"The Big Payback"

[CarolinaCutie]

[glow=yellow,2,300]Shout out to Peaches 1nce again, yall![/glow] ;D

The Big Payback

[glow=red,2,300]“I'm gettin' ready for the year 2000/Independent/Yes I'm housin'/Independent/Yeah now watch me/Independent/No one can stop me”
— Salt ‘N Pepa: Independent[/glow]

This story follows Latonya AKA Tay-Tay and Shanay AKA Sunshine who are the proud owners of a popular fashion/hip hop magazine, “It Is So”, catering to around-the-way girls and women. Shanay and Latonya used to own a private investigative service geared at helping women bust their cheating men, but the business didn’t work out as well as the girls had planned although it had been their life-long dream since they were kids when Shanay used to baby sit Latonya and her close friend, Deidre who was now the photographer for their magazine. Anyway, Latonya and Shanay were often told how nosey they were when it came to finding out about things when they were growing up, so they decided to put their nosiness to good use when they became older. However, the magazine was Shanay's idea because she loved to keep up with the latest in fashion and her favorite genres of music, specifically old school hip-hop. The girls had recently bought an old two-story building consisting of four apartments that they renovated. The magazine’s office was downstairs and they lived across from each other upstairs.

"A'yo, Sunshine! Come check this out!", Latonya shouted from across the hall to Shanay.

"What is it Tay-Tay?! I'm in the middle of paintin' my toenails!", Shanay shouted after she tiptoed to her door to open it.

"Juss get your big head ova here and fast!", Latonya replied as she went back across the hall to her place.

"Man, shoo'!", Shanay huffed as she carefully made her way across the hall to Latonya's apt. "What is it? A new Dru Hill video or somethin'? Because if it ain't, be prepared to get dealt with up in this piece!"

"Shut up and sit down!", Latonya replied with a suck of her teeth as she continued to watch the 6 o'clock news. "Had you heard anything about what Def Jam is goin' through?!"

"Nah, girl! What?!", Shanay asked as she sat down on the sofa next to Latonya.

"Wait a sec! Hol’ up!", Latonya said as she put her hand up for Shanay to be quiet. Russell Simmons was featured in a news segment regarding money disappearing from the record company. Right before the segment was over, Russell made an announcement that he was going to hire someone to get to the bottom of this problem.

"Man, that's a shame! It seems like Def Jam is always goin' through somethin'!", Shanay stated with a shake of her head. "And that’s bad because they have been around since I was a lil' kid!"

"Dn! They're that old?!!!", Latonya laughed as she grabbed the remote to see if she could find out anymore info about Russell's situation on some more news stations.

"Look, juss because I'm the oldest don't mean I'm not the quickest and the toughest! Don't let this ol' woman fool ya, trick!", Shanay laughed as she stood up and shuffled across the floor to head back to her place to finish polishing her toes. "Call me if you find out anything else!"

"Aight!", Latonya replied.

When Russell's news segment was over, he headed back to the greenroom while waiting to be escorted out by his bodyguard who had ran to the restroom. While waiting, he picked up a past issue of “It Is So” magazine that someone had lying around. He noticed that Monie Love, Queen Latifah, MC Lyte, and Salt-N-Pepa were on the cover. As he began to flip through it, he remembered LL Cool J saying something about how cool the females were that owned the magazine and their staff. Latonya and Shanay did a cover story on him and his wife, Simone, in a special Valentine’s Day issue a few months back and quickly became friends with his wife. Russell immediately grabbed his phone to call L up because he also remembered him saying that they used to own a private investigation service. Russell felt like they would be the perfect team to go undercover and find out why large amounts of money were rapidly disappearing from his multi-million dollar label.

"You 'bout ready to be out, Russ?", Big Tony asked when he came back into the green room to escort Russell to his limousine.

"Give me a few minutes.", Russell replied as he put his finger up. "Hey, L. Listen, I need a quick favor! I need to get in touch with those two girls from “It Is So” magazine that did their cover story on you and Simone."

"Aight, man! Lemme see, their names are Latonya and Shanay and they can be reached at this number...nah, how about I juss give them a holla real quick and put you on conference call with us?", L asked.

