Nas to Jay-Z, from Seduction to Scandal--a Hip-Hop Helen of Troy Tells All

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3 star:		(20)
2 star:		(29)
1 star:		(41)

 

 

I read her Thank Yous before I returned this book to the library. She thanked 50 Cent, the biggest instigator on the planet, for "his inspiration" and "words of wisdom." She also told her brother "I told you I'd be famous" like she did something really motivational for the public. With that in mind, do you still want to read this book?

Pros: I tried very hard to go into this book reading it in an unbiased manner. I'd read all of the opinionated reviews about the book and decided I'd read it anyway, because if it was anywhere near as hilarious as Supahead's book, I was game! Just as I did Supahead's book, I refused to buy it. As soon as the library called me, I went dashing there though and I read this book in less than 24 hours. I will say that I agree with her on one point. If Nas' father preached about how a man and a woman are free to do as they please as long as they aren't married, Nas had no right to be so jealous, especially IF he agreed with his father. The physical fights that the two had made me want to be on her side, and I rooted for Sha Sha for making Bryan finish high school and try to coax her into going to college or doing something with her life. Sha Sha seemed to have it altogether and I admired her mother for trying to get Carmen to go into an independent direction. This book would get 5 stars if I based it on Sha Sha.

Cons: At least in Supahead's book, Supahead realized she did a LOT of wrong things and didn't try to justify them. In Supahead's book, she'd been molested as a child so that had a psychological effect on her. But in Bryan's book, it was just pure 100% stupidity, greed, and immaturity. I have no clue why she felt the need to write this book. I had no opinion about her during the Jay-Z/Nas beef because I like to believe that no one should be judged until their side of the story is told. Unfortunately, she made HERSELF look even worse than the raps did. She admits to lying repeatedly to Nas about her whereabouts, her other men, and even trivial things like understanding slang terms. But she picked ALL THE WRONG TIMES to NOT LIE. When she tried to defend the fact that Jay-Z didn't wear a condom or put it on "tighter," she admitted that she had sex with him when HE was completely inebriated and got on him "quietly." When she tried to attack Kelis' "evil stepmother" antics, she made no attempt to point out that a child should be rid of sucking their thumb anyway, especially as old as Destiny was at the time. When she tried to blame Nas for hitting her, she took glory in snatching his chain, almost blinding him with pepper spray, hitting him, hiding it under a washing machine while rumors spread that he'd been robbed of it, but then running RIGHT back to him because she had no money. When she pointed out at the beginning of the book that she had two part-time jobs so readers were beginning to believe "Hey, maybe she's not in it for the money," 75% of the REST of the book was her getting jewelry, trips, clothes, food, cars, and her hair done from OTHER people's money and NO JOB. She kept on complaining about Nas leaving her "broke and jobless," but whose fault is THAT? It was like she couldn't comprehend the fact that she was grown! Get a j.o.b. She even made a comment about how she'd never fill out fast food applications. This is exactly the type of attitude that makes the government go to other countries for employees: too many broke people with picky ways talking about what they AIN'T going to do instead of trying to live up to their responsibilities.

She kept pointing out very unnecessary details like past boyfriends who had NOTHING to do with the story. Her first four boyfriends were irrelevant to the entire book. It made her look like she was straight off of the Jerry Springer show with the episode on how her and her friends jumped some woman for messing with her friend's man. She mentioned so many friends to the point where I couldn't keep up with any of them, and whoever edited this book could've at least put the names of people in pictures into clockwise order. There were parts of this book that were obviously written out of spite, such as accusing Kelis of needing deodorant and saying that Nas told her Beyonce's breath smelled bad. If she wasn't going through the book pointing out who was average, huge, and well-endowed in the genital area, I'd believe her, but it was just way too spiteful. Coming from someone in high school, I could understand that mindstate, but not a grown woman. I definitely didn't need to know how Jay-Z washes his behind. There was a fine line of writing an autobiography and she just kept on crossing it into Humiliation Zone. I understand that she was salty about both men putting her on blast, but what does one of them being "too conventional" in bed have to do with anything? Honestly, I admire Allen Iverson for high-tailing it out of there before she could talk about HIM too much. Jay-Z obviously prefers classier women because even when Beyonce was (or is?) mad at him, she put out an album that STILL kept it classy, but this lady Carmen Bryan stamped "I am a Hoodrat and Proud of It" all over her forehead.

