J'Toya shares many unpleasant experiences that led her friends to mentally and physically self destruct. In the process, they became known as Hoochie Mamas because they fell victim to the violent world of drugs, rape and prostituting themselves while being influenced by negative role models in their homes and neighborhoods. Society expects women to be discreet, clean and submissive. Anything other than that, creates a negative stigma that follows them to their graves. J'Toya brings to us eye opening, heart gripping experiences that many readers can relate to. She hopes to reach the closed minds of people who sit back and criticize so-called Hoochies.

All that homicide detective M Gantry needs in order to solve the most gruesome murders in Miami history is the answer to a simple question. Who is the cigarette smoker? Who is the serial killer leaving the half-smoked Camels butts at the scene of each crime?The problem is the vicious killer might be linked to her own murky past, and her future.When her partner is added to the list of victims, hoochie mama or not, the beautiful, troubled M Gantry must act and act fast before the killer strikes again.

With its unparalleled coverage of English slang of all types (from 18th-century cant to contemporary gay slang), and its uncluttered editorial apparatus, Cassell's Dictionary of Slang was warmly received when its first edition appeared in 1998. 'Brilliant.' said Mark Lawson on BBC2's The Late Review; 'This is a terrific piece of work - learned, entertaining, funny, stimulating' said Jonathan Meades in The Evening Standard.But now the world's best single-volume dictionary of English slang is about to get even better. Jonathon Green has spent the last seven years on a vast project: to research in depth the English slang vocabulary and to hunt down and record written instances of the use of as many slang words as possible. This has entailed trawling through more than 4000 books - plus song lyrics, TV and movie scripts, and many newspapers and magazines - for relevant material. The research has thrown up some fascinating results

Examines how young black women who came of age during the hip-hop era are grappling with the gender politics of a predominately masculine space.

The author attempts to delve deeply into the pain and cultural dynamics that have given birth to yet another inexplicable entity that permeates a rather large segment or demographic of people of color. We only know that like barnacles attaching themselves to the hulls of ocean going ships they have become part of the urban landscape. They are referred to as the "Hoochie Momma." The arrival of said Hoochie Momma was a natural one due to the disproportionate amount of their black male potential husbands and or boyfriends carrying the dubious honor of representing 50% of the prison population. Some of these men often being the victims of false imprisonments in the United States. Sadly we only comprise 13% of the documented census. These black women indeed stepped up to fill the vacuum left by their men by any means necessary, and I don't condemn nor do I condone their methods. Conversely it would indeed be a breath of fresh air to see the Hoochie Momma genre curtailed before it becomes a modern day Tsunami (an uncontrollable wave) that continues to spin out of control! I would caution any reader to bear in mind that there is no chronological order in which the character's stories are told because there is no empirical "scientific instrument" yet invented to measure or calculate the amount of pain, hurt or degradation that black women, as well as Hispanic, are subjected to just trying to survive against horrific odds in twenty-first century urban and suburban America! Plus bonus book inside: How Gravy George Lost His Groove