𝙵𝙴𝙱𝚁𝚄𝙰𝚁𝚈 𝟷𝟼, 𝟷𝟿𝟿𝟼 𝟻:𝟷𝟿 𝙿𝙼
𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚑
( 𝙳𝙴𝚅𝙰𝙽𝚃𝙴. )
It had been about three days since news broke about all that had went down. I had received numerous phone calls from clowns in the industry who had so much shit to say about me last year, all of a sudden trying to show concern so that they can get information out of me. At this point, I just wanted to change my damn number.
It was the first time I had ever taken care of business the legal way, and I only did that out of respect for Rhonda. We had been doing so well lately and the last thing I wanted was to make this situation worse than it already was. With everything now revealed, she wasn't mad at me anymore about the baby news. She was mad that I couldn't tell her who the male suspect was, though. Because of legal reasons, of course. Instead of exposing JoJo, I've just been traveling with Rhonda to keep her out of reach for a while. I wanted to make sure that his funky ass ain't have no form of communication with her until trial. No telling what tricks he'd try to pull to get out of prison.
As usual, K-Ci was beefing with me without knowing exactly what was going on. All he knew was that his brother was stressed out and automatically came to the conclusion that I had something to do with it since me and JoJo hadn't been speaking to one another. Little did he know, his brother was a damn accomplice to a crime and would be behind bars soon. I had never given JoJo a reason to betray me the way that he did and no matter how many excuses he gave, none of them made enough sense for me to accept.
𝙻𝙴𝙻𝙴𝙴, 𝚁𝙷𝙾𝙽𝙳𝙰, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚃𝙰𝙹 𝚐𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚕𝚒𝚖𝚘, 𝟷𝟿𝟿𝟼. ( 𝙿𝚑𝚘𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚗 𝚋𝚢 𝙳𝚎𝚟𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚎 𝚂𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚐 )
𝙳𝙴𝚅𝙰𝙽𝚃𝙴 𝚂𝚆𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚁𝙷𝙾𝙽𝙳𝙰 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚞𝚍𝚒𝚘, 𝟷𝟿𝟿𝟼. ( 𝙿𝚑𝚘𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚗 𝚋𝚢 𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚌 𝙼𝚊𝚓𝚘𝚛 )
Currently, we were in Atlanta, GA working on SWV's upcoming album. They wanted to call it New Beginnings, which I found fitting since things were slowly but surely getting better for us both. Because Rhonda wanted to venture out on her own musically, I decided not to produce or write any of the records. I was mainly here as her 'MANager' and support system. Oddly, she's been sort of closed off lately. As if she had a lot on her mind. I wanted to ask her about it, but I knew she'd eventually tell what was going on whenever she was ready. She still seemed happy nonetheless. Over the past year, I feel like we had grown closer than we had ever been. I was thankful for it. It honestly felt like old times. Like we were just kids again. Before Mary Jane and the Haileys had even come into the picture. That cute little church girl, shy as ever. And that tall little church boy, handsome as ever.
I chuckled at my own thoughts as we rode in the limo, heading to Veni, Vidi, Vici to meet with one of Rhonda's chosen producers for the album. For some reason, she wouldn't tell me who it was. Quite frankly, it bugged the shit out of me but I figured it had to be for a good reason. Either it was going to have me too excited to come, or unwilling to come at all. She knew me well.
Once we had finally arrived to our destination, we climbed out of the car and all began to head for the door. Being the gentlemen that I am, I held the door open for the group and followed in shortly after.
When we made it to the table, there he was. Pharrell Williams. It had been a while since I had seen him. The last time I saw him was when he was leaving Swing Mob, telling me that he came across other career opportunities. Even though I was previously bitter about it, I completely understood. His sound was different from what Swing Mob was doing. He was into that white California shit with a hint of Hip-Hop. So far, he was making a name for himself within the industry. I couldn't be mad him. As a former mentor, I was actually quite proud. Look at this lil' nigga.
I could tell that he was nervous as to how the night was going to go whenever he saw me so to ease the awkwardness, I offered him a nod and a slight smile, "What's up, man? " The tension seemed to gradually leave his body as he smiled back at me, nodding in return. We all took a seat, joining him and the other members of The Neptunes at the table.
