Every single day in every single way, we work to describe Kandi. There is candy to offer and candy of all sorts you see, eye-candy, chocolate candy and the sweet rewards of life for you and me. And if you are in the hip-hop world and have decided that you are in love with a particular girl, Kandi Burruss has affected the urban community in a particularly special way. I had the good fortune of spending time on an exclusive photo shoot and witness her transformation from ingenue to dominatrix in this digital fantasyland. A formermember of the popular girl group Xscape, she has grown up in the industry.
It is an appalling fact that it is hard just to be Kandi, a young single African American woman in the entertainment space. And if you watch the Real Housewives of Atlanta, it’s either to your delight or your dismay — Kandi is there. There are days that pass and days that won’t last but the songs that she’s written are treats for us en masse, with the hits that have made musical history.
It has come time to have an honest talk about sex today. To talk about breast cancer and other things that effect women in a particularly negative way. Kandi is outspoken and willing to talk frankly about subjects that frighten many people away. But the toys and the gadgets she markets are so much better than HIV and heartbreak.
So rumors fly and dreams go by the wayside, as we all take the negative press to be real and they choose to believe the worst about people and cause all types of undue stress.
Lies get told on Facebook, and old wounds get reopened. Fires are ignited and tempers flare, over ridiculous new slang, like a jump-off implying she’s “just a thang.”
But why would anyone jump off into the untested and untrue? Why risk contracting AIDS and the other diseases the promiscuous do?
The Kandi that we adore lives above the fray. The Kandi Buruss that we know is as sweet as her real friends say. She is a dutiful mother placing her daughter above all others, to keep safe and protected from any harm that may come her way. She dreams of a charmed future for her daughter to have, free of proverbial right hooks and left jabs. Those vicious rumors we secretly hope have some truth and some bearing, to cast nasty aspersions on her life and her caring.
It’s really just entertainment and most don’t understand that when Kandi’s bantering about this and that man, she’s only doing it because it’s expected and she can. But we should be more careful about the judgement we pass, remember if not hers it could be your own a–.
There are those of us who choose not to be professionals or work hard each day, but why throw stones at those who decide to go that way? But we will fool ourselves and profess to be budding celebrities, we’re just waiting for the right break to collect the big fees. But I admire Kandi for going after “it” and having it her way.
The sexual revolution of the ‘70s is alive and well and resides in women who have fascinating stories to tell. To live every moment as best you can. To be as kind and respectful to every brother and woman, to cultivate in yourself the things that will make your spirit soar and grow and then savor life so sweet — as only Kandi can.
Peace.
Munson Steed