It bothers me SO much when women take advantage of men, when it comes to money, because when there really is a woman who NEEDS child support and the father REALLY is a deadbeat Dad, the courts look at the parents skeptically. More often than not, it's the mother of the child(ren) who wants money for her OWN lifestyle instead of the child(ren)'s. At the end of the book, she says that Destiny should be able to live the lifestyle that she's used to, but a child is a child. I honestly believe that Destiny would've been just as content with a regular average-priced car. When does a child insist on a BMW? When does a child insist on furs? Kids are MADE to think that way. They don't come out the womb talking about "I need to get my nails done." The mother does! I understand why Kelis didn't want Carmen to come to the wedding, and had no choice but to not invite Destiny. It doesn't take a genius to see she's not nearly mature. Nas trusts his father, and considering Carmen admits that Destiny has not seen her grandfather much, I'd think she'd take that opportunity to let Destiny hang out with him. She didn't seem to be so much worried about Destiny when she was moving back and forth to different states because "she needed a break" about 8,000 times, hopping from hotel room to hotel room, and spending days away with her "friend."

What really bugs me about this book is that there are so many times that she had unprotected sex but felt the need to point out how all three guys were messing around on her. Why would she be surprised that she got an STD, had numerous abortions, and nobody took her seriously? A grown woman has to take HERSELF seriously before anybody else will, and this whole book was extremely juvenile. She tried to justify (like all hoodrats do) that if a man can be promiscuous, a woman should be able to as well, but what these women do not realize is that there's one big HUGE difference between a man and a woman. If a woman ho-hops, she could possibly bring another life into this world and have to CARRY it for 9 months. Why risk something like that? Put a condom on. Close your legs. Find something else to do with your time than chase men with money. I can't believe I'm typing this, but I have more respect for Supahead than I do Carmen. Wow!

Carmen Bryan, best known as Nas' baby mother, has released her long awaited tell all, "It's No Secret-From Nas to Jay-Z, From Seduction To Scandal a Hip-Hop Helen of Troy Tells All." Readers who frequent the Internet know that this book was a long time coming. Buzz about this book circulated on popular hip-hop websites years before anyone had heard about the Karrine Steffans book Confessions of a Video Vixen.

It's No Secret really doesn't have much merit for a reader outside of the hip-hop arena. Those who know and love hip-hop may find this story entertaining to a degree. It's filled with a lot of juvenile relationship drama primarily about Carmen's relationship with Nas, and Jay-Z who is referred to as SC for the majority of the book.

It's hard to not look at Bryant as an opportunist. She met Nas when she was twenty years old. He was a newly signed rapper and still broke for the most part. Obviously old enough to know about birth control Carmen is pregnant three times within their first year of dating. Carmen gives birth to her only child with Nas, Destiny and the rest of the book is basically about the relationship misadventures of young Carmen and Nas.

Their relationship, if you can call it that, rarely seemed to be exclusive. Carmen chalks this up to a conversation her and Nas had with his father Ola Daru early in their relationship. Ola declared that a couple should only be faithful and exclusive if they are married to one another. Carmen details their ups and down's and the financial pitfalls she would find herself in due to Nas' poor business sense or when he decided he was going to cut her off financially.

Career wise, Carmen mentions her brief employment at Rush Communications, Def Jam, and at Capital working for Tracey Waples. However, after the birth of Destiny and the rise of Nas' her career ended for the most part.

As for dirt she mentions brief mutual flirting between her and Puffy and a short fling with Allen Iverson. The rest is all Nas and SC. As for Nas' current wife Kelis, she tries to vilify her as a stepmother but falls short.

The things that Carmen complains about toward the end of the book are really no big deal when you look at single mothers who don't have children by high profile rappers. She complains when Nas stops paying her rent, car note, and child support. Granted, if her story is true, Nas did go about things wrong, but most single mother's only get child support, they don't get 100% lifestyle support as it seems she expected.