"Thanks for meeting with us, Pharrell. It's been a minute", Rhonda said with a bright smile, getting comfortable next to me.
Pharrell just chuckled, shrugging a bit, "Oh, come on. You know I been waiting to work with you and the girls. Speaking of which, how is the album coming along? How many songs were you needing from me? "
"Good question. So the album is basically done, we just need about 2 more songs to add. A nice ballad we can release as a single a few months after the release to help increase sales. As far as the other one, I'm not too sure yet. We can let you listen to all that we've recorded so far so that you can hear the vibes and sound we're going for", Rhonda stated, occasionally glancing over at Taj and Lelee who nodded in agreement with all that she was saying. It was nice to see her in her element. A boss. Though I'd give her a hard time back then, the truth is that I always admired how great of a business woman she was. She handled her shit and made little to no mistakes. There was a point where I was actually envious of her because she seemed to be better at managing my business than I was. My ego had gotten the best of me and due to the fact that I could not accept the fact that someone new to the industry was flourishing in the areas I wanted to, I took my frustrations out on her when I should have been asking for advice. That was something that I regretted every day. The way I treated her.
Now I had no problem with letting her run things from time to time. Honestly, things seemed to be going more smooth with Swing Mob now that I had recently made her the COO of 4HISDAMNSELF Entertainment. We were better as a team than enemies. So much so that we were able to sit down with Tupac and actually settle our differences enough for me to be a producer on his album, All Eyez On Me, that had recently dropped. Thankfully it had dropped on the exact same day the news broke out about the scandal Mary Jane and JoJo had pulled, so fans and the media were too focused on him to see what was going on with me. I wanted to keep it that way. I feared Rhonda being ambushed by paparazzi with questions.
She didn't deserve anymore trauma in her life. To be honest, she never did. She was such a gentle woman and despite remaining strong for all of this time, I knew that it was only a matter of time before something sent her over the edge; pushed her to her limit.
Dinner conversations had gone on without me since I was lost in my own thoughts, and by the time I snapped out of it, I was completely lost.
"Yeah, I mean I've been working with Russell Simmons and Kevin Liles for their new label Def Soul. They've signed a few artists already and they're actually really good. They just signed Montell Jordan and Case. I think the industry is going to love them. I can tell they will have a huge impact on the music industry", Rhonda raved on as she lifted the glass of water from the table before taking a sip from it. She then glanced over at me with enthusiasm while lightly tapping my knee, "Oh yeah! Speaking of which, I been meaning to ask you if you'd be willing to write and produce a song for Montell's second album? It's still in the development process and he said he's a huge fan so he wanted me to see if you were interested."
I shrugged a little, chuckling and smiling shyly, "Sure. I don't mind. I need something to keep me busy these days." And it was true. We were currently weeding out which artists to keep under 4HISDAMNSELF's management and which ones to let go since Swing Mob was slowly coming to an end so that me and Rhonda could venture into other things within the industry. We felt like we had done enough artist development and that they were good enough to sign to a label on their own without my guidance and funding. The idea of saving money sounded so much better than taking care of damn near twenty adults and my kid that was on the way. I had to think smarter when it came to my finances, and unfortunately that included letting go of all of my sports cars. Rhonda said that I could only keep one.
Ever since she saw those bills piled up on my counter, she somehow became my damn accountant. I knew I should've hid them. Despite how reluctant I was to change my lifestyle around, I knew that she was only looking out for me. This was going to benefit me more than it was going to hurt me.
Once dinner was finally over, we all agreed to meet at the studio to work on the songs. I honestly wasn't expecting things to be moving as fast as they were, but I wasn't going to complain because the release date for the album was coming up soon. Plus, I wanted to see what he could bring to the table. I was certain that it wouldn't be better than anything I've produced or written, but that wasn't my call to make. After about a thirty minute commute, we had arrived at Tree Sound Studios, which hadn't been open that long. The owner, Paul Diaz, was a good friend of mine and had been begging me to stop by so I figured since we were already in Georgia, what better time than now?
