User:Thatwhoiswise/Hiding in Hip-Hop

Hiding in Hip-Hop: On the Down Low in the Entertainment Industry—from Music to Hollywood is former MTV and Hollywood insider writer Terrance Dean compelling and controversial memoir about his tumultuous life and involvement with celebrities and a taboo Hollywood secret.

Composition
Hiding in Hip-Hop is broken down into different sections, each section deals with a different aspect of Dean's life but instead of using the word "chapters" he uses the word "Disks" to reflect the fact that this is a Hip-Hop narrative and like any Hip-Hop narratives its told through a series of "Disks" not "Chapters". The Memoir does not deal with sexually entirely but starts with Dean's traumatic childhood growing up empoverished to abusive drug addicted parents and how these childhood experiences led him to the entertainment industry.

Dean then goes on to discuss how he got involved in this secret gay Hip-Hop subculture and his first parties and he goes on to give graphic depictions of sexually acts between men he either participated in or witnessed some of them with well-known rappers or celebrities throughout Hollywood and possesses the question: "What I  m truly hoping for is the start of a real conversation about why, in this very contemporary day and age, we as black people are still made to feel that we cannot be comfortable in our skin? 

Dean goes on to discuss the "macho" "gangster" image which is the corner-stone but does not define the Hip-Hop industry and how it plays against the "sissy" "weak" image of the gay community. Causing the "vale of secrecy" that even the paparazzi won't breach. Finally, Dean goes on to state that by outing himself and coming to terms with his sexuality he might help out others or Hip-Hop and Hollywood and a whole.

down-Low V. down-low-gay V. In the closet
Throughout the book, Dean refers to himself and various individuals as being "down-low" or "down-low gay". A down-low-gay man is Dean term for a closeted gay man. But a down-low man is a bi-sexual man who often on the receiving side of homosexual sexual pleasure and for that reason is not considered to be a gay man.

Publication
In 2007 the publishing company Simon & Schuster announced that they would be publishing a book by Terrance Dean that was going to "OUT" gay men in the entertainment industry. In 2008 Hiding in Hip-Hop: On the Down Low in the Entertainment Industry was published by Atria which is subsidiary of Simon & Schuster and it became apparent that the book would not "OUT" anyone and that was never Dean intention but instead, he was looking to cope with childhood traumas, come to terms with his own sexuality and introduce readers to a well known but never talked about Hollywood and Hip-Hop's gay subculture.

Controversy

 * Shortly after publication, it was discovered that Hiding in Hip-Hop contains certain chapters about Nahshon Dion Anderson's personal and professional life that were published without her consent or knowledge.
 * Throughout the book, Dean depicts graphic homosexual behavior he has undertaken or witnessed with other men in the entertainment industry. Dean never uses their real names and chooses to refer to them by aliases but Dean provides enough clues that one could guess ones real identity. More so the real names that corresponding to the alias are not only known to Dean but also to members of Simon & Schuster publications and if the real identities are ever leaked or discovered this could have damaging repercussions due to the stigma in the Hollywood, Hip-Hop and entertainment industry.

Critical Reception
Black entertainment magazine Essence listed Hiding in Hip-Hop as one of the best-selling non-fiction books of 2008, their listing is based upon sales from African American bookstores throughout the United States. In the Hip-Hop world Dean's book became "runaway, most talked about, and most Googled book sensation of the year." (cite)