Nip From The Brick City

She was a Newark girl. What does that mean? You could dress her up; even take her out. But don't be fooled by that pretty package..she can scrap with the best of them and win..

I remember the first time I saw her on television. Being a Jermaine Jackson fan-my favorite in the Jackson Five-I followed his successful, albeit(to me)brief solo career. On one of his solo albums, he featured a young but clear and powerfully - voiced young woman. I don't remember which 'variety' show they appeared on, but Jermaine and the young woman's voices intertwined flawlessly, and I was instantly impressed. But I didn't hear anything else about her for almost two years. By then, I was a D.J. on a local radio station, and her first self-titled album was a big hit. We played each and every song from it, even though it already had six or seven 'number one' songs on it.(My favorite was produced by Kashif," Thinking About You" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLzndfETNkk) I started to learn more about Nippy-that she was close to her family, that she was the daughter of a big-time back up singer and member of the "Sweet Inspirations", and her cousin was a big time performer as well.She also was a Noxema and Glamour magazine model. But my cousin laughed when I asked did she know Nip."Who don't? Smokes more weed than the law allows, I see her on South Orange Ave. all the time, buying hair." I was stunned. By the time her second album hit our airwaves-and seemed headed for the stars-there came rumblings from black radio: why does she always sing pop? why can't we get a real "jam" from one of her albums?

I went to see Nip at Yale's Woolsey Hall. There she was onstage: lean, dressed in a pink chifon-ish floor-length dress,with long sleeves, buttoned from head-to-toe. Her brother, Gary and someone else sang background. She had a live band of about four musicians with a classical ensamble mixed in. She was clearly still very young, wearing very little make-up, no hair extensions, wigs or weaves. There was a simple stool on stage. She came out, sat down and began to sing. The concert almost had a classical air to it. So much so that at one point, a patron cried out, "Please sing 'You Give Good Love'!". She cooly retorted back something along the lines of this-is-my-show-darling-and-i'll-sing-that-when-im-ready. "I already have your money," she smiled; "you may leave if you choose". You could feel the air being sucked out of the room; there was a collective "oooh" sigh/breath. But then, one patron clapped, others laughed, the room lightened a little and she continued to sing. After almost two hours of song,the audience politely gave an ovation, but seemed unsure about her ability to be a true entertainer.( Little did we know, she'd been singing in clubs for quite sometime.)

Then show business began to dabble in Nip's business. She supposedly dated Eddie Murphy and Randall Cunningham. There were rumors that she was gay; alledgely showing public affection with her longtime friend and then road manager. There were even rumors that they were living together, and had bought a condo next door to her cousin. For the 1980's and to an African-American audience, this was scandalous! Not to mention, the all night partying; photos from her Euorpean tour, one particularly where she's sitting in the window of a hotel room, with her eyes looking almost closed; the fabulous shopping sprees. Supposedly, Robin and Nip began to disagree about the "people" Nip had surrounded herself with. Robin exited. Entered, Bobby Brown.

Those same critics couldn't understand why she would marry Bobby. Bobby, in case you forgot, was the first breakout star of New Edition,and the hottest young entertainer, with the so-called bad boy rep, on the planet. Newark, Nip's hometown,and Roxbury, where Bob is from, may be miles apart physically, but spiritually share quite a bit. The pair's duet," We Got Something In Common", was meant to answer critics on their union and basically tell the world to leave them alone. She lost two babies;(http://www.nndb.com/people/114/000023045/) the critics were somewhat kinder, but still panned her acting in "The Bodyguard", saying that it was easy money for co-star Kevin Costner, and that the soundtrack was the best thing. The same for "The Preacher's Wife." She found gold in producing:"Cinderella" and "The Princess Diaries" were sponsored by her company.

But who could forget her chill-down-your-spine rendition of the "Star-Spangle Banner"? It's the only version of the anthem that has gone platinum.

Then came the earnings. Nip fired her father as her manager;he sued her for payment owed. He later died without getting a dime. It seemed neither one of them ever got over it. People questioned whether she would attend his funeral-she didn't, choosing to 'grieve privately'.

Soon after, one by one, and over the last decade, it seemed events started to happen. Busted in a Hawaiian airport; Bobby's house in Atlanta, abandoned, with taxes in six-figures which she paid off. A stalker.Album delays. The crashing of exotic cars, the public fights, the raising of Bobbi Kristina. An argument with an on-air personality in New York. A trip to visit the Black Israelites and bathe in the River Jordan. While "Waiting To Exhale" took off, and the soundtrack blazed its way up the charts, there were off and on stints in rehab. Then, "Being Bobby Brown". Nip became a public joke; her wonderful range becoming raspy from every Kool cigarette, every drink and whatever else she may have taken in.

I didn't know Nip up close and personal, but her career coinsided with my being a disc jockey. I attended music conferences; I always talked to reprsentatives of the record companies. Nip was a person who had sold multi-platinum albums, and the light of those sales shone brightly on whatever she did. Nip had lived most of her life in the public eye, and despite how they may have felt about her, the public watched Nip. Good, bad or indifferent.

On Saturday, February 11th, somwhere between 8:30 and 9 p.m., my daughter ran into the kitchen saying, "Mommy,Mommy, Whitney Houston has died! It's poppin' up all over my computer!". I said, "Naah," picking up the remote. "They just said Eddie Murphy was dead last week", I responded, flipping the channel to CNN. But there it was: a big, blue banner on-screen,
proclaiming,"Whitney Houston 1963-2012". I didn't know what to say; I didn't know how to feel. The reporter in me texted some folks, but then I stopped. I was numb. And for the first time ever, I didn't want to spread the news.

Somehow, over the last few years, it seemed that Nip had pulled it together; her "come clean" interview with Oprah; her new CD was a hit (even though her tour wasn't). She completed a film project and just a few weeks ago, won a suit against her Stepmother.(http://www.onwallstreet.com/blogs/whitney-houston-estate-planning-woes-trial-heirs-2677149-1.html)

And she looked goregeous. In recent interviews, she said she had 'matured'.

Nip was a Newark girl. And I knew she had that go-hard or go-home scrappiness in her. I know Newark. I spent summers and spring breaks there: I got my ears pierced with a sewing needle in my aunt's kitchen; had my cousin tease my hair and put liquid mascara on my eyes, so I'd look old enough to hang out with her.I learned a lot about what it means to look good. I had hoped Nip's Newark sensibilties would pull her through and she'd be back on top.

So Nip returns to the Brick City this Saturday. The press will not get to 'diss' or be critical of the service or the guests; the public will not be allowed to say a final good-bye because they had wrote Nip off a long time ago. Nor will she be the excuse for a Grammy party to go on. She will simply be Nip, or Nippy, the girl with the Big Voice, closing her journey in the baptist church with family and friends where it all began.

"Thinking About You", Whitney

Blessings...