The AV Club has reviewed two books about hip hop that involve Nas in some scandalous way.
The first is Carmen Bryan's bio, It's No Secret, which chronicles her affair with Nas, as well as Jay-Z and basketball star Allen Iverson. She's pretty livid about Nas (she's also the mother of his child), but speaks glowingly about Jay-Z and Iverson, saying: "He (Jay-Z) really listened to me and when I spoke he would look intently into my eyes. It was almost like he was recording my every word to memory. I had never been with a man who was so attuned to my thoughts and feelings."
The second book, by Kim Osorio called Straight From The Source, is more about Osorio's time working for the magazine The Source, and how it went from being hip hop's most important magazine to a failed launching pad for shitty rapper Benzino. She admits to affairs with Nas and 50 Cent in her time as Editor-and-Chief for The Source, as well as being pressured to write attacks against Benzino's enemies, including its ridiculous campaign against Eminem. She was eventually fired from her post, but managed to win a big settlement after launching a sexual harassment lawsuit.
Both books sound like they'd make interesting movies, particularly Osorio's. It's easy to forget that hip hop has a thirty-plus year history, and there are many skeletons in the closet that are starting to emerge. Too bad Nas has to be the fall guy.
