**INTRODUCING MS. ABIOLA ABRAMS**
I had the pleasure of doing a Q&A; with the beautiful host of BET J's The Best Shorts, Abiola Adams. She is truly a DIVALICIOUS chick. I was honored to chat with her about her new book, Dare, and learn more about who Abiola is.
THAT HOTNESS || ABIOLA
For starters, I'm sure some people are wondering, "Who's Abiola". Tell the "That Hotness" readers a little bit about yourself.
Good question—who is this Abiola chick anyway? I am a wayward goddess, and artsy, emotional superhero who escaped from the jungles of Guyana to teach and entertain. (giggles) Ok, ok…. Real talk now. I am an opinionated tastemaker, cheerleader, hip hop feminist, fashion-loving, cultural critic, and TV big mouth. I was raised between Guyana and New York City and I live in Harlem.
That’s the long answer. I guess that the short answer is that I am the host of THE BEST SHORTS on BET-J, an indie film competition. Besides being a BET host, I am an indie filmmaker, and published author who gives motivational talks. Dare, published by Simon & Schuster, is my first novel.
My book tour is called The Dare To Be B.A.D. Revolution, and I’m excited about hanging out at That Hotness!
The name of your book is "Dare". What inspired you to write the book and what inspired you to call your virtual book tour the "Dare To Be Bad" Revolution?
DARE, an intelligent, fun, romantic, comedic and sexy story about finding true love and self-esteem in the world of entertainment. I was inspired by the crazy things that I see going on within the industry and the character Maya also goes through a painful breakup as I did just before writing this story.
My book release party is called Party Like a Book Star, and I’m really excited about my virtual tour called, as you said, the Dare to Be B.A.D. Revolution. B.A.D. means Beautiful and Daring. I want people to read this book and feel invincible. Maya’s best friend Athena in the novel Dare forces her to ask herself, What would you DARE to do if you knew you could not fail? That’s what the Dare to Be B.A.D. Tour is all about.
What's the plot behind the book?
Dare is a novel about Maya, a sociologist with self esteem issues who goes undercover in the hip hop industry as a sexed up rapper named Jezebel and almost loses herself. It is a comedic portrayal of temptation and the entertainment industry. I am proud to say that the book quotes almost every influential woman in hip hop from Roxanne Shante and Queen Latifah, to Lil’ Kim and Foxy Brown to Wendy Williams and Kimora Lee Simmons. It is also a story about learning how to own your personal power. I want us all to be strong, kick-ass goddess women! There are a lot of goodies on my interactive site to help us move in that direction.
What writers, if any, influenced you to write this book?
Hmmm. I enjoy a wide variety of work from the literary works of Toni Morrison and Gloria Naylor to the tell it like it is work of Terry McMillan. I am also a magazine junkie! I also enjoy hip hop author Heru Ptah and many of my peers like Jennifer Weiner, Black Artemis and Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez. There are exciting things happening in black and Latin women's writing right now! I am also classically inspired as you'll find hints of The Wizard of Oz in Dare. In fact, the entire novel Dare is a chick lit retelling of Faust set in the hip hop world.
Here’s the wild thing though—I was more influenced with this particular project by other things than my fellow authors. I was influenced by the music of Nas and Jay-Z. I was inspired by the videos of Beyonce, Tupac’s poetry, and films like Moulin Rouge, Frida and Romeo + Juliet. I was inspired by everything from sex to spirituality. I am an artist, so I draw from my environment. It’s crazy when I am in creativity mode. I might wake up in the middle of the night and draw a mural on the wall.
Now you host BETJ's The Best Shorts. What exactly is the show about?
The Best Shorts is a short film show and competition created by my producers Sean Joell Johnson and Ralph Scott. Another executive producer on the show is Paxton Baker of BET. We have a really strong team over at BET J who all believe that it is important to tell alternative stories and give emerging artists a voice. Each season we give away a combined $30,000 to a winner and a runner up. Although we are on Black Entertainment Television, people of all races come up to me daily and tell me how much they love the show.
What other projects do you have in the works right now?
want to get women of color more comfortable speaking about sexuality. We have a history of being sexually exploited and victimized and now we can’t tell the difference between that and true pleasure, which we do have a right to, like anyone else. Look for some erotic themed film work coming up on my site www.thegoddessfactory.com. It’s like sex education for my generation, the hip hop generation. Until we can be sexually honest, women of color will keep dying of AIDS. Even though dare is literary fiction and not erotica, I will be taking part in a couple of erotica readings to share the very hot intimate scenes in the book!
Also, I am building a very exciting partnership with blackplanet.com. Tracey Cooper over there is amazing. In addition to my BET show, I will be hosting a daily online show that you can find on blackplanet.com soon. Check my site www.abiolaabrams.com or myspace.com/goddessfactory for updates.
Now just to make things a little fun, here are pairs of words. All you would need to do is pick which one you agree with most...
** Winter or Summer
Summer all the way! I am a Leo, a summer baby and Caribbean to boot, so I am all about summer. In my novel DARE, my main character Maya takes the Nina Simone line “Here comes the sun” as her rap intro. That’s how I like to feel when I walk into a room—here comes the sun. Here comes that hotness! (giggles)
** Suitcase of shoes or Suitcase of handbags (yeah I know it's hard...LOL)
Oh my Goddess! This is sooo hard. Aw man. Can I alternate? Why am I asking? I am a diva goddess, I can alternate, dammit!!! Ok, ok, I will play fair. A suitcase of amazing shoes. Only because I tend to get addicted to my handbag and carry the same one even though I have like a million of them. Right now actually, all of my purses are hanging on display on my bathroom walls like art. So shoes. It’s gotta be the shoes.
** Vanilla or Chocolate
Mmmmm. That’s easy. Have you seen me, Mami!? (laughs) I am a chocolate girl all the way. On my body and in my body. Ooh. Wait—that came out wrong. Sort of. I mean that I love eating chocolate, like chocolate chip cookie dough, and I love soaking in chocolate like Cocoa Body Wash and Bubble Bath by Philosophy. Honey, after that, you will smell so divine that you won’t be able to stand yourself!
** On a guy, boxers or briefs
The hottest thing is those boxer briefs. Damn. On a chocolate brother? Yummy. No tightie whities though, no matter what! Ever dudes—never ever.
** Mexican Food or Italian
Oooh, this is another tough one, ‘cause a sister loves to eat, and I have no shame in my game either. I think I have to say Mexican. I used to live in East Harlem and there was the best Mexican food in the world. Well, maybe except in Mexico.
OK, I'll stop now...LOL
Abiola's new book, Dare, drops everywhere on December 11th so be sure to cop it and join the B.A.D Revolution!!
More on Abiola will be posted soon!
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