There really is no benefit or real growth or empowerment in this book as it thinly aims to proclaim. The first 50 or so pages are about Carmen's early life and honestly those pages could have been left out of the book. There are also a lot of annoying exclamation points used in the book where not really necessary, perhaps to show excitement. What did Carmen learn from all of this? She sums it up in one paragraph, and I'm not exaggerating.

"It's No Secret" is a quick read. There is just so much back and forth and going in circles about her relationship that it makes the reader want to skip pages. There is very little reflection or introspection. There are some nice color photo's of Carmen and Nas included in the book. The bottom line is, if you are a hip-hop fan you may find this book mildly entertaining.

Arguably, anybody who compares herself to Helen of Troy is just asking for it. And Carmen Bryant does, in her autobiography "It's No Secret: From Nas to Jay-Z, from Seduction to Scandal."

Bryan didn't launch a thousand ships or burn the topless towers of Ilium, and in fact she didn't do much more than worsen a temporary feud between two rappers. She's more a hip-hop Cressida than a Helen, and "It's No Secret" is more an attempt at literary revenge on her exes than an autobiography.

Bryan started screwing up her life after high school, eschewing college in favor of modelling and helping run a drug lab. But after leaving that behind, she got involved with the rapper Nas, who was then a struggling artist on the brink of massive success. Months later, Bryan gave birth to their only daughter, Destiny.

But neither Bryan nor Nas were big believers in fidelity, and while Nas was having sex with dozens of other hip-hop groupies, Bryan was having sex with Nas's biggest rival, rising star Jay-Z (whom she refers to as SC). But when the story came out, it destroyed her up-and-down relationship with Nas, once and for all.

You'd think a longtime hip-hop groupie who was living the luxe life would have some great dish and stories to tell. But don't expect much from "It's No Secret" -- aside from her paramours and their paramours, we get a few pages of Diddy and two sentences of J.Lo, before getting back to more dull experiences that Bryan feels are interesting.

Other authors might be able to make the mundane deeply interesting, but Bryan is a TERRIBLE writer. Her style is trite and repetitive (every man she meets has "caramel skin"), and goes over the same incidents over and over -- she and Nas fight, storm away, sleep with other people, reunite, repeat. And it takes a pretty bad writer to make whipped-cream-and-strawberries sex sound boring.

Predictably, Bryan casts herself as the victim, despite the fact that she caused most of her problems, and comes across as a pathological liar. She makes a great deal of fuss about Nas's infidelity, yet cheated a former boyfriend while he was imprisoned. And the last half of the book is basically revenge: Nas is portrayed as being pretty much pure nastiness, Jay-Z as a sneak, and Nas's wife Kelis as a vapid, wicked stepmother.

"It's No Secret" is at best a dull read, at worst an annoying one. And Bryan is no Helen. She's not even a hip-hop Faithfull, a Pallenberg, or a Buell -- just a hip-hop footnote.

I never thought I would read this type of book, but after hearing Carmen on the Wendy Williams show, I decided to pick it up.

Wendy obviously has problems with Carmen Bryan as demonstrated by the attitude she had with this young lady on her show. Several times during the interview, Wendy raised her voice with Carmen and expressed her doubts about many of the things Carmen was telling her. Because of this, I didn't think Wendy was giving Carmen the opportunity to discuss certain things that the listeners wanted to hear, so I purchased the book thinking that maybe Carmen's side of the story wasn't so bad afterall... WRONG!

Although Carmen did go through the typical relationship problems that women experience in high profile romances, she had COMPLETE control over whether or not to put herself out there as another industry ho. As readers will find after the first couple of chapters, before she even becomes involved with Nas, she had already set herself up as a trick in her teenaged years.

During one of Carmen's relationships, prior to meeting Nas, she dated a drug dealer from Connecticut whom she moved to Connecticut to be with only to find out shortly afterwards that he would be going to jail. After her boyfriend goes to jail, Carmen forms a close relationship with his close cousin and eventually starts a relationship with him. As readers will see, Carmen is careful to blame the decision to get involved with her man's cousin on the fact that he had some other female(s) visiting him while he was locked up. However, this pattern of hers (blaming others for her promiscuity) continues on in her relationships with Nas, Allen Iverson, Jay-Z, Wood Harrison and others.