"Okay, yeah; maybe they should talk with you first since they're more familiar with you.", Russell agreed.

"Aight, I'll hit ya back up in a minute!", L replied.
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Latonya was still flipping through several channels trying to find out more info about Def Jam when her phone began to ring.

"Hello.", she answered while turning the volume down on her tv.

"Hey, ma! Guess who this is?", L slyly smiled on the other end.

"Look, I'm not about to sit here and play on this phone! Now either you tell me who you are or be prepared to hear a dial tone!", Latonya angrily replied. One thing she couldn't stand was someone playing on her phone.

"Aight, dn! It's L!", he laughed.

"Oh! Well why didn't you juss say so?!", Latonya laughed back. "W'sup!"

"My boy, Russ, asked me to call yall up to see if you'd be willin' to do some undercova work for the record company with this missin’ money isht that's goin' on. He wants to do a conference call with you and your girl if she's available.", L replied.

"Aight, yeah…can you hold on for a sec? I'll run across the hall to get her!", Latonya excitedly stated.

"Aight, I'll be here when ya get back to the phone!", L agreed.

Latonya quickly jumped up from the sofa and flung her door open to run across the hall to get Shanay.

"Sunshine! Hurry up and open the door!", Latonya shouted as she continuously pounded on the door. However, Shanay didn't hear her at first because her stereo was blasting Snoop Dogg's "Doggystyle" CD.

"Sunshiiiiiiiiiiiiinnne!!! Open this dn door, girl!!! And turn that mess down!", Latonya shouted once more before Shanay heard someone knocking. She ran over to her stereo to turn it down.

"Tay-Tay? Is that you?", Shanay asked as she ran over to her door.

"Yeah! I need you to come ova here for a sec! We're needed on a very important phone call!", Latonya replied.

"Aight, here I come!", Shanay stated as she ran out of her apartment to go back to Latonya's.

Once they were seated on Latonya's sofa, she placed their call on speakerphone while waiting for L to call Russell back up.

"This is so excitin' to be workin' with a legend like Russ!", Shanay whispered as she and Latonya waited for Russell to answer his phone. Once he did, he explained the situation to the girls and asked them if they were up for the challenge. He also made L swear not to say anything about this assignment.

"Of course we're up for this!", Latonya grinned as she looked over at Shanay. "It would be our honor to help you out!"

"That's right!", Shanay agreed.

"Aight, well, I would like to meet with you two tomorrow mornin' at 9:00 to go over the details of the investigation with you."

"Coo'!", the girls both stated at the same time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning as Russell sat in a local coffee shop in uptown Manhattan waiting to meet with Latonya and Shanay, he received a call from the president of Def Jam, Kevin Liles. Russell had sent him a two-way explaining to him that he wanted the girls to do the undercover investigation for the company.

“Hello.”, Russell answered as he glanced up when he heard the door of the shop open. He was thinking it would be the girls, but it wasn’t.

“Hey, Russ. I received your message. What’s this about you wantin’ to hire two females to investigate what’s been goin’ on at the label?”, Kevin asked.

“Well, I think the girls could pull it off because no one would be suspecting of them being undercova investigators. My goal is to keep everyone off guard so we can get this isht completed asap! I’m meetin’ with them in a few minutes to give them the lowdown on the situation. I’d like for them to pose as producers/writers for some of the artists on our roster while they work undercova for us.”, Russell replied.

“I’ono, man! I personally feel like these girls won’t be able to pass off as bein’ professionals. Besides, with the majority of our artists bein’ men, do you think that these females would be able to handle them?”, Kevin demanded to know.

“Yeah, these are strong, independent, business-wise women! Not only did they once own and operate their own private investigation service, but they now own one of the top 5 hip-hop/fashion magazines in the nation! So I feel that they are PERFECT for the job! I’d betta get goin’. I think they juss walked in. I’ll get back with ya lata! Peace!” Russell noticed two well-dressed women heading towards him. He and his bodyguard quickly stood up and introduced themselves to Latonya and Shanay.

