March 18, 12
It’s crazy what not having the proper connections can do to a person’s career. I remember when I was an adolescent boy and the group Destiny’s Child came on the scene. I thought they were the sexiest thing to happen to music since En Vogue, and what made it even better was the fact that they were exactly my age.
As teenaged boys we had several explosive debates about who was the baddest girl in the group. My favorite was Latavia and everybody in my click respected that. Some people chose Beyoncé but I couldn’t really understand why. Latavia sang just as well, was way thicker, more charismatic, and prettier than Beyoncé. Beyoncé wasn’t quite bootyliscious yet in the late 90’s. She seemed a bit gangly and awkward to me. So you can imagine my surprise when the girl of my fantasies, Latavia, was ousted from the group after a disagreement. I was absolutely crestfallen.
Of course this was well before I had a solid grasp on connections and how they work. To tell you the truth I’m only realizing right now how important it is to build a solid team of individuals around me. If I would have been aware of this in undergrad then I definitely would have pledged in some fraternity, and had I know this in graduate school then I suppose I would have made time for kissing the proper asses instead of spending hours in the library trying to hone my craft.
Perhaps if my ex-lady Latavia would have accepted the reality that Beyoncé’s father was the manager of the group thus making the three other girls completely dispensable then she would still have a career in music. And perhaps if I would have befriended more powerful people in my youth instead of constantly raging against the machine like the protagonist of an existential novel then I would be established by now.
Well maybe all of this means that the lovely Latavia Roberson and me were truly made for one another. What can I say old crushes definitely die-hard, and 15 years after seeing her face that is still one connection that I would love to make. Wink, wink ;-)
-YB