What I also found funny was how Carmen makes it sound as if she had NO idea who Naz, Jay-Z or Allen Iverson were when she met them all. She makes it sound as if all of these high profile guys just happened to see a photo of her somewhere and decided to track her down. However, it was obvious to me that the only reason Iverson and Jay-Z even bothered with her was because of the fact that she was Nasir's girlfriend. And as many of us know, going after the girl of a man on top is an ego trip for a lot of men, so it made perfect sense for Iverson and Jay-Z to see if they could get a piece of what Mr. Jones had at home. And like the trick Carmen proves to be throughout the book, she WILLINGLY obliges them all.

The fact that this woman also became pregnant during her relationship with Nas and didn't know who the father was speaks volumes about her character. So while I thought I would sympathetize with her after hearing her on the Wendy Williams show, I now see why Carmen Bryan is no different from Karine Stephans or any other hip-hop groupie. Hanging around with other females who sound like groupies and showing up to every industry party possible does nothing to support Carmen's claims of getting back at Nas either.

I kept hoping to read an answer as to why in God's name Carmen Bryan would write a book assassinating her own character so badly. Her daughter will need a psychiatrist after reading about what her mother has done. Multiple abortions, multiple sex partners(sometimes within hours of each other), multiple occurrences of unprotected sex, habitually waiting on a man to give her $$$ for EVERYTHING (and I do mean EVERYTHING). She makes all women look REAL bad, especially single mothers. And to top it off, I heard her on Wendy Williams stating that she hasn't had a AIDS test since 1999!!! Astoundingly insipid!!!

I heard Carmen on Wendy Williams and on Power 105.1 NY. While She is well spoken and fully entitled to put on paper what she chooses, I cannot for the life of me figure out why she would embarass herself like this.

I read most of the book. Aside from her fabulous weave and open legs, what else does this girl have going for her? I want one person to please ask her if she does anything besides sleep with men. How about an education, a talent other than lying on your back, volunteer work, a J-O-B! This book is really sad and what's even more sad is that she dedicated the book to her daughter. I would be horrified if my mother was a ho and moreover, if she was proud of it.

While none of us are perfect, most women are not this promiscuous. It is neither funny nor cute that she lives her life this way, and is then shouting it to the world. I guess in a day and time when everyone wants to be rich and famous, we can expect to see more books such as this one. The industry has made it so that anyone can write a book. No one cares how you look to the public or how you willinginly humiliate yourself. So long as they get paid and you get paid, everyone is happy. And unfortunately, there are enough money-driven people to buy into this way of life.

There is nothing admirable about this book. I'm glad I didn't spend a dime on it. I borrowed it from someone else who brought it on the street for $6. And even that was too much. Yuk is all I have to say!! There should be a way to rate this garbage to no stars!

I am so glad I did not waste my money on this. When I heard the interviews that Carmen did and read the article in Essence magazine, I'll admit my curiosity did get the better of me and I borrowed a copy from my local library.

While the book is an easy read, the only thing it is good for is celebrity gossip and considering the source, you have to only wonder how much of it was embellished for a dramatic effect. In all of Carmen's promotional interviews and articles, she claims that her purpose for writing this book was to give her side of how the Nas and Jay-Z beef originated and to particularly address the songs that were 'written about her.' I never bought that explanation even while she insisted that "if you actually read the book you would understand."

Well I finished the book and the only thing I understand was this is a tale designed to keep the drama going. First of all, there are only a few pages within a short chapter that address the songs reportedly about her. The songs are nearly a decade old now and no longer receive regular airplay, so that is really a moot point to address at this point.

This book is about a bitter woman who never had an actual career in her life and only after being cut off financially by Nas shortly after he married Kelis did she decide to come forth and try to embarrass him and his family further and throw Jay-Z and Allen Iverson into the mix as well.

What is really sad is how she dogs out Mrs. Jones, Nas' late mother and describes her as the nastiest housekeeper in the projects and laughs with her girlfriends about the "roach carcasses" in the freezer and the modest furnishings (although she also admits this was during a time when Nas' career had just taken off). Carmen gives off the air that she has some certain height of sophistication and that the projects were totally beneath her, even though she summarizes in a paragraph her experience growing up with her mother and brother in Redfern housing projects in Far Rockaway, New York. Instead, she infers in a condescending tone, that her time spent living with Nas' family in Queensbridge houses was some sort of gross culture shock to her and she uses every opportunity to deride her boyfriend's family about their living circumstances; even though she admits Nas wasn't earning a great deal at the time.