[CarolinaCutie]

“It’s nice to meet you!”, Latonya smiled as she and Shanay took a seat across from the two men.

For the next half-hour, Russell explained the details of the assignment to Latonya and Shanay who had no problem with it, whatsoever. The girls also agreed to meet with him at the label’s office later on in the afternoon so he could introduce them to the staff and artists that they would be working with. Right before the end of their meeting, Russell asked them to change into everyday outfits before coming up to the label so they would blend in with everybody since they would be posing as the newest producers/songwriters on the staff. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Man, this gotta be an important meetin’ for Russ to call of us in here like this at the last minute!”, Ludacris huffed as he came sauntering into the large conference room along with Joe Budden.

“Well, you know it’s gotta be somethin’ dealin’ with this missin’ money isht that’s goin’ on!”, Redman stated while shaking his head. “I hope whoeva is stealin’ it is found so he can get funked up wit’ his stankin’ @$$!”

“Ya know!”, Jonell laughed while flipping through the latest issue of “The Source” magazine. She was grinning from ear-to-ear when she recognized that they had given her new CD 4 out of 5 mics.

“Pass me that mag right there, Jo!”, Jazz stated as he pointed to the latest issue of the “It Is So” magazine.

“Here ya go!”, Jonell replied after sliding it across the table to him.

“Thanks!”, he smiled.

Kelly Price and Woody were sitting over in a corner of the room going over some lyrics that they had been working on for the past few days. They were working on a gospel duet for Def Jam’s first gospel compilation CD that would be released by the early part of the next year.

“Dn! Who are those two girls comin’ down the hall with Russ and L?!”, Meth asked after walking into the conference room to join the others.

“Lemme see!”, Sisqo stated as he jumped up from the table. He rushed to the door with Redman and Musiq behind him. When they stuck their heads outside and saw Latonya and Shanay walking alongside Russell, all three of them quietly mumbled “dayuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuummmmm!” at the same time.

“Yo, yo, yo…I got dibs on the one in the t-shirt and shorts!”, Redman grinned as he checked Shanay out.

“I’ll take the one in those JEANS!”, Meth grinned as he eyed Latonya.

“Yall nas make me sick actin’ like we a piece of merchandise or somethin’!”, Jonelle snapped at them while rolling her eyes. “Besides, how yall know yall are their types?! Fo’ all yall know, they prolly already got a man!”

“Girl! That’s why I’m glad I got a good man at home! That way I don’t have to worry about foo’s like them!”, Kelly laughed as she came over to sit beside Jonell at the table.

“Anyway!”, Nokio huffed as he went over to the door to join the rest of the crowd.

Meanwhile, Russell and L were introducing Latonya and Shanay to everyone within the office as they made their way to the conference room. However, they both noticed how the few females that they were being introduced to weren’t that friendly. When they had a minute to themselves while waiting on Russell to look over a new layout ad for his Phat Farm clothing line that would be featured in the next issue of his “One World” magazine, Shanay brought up the not-so-friendly reception from their new female co-workers/interns to Latonya.

“Dn! We’re juss getting through the door and already we’re getting’ the evil eye from some o’ these chicks! What in the world is this all about?!”, Shanay whispered.

“Girl! Don’t even worry ‘bout it! Maybe they had their fill of haterade this mornin’!”, Latonya whispered back while smiling. Just then she looked down the hall and saw Scola and Joe Budden standing in the doorway of the conference room. Scola smiled and gave her a head nod while Joe continued to stare with a small grin. However, Shanay hadn’t seen them because she was chatting with L about his wife and kids and how they were doing since the last time she had seen them.

“Aight, yall ready to roll?”, Russell asked when he walked back over to them. They quickly made their way down the hall to the conference room. Upon entering it, the room became silent as everyone looked at Russell, L, and the two females with them.

“W’sup, everybody! Before getting started with this meeting, I’d like to introduce you to Latonya Fields and Shanay Johnson. Ladies, this is everybody!”, Russell stated before asking everyone to take a seat. When he noticed that Kevin hadn’t made it to the conference room yet, he went out into the hall to use his phone to contact him.

