Word: souljah
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Each of the characters in No Disrespect is featured in a chapter. They are all functional in their roles as exemplars of the problems facing the black community. Souljah's mother's strength and spirit are sapped by a demeaning welfare system. Her roommate, Mona, is revealed to be a lesbian, opening up a veiled political discussion of female homosexuality in the Black community. While each of these character types is familiar, included in the story for political reasons, Souljah reveals just enough of their thoughts and actions to make them human...
...real story is not in the morals these sketches imply, but in how Souljah's interactions with her characters complete and complicate image she seeks to project. Souljah reveals herself in the standards she holds them to, how she confronts their failings, and what her attitudes towards them say about...
...politicized music, there is little room in No Disrespect for human frailty and indecision in her vision of herself. Souljah touches self-consciously on many of the social, political and psychological issues that keep Oprah and Ricky on top in the ratings. She is brutal and exacting in her account of man-sharing; forgiving and indulgent of the friend who collects abortion money from her stable of men to fund a shopping spree; passionate in her love of Nathan, her "strong Black man," but callous in her dismissal of him when imperfection challenges his masculinity. Souljah is overly political, impassioned...
...amidst the noise, there are moments of quiet. In sharp contrast to this head-strong, full-lipped, thick-thighed woman, Souljah is at times detached and even clinical. Her father is divorced from her life in a few sentences. Disappointments are mentioned and dismissed. Intentional or not, these silences give full expression to the distrust, pain and frustration behind her attitude and hand-on-hip stance...
...Souljah's prose is simple and straight-forward, deceptively so. Her staunch and unchanging opinions, particularly regarding her singular and romanticized vision of race, read like the ghetto girl's "perfume" and "fake smiles." The book's most severe limitation is that it admits no evolution of thought, and never confesses to any wrong answers...