This story is nothing more than some vindictive attempt to rub salt in decade old wounds and stir the pot. Her abrupt ending offers no real hindsight into her own contributory actions to her current circumstances and no words of wisdom or encouragement to keep other young women especially from the same poor choices, like having multiple abortions and the consequences of having unprotected sex on a regular basis. This author seems to have set out on a mission to embarrass others, but only embarrasses herself by having published this trashy tale.

First, I purchased the book to read pure gossip and to be entertained. That was fulfilled with this book. I was curious who Nas and Jay-Z might be behind the scenes in their day-to-day life. It seems that Nas is just how he appears to be in public, he is pretty much unfocused but talented and has to be motivated to work because he smokes too much weed. Jay-Z on the other hand is depicted a lot different from his public persona. He is depicted as a guy who projects himself to have a big ego, but he is sweet, sensitive and insecure. I believe there are some elements of truth in the book because she does not say either of these men are completely bad people. Also, she makes herself look like a fool and appears to be a permiscuous woman who made a living off of being with famous or high rolling men. She appears to chase men of celebrity status or high profile drug dealers. She pretends to have met all of these famous people by luck or by accident. This woman talks about being pregnant and having several abortions, having a child out of wedlock, contracting an STD and sleeping with numerous men like it's nothing. It may be a reality, but I was shocked that she would air that much dirty laundry when her daughter may someday read the book. I guess for some people airing all of that dirty laudry is a way to get it out in the open, accept it as a past and then move on. I was surprised to see her memorialize it though. I did like the gossip in it all. What woman isn't curious who is more well endowed among Allen Iverson, Jay-Z and Nas? You will find out when you read the book. I read the book all in one day and it's entertaining if you can get your hands on it. But, the book falls short in that it's not about a woman vindicated because she found her own success after all this. She seems to view her success as finally getting Nas to pay court ordered child support. She talks about being enrolled in classes at various universities but never appears to finish and start her own successful career. Also, I get the feeling that she resents Kelis because they are opposites. Kelis is educated, talented, has her own career with no kids. Kelis is what she would probably like to be, and that's probably why Nas married her instead. There was no point writing the book in my opinion. The two men who she stated were fighting over her, ended up making up and working together. They both ended up with high profile talented women. All she is left with after all that is the humiliation from the media that she now wants to turn into an accomplishment by writing...a book about how she was humiliated in detail. I still recommend to book for it's gossip which is like all gossip, you can believe it or not but it is what it is. It's a decent book.

All of the hype and anticipation of this book was over exaggerated! This is nothing more than a collection of diary entries from Carmen Bryan's sex life. She basically glorifies being a groupie and in a sense promotes promisciuity and casual sex with the elite (celebrities) In the book she had atleast 3 abortions with Nas and 1 miscarriage of which she didnt know who the father was, she also contracted an STD from either Jay-Z or Nas... So for Carmen to go on the air promoting this disgrace of a book and stating she wrote this book for all the young single mothers out there is an atrosity! I DO NOT advise anyone to buy this book, wait til it goes to the library and check it out for free! OH BY THE WAY, IF THIS MEANS ANYTHING: I TRIED TO SELL THIS BOOK TO HALF PRICE BOOKS AND WAS ONLY OFFERED $5 MEASLEY DOLLARS ~GO FIGURE~

I couldn't even read all of this sorry tale. Carmen had to have been broke as a joke to even want this book published. She made herself seem so stupid especially when she wrote about her world coming to an end when Nas stopped paying for her truck, her rent, and every other necessity in her life. What really pissed me off is the nerve of her to say how Beyonce breath stunk and Kelis' underarms stunk. The nerve of her. Here are two women who for one make their own money and are smart enough to get up, get out and get something for themselves and not depend on any man to do everything for them. I bet if Jay left B, or Nas left Kelis these two ladies wouldn't have to stoop to writing about their private parts and who's hit it to make money. I wouldn't buy another one of her books if Jesus came down himself and told me to. This book is garbage........And that's being nice.