Hangin' out with Heavy D: Rap's 'Nice Guy' Lives Large in Corporate Suite and Bachelor's Pad

Chappell, Kevin, Ebony

Rap's `nice guy' lives large in corporate suite and bachelor's pad

IT'S ONLY 10 a.m., but it is already bananas in Heavy D's Manhattan office as hip-hop's big man shoots the breeze with some of his boys. Barbers Mike Daddy and Cuzin Ray, known for their "$100 a whop" celebrity haircuts, are trimming Heavy's curly locks, while Tom, the road manager, Troy, the clothing stylist, and longtime friends Damien and Gerald are stretched out on the baby-bottom-soft leather digs Universal Music has provided for its new senior vice president.

Heavy is ribbing the barbers for being two hours late, the stylist for being six months late with his clothes, Troy for "falling in love" and Gerald for looking like he "just rolled out of bed." But they are his boys from Mount Vernon--the same boys he says he would trust with his life--so he goes easy on them, sort of. But he still wonders, "Why am I getting treated like this? Do you guys treat your other customers like this?"

"We love you, man," one of the guys says.

"That's the problem," Heavy replies. "I wish you didn't love me. I wish it was just business."

But who doesn't love Heavy D? Children love him. Twentysomethings who remember his first hit, Mr. Big …

Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information: Article title: Hangin' out with Heavy D: Rap's 'Nice Guy' Lives Large in Corporate Suite and Bachelor's Pad. Contributors: Chappell, Kevin - Author. Magazine title: Ebony. Volume: 53. Issue: 1 Publication date: November 1997. Page number: 148+. © 1999 Johnson Publishing Co. COPYRIGHT 1997 Gale Group.

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