𝟾:𝟹𝟹 𝙿𝙼
Entering the building, we headed toward Studio A with guidance from the receptionist. She was about 5' 10", had a caramel skin tone, and hazel-green eyes that were kind of scary if she stared at you long enough. She held the door open for us all to walk inside and offered me the kind of smile that I was too familiar with. The thing about some women is they don't care if you're in a relationship or not. They'd be okay with ruining a happy home just for a one-time fuck. Thankfully I was at a place in my life where attention from women could no longer get me all riled up. I had the attention of the only woman I cared about, even when I looked like utter shit. She wasn't after my money, my looks, or anything else these chickens were found attractive about me on a surface level. Those kind of women no longer impressed me, and it was huge relief. I still had a lot to prove as far as my ability to be faithful to Rhonda after all I've put her through, which was expected. She still has her doubts at times. Hopefully I'd be able to gain her trust again at some point.
I could tell that the receptionist was a bit embarrassed after she didn't get the reaction she wanted, clearing her throat and awkwardly walking down the hallway and back to the front desk. I chuckled a bit as I allowed the door to close behind me and headed to the switchboard out of habit, taking a seat next to Pharrell. It was kind of eerie being in the studio with him again. This time, I wasn't the one in charge. I mean, neither is he, but you get what I'm saying.
We listened to a few beats that Pharrell had already been working on and after an hour, a slow beat with a jazz kind of feel came on. Everyone was silent as we listened, but the silence didn't last long. Taj stood up from the couch positioned against the wall underneath some paintings of other artists and began to sway her hips, "Oooh, this is sexy. I better get a lead on this one, Rhonda."
"Shut up, Taj. I need the lead. Y'all hoes always getting the exposure", Lelee said, rolling her eyes jokingly.
Taj laughed, kissing her teeth shortly after, "Girl, please. If you wasn't too busy stealing people's men, you'd have enough time to come in the studio and lead something", Taj responded and we immediately knew what she was referring to. Mary J and K-Ci. Pharrell and the other members of The Neptunes exchanged looks with each other before pretending to be focused on the switchboard.
"See, now that's the shit I be talking about. You always going too fucking far", Lelee started to say as she stood up with her index finger pointed in Taj's direction. "Let's not pretend like you don't live on your ashy ass knees."
Before Taj and Lelee could continue, Rhonda stood up to stand between them, "Alright, alright! That's enough. Nobody needs to be airing out anybody's business. We are here to work, so why don't y'all just chill out and make up so we can get this album done."
Reluctantly, Lele and Taj mumbled apologies to each other before going to sit back down on the couch while Rhonda huffed a little, heading over to the switchboard to stand between me and Pharrell, placing her hands on our shoulder, "Okay. So let's start writing. I don't want this to be anything sexual. I'm just not getting that kind of vibe. Plus, we always sing about sex so I really want to go for a more mature sound for this album. "
Pharrell nodded, along with the others. I didn't say anything since I knew that she couldn't have been talking to me as far as the writing. Was she?
She noticed my silence, glancing down at me and giving my shoulder a light squeeze then offered me a soft smile as she slowly lowered herself onto my lap. I couldn't help but smile in return as I placed one hand on her right hip and the other rested on top of her left thigh. I leaned forward a little to plant a gentle kiss on the nape of her neck and could see her shiver ever so slightly. It was unbelievable at times that I still had that kind of affect on her and vice versa. The love and attraction we had for each other was something that would never go away and seemed to get stronger over time.
I watched as they all collaborated with one another on the lyrics and melodies for the record. Every now and again, she glance back at for me as if she was still seeking approval though she didn't want to verbally ask for it. I would just nod or shake my head at her without saying too much. This was a time for her to explore on her own without me and I respected that. It was difficult to remain completely quiet when it came to music, but I was trying my best. So far, it was sounding pretty good.
Soon enough, it was time for Rhonda to enter the booth. I could tell that she was nervous so I gave her a reassuring look. She relaxed a little, placing the headphones over her ears and nodded at Pharrell to signal for him to start the beat. Her eyes gradually found mine again once it was time for the verse to begin.
❛ Alone, you and I intertwine
Refreshing conversation for the mind
As we stare we both seek and hope to find
Real love, purified ❜
I couldn't lie and say that I wasn't captivated by how beautiful she sounded and looked. It didn't take much for her to make me swoon. She was, to me, one of God's greatest creations and the best thing that could have ever happened to me. Finally allowing myself to love wholeheartedly and be loved felt good. It had given me a joy that I didn't even know was possible for me to experience. She made me feel safe and important. No other woman had the ability to make me feel this way, and I was certain that there would never be another.
❛ Use your heart and not your eyes
(Baby, just relax and ride)
If you got time then I got time
(Yeah, yeah, yeah)
Free your thoughts and watch them fly
Use your heart and not your eyes ❜
Rhonda continued on and sang a few more verses and sections of the song before coming out of the booth and allowing Taj the opportunity to sing the bridge and add her background vocals, then following Lelee to add her background vocals.
Because the group had been doing music for so long, it didn't take as long as it would've taken for other artists who didn't have studio and performance experience. It was around 10:54PM when the vocals were completed, and I was happy because I was exhausted. It had been a long day and I was honestly just ready to get in the bed. Luckily for me, I didn't have to stay overnight to mix and master like I usually would. Knowing Rhonda, she'd be here supervising Pharrell and Chad while they worked on completing everything, so I just advised her to release everyone for tonight and just come back tomorrow to work on the rest. I could tell that she was tired too by the way her eyes were hooded. She could barely keep them open.
"Come on, baby", I said as I patted her thigh a little as a gesture for her to get up. My legs had fallen asleep because she had sat on them for so long. I had to stretch a bit before I could actually walk. A nigga is getting old.
Everyone started to clear out of the studio, heading to their cars while we all headed to the limo. During the ride back to the hotel, she had fallen asleep with her head resting on my shoulder. I chuckled at how cute it was, deciding to not wake her this time. Climbing out of the limo, I bent down, reaching inside and gently pulling her closer to the open door and throwing her arm over my left shoulder while I hooked my arms under the back of her thighs and eased her out of the vehicle. I carried her into the lobby while Lelee and Taj walked in front of us, heading to the elevator and pushing the button for it to come down. Once it did, we all got on and rode in silence because of how tired we all were. When we had reached the eleventh floor, we had all exited the elevator and headed down the hall where our rooms were. Thankfully we were all next to each other so I had help getting the door unlocked with the key due to my hands being occupied.
Taj set the keys down on the dresser before saying goodnight and leaving out, closing the door behind her while I carried Rhonda over to the bed and laid her down on top of the comforters. I helped her out of her shirt and skirt had been wearing as well as her shoes then draped the comforter over her. Leaning down and placing a kiss on her forehead, she groaned a little, still in a deep sleep. I just shook my head, "Shit, I wish I was sleeping as good as you right now." I stood up straight, reaching in my pocket for the pre-rolled blunt and lighter and went onto the balcony, sparking it up and taking a few pulls from it as I took in the view of the city.
My mind was flooded with thoughts of all that had been going on lately. I was hopeful that this would be the last of the bullshit, but I knew it would only be a matter of time before something else came up. Trouble always seemed to follow me, regardless of how much I try to change or stay away from it. As much as I wanted to be optimistic, I found it to be difficult to do given all of the previous experiences I've had over the years. All I knew is that I loved Rhonda and as long as I had her and God by my side, I could get through anything.
My cellphone started to ring and I reached down in my pocket to get it, flipping open the Motorolla Startac to see an incoming call from Static. I tensed up a bit, unsure of what the call was going to be about. Usually if somebody is calling this late, it was never good. I hesitantly pushed the green button to answer, hoping that I wouldn't regret it.
"Yo. . What's up, Stat? ", I greeted him, hearing a brief silence on the other end of the line before he had said anything.
After a sigh, he finally spoke in a dithering tone, "Hey, uh, D. . . We need to talk."
Fuck. What now?