As soon as Latonya and Shanay headed for their seats, Meth quickly grabbed a seat beside Latonya. Red was about to call snatches on the seat next to Shanay, but Sisqo beat him to it.

“There’s one ova there!”, Sisqo grinned while pointing to an empty seat at the far corner of the table near the front where Russell always sat.

“Cufk you, na!”, Red replied while giving Sisqo half a peace sign.

After Sisqo had a good laugh, he moved extra close to Shanay who was going flipping through her job description manual. However, she hadn’t realized just how close he was sitting next to her until she felt his arm brush up against hers.

“W’sup!”, she nonchalantly stated with a small smile when she looked over at him and saw him smiling.

“How you doin’ today?”, he grinned.

“I’m aight! Thanks for askin’.”, she replied as she began to read again.

“Your hair is cute that way!”, he smiled while admiring her short and crinkly ringlets.

“Uh, thanks!”, she huffed as she looked over at him once again before shaking her head and going back to her reading.

By this time, Jazz and Jonell were both having themselves a good old time laughing at how Sisqo had been dismissed. However, Sisqo laughed too, but he was determined he wasn’t going to give up. He always had his way with the ladies.

While Latonya was going over her job description, she felt a pair of eyes on her. When she looked up, she noticed that Meth had turned his chair all the way around to look directly at her. When their eyes met, he broke out in a huge smile.

“Is there somethin’ I can help you with?”, she asked.

“Yeah, actually there is…I lost my phone number so can I have yours?”, he laughed.

“Dn! That was as corny as they come!”, she laughed while shaking her head. She went back to reading again.

“Yeah, man! And anyway, what would your wifey say?!”, Nokio asked in a serious tone as he watched them across the table.

“You let me worry about that!”, Meth grinned while putting up his hand towards Nokio’s face. “So, c’mon, ma! W’sup wit’ me and you?”

Latonya was about to reply to his question with a feisty answer but when she looked up and saw Nokio staring at her, she decided to be a lady about the whole situation.

“Listen, if you don’t mind…I’d really like to get back to readin’ this until the meetin’ starts. Thank you eva so much!”, she replied as she held her manual up to show it to Meth.

“My bad, mama! Well how about if I juss look at’chu while you read?”, he laughed.

“Negro, if you don’t…!”, Latonya began before Russell walked back into the room to announce to everybody that the meeting would go ahead and start without Kevin who couldn’t make it. What everyone didn’t know was that the president had discovered that some more money had turned up missing since yesterday.

“Alright ladies and gents…the purpose of this meetin’ is to introduce you to the newest producers/songwriters to join our label. And they will also be doin’ a cover story on us for their magazine, “It Is So”. Ladies…” Russell motioned for Shanay and Latonya to join him at the head of the table as he stood up.

“Producers?! Who they ‘sposed to be, the female Neptunes or some isht like that?!!”, Ludacris asked after raising his hand. A few chuckles from the fellas could be heard throughout the room.

“Yeah, somethin’ like that!”, Shanay snapped while glaring at him as she folded her arms.

“Uh, what she means is, we’ve done a lot of work with up and comin’ artists in the area. We strictly focused on workin’ with demo-type deals.”, Latonya replied ever so nicely. She noticed Woody raising his hand.

“So what do you think you and your partna could bring to this label that would be different?”, Woody asked.

“We believe in keepin’ the beats fresh and new with a street-edge.”, Latonya smiled.

“Yeah, you know to give it that vintage ol’ school hip-hop feel. We keep our lyrics that way too! We like to write about stuff that’s fun but has a message to it.”, Shanay added.

Everyone nodded their head in approval to what the girls had just said.

“Are there any otha questions before we talk about what the girls’ assignments will be with some of you?”, Russell asked as he looked around the large table.

When everyone shook their heads no, Russell proceeded to tell Nokio that the girls would be assisting him with producing a song for Method Man that Jazz would be singing the hook on. They were told that they would begin working on it later that night in the studio upstairs.

Russell then proceeded to tell Jonell that the girls would be working with her on a remix to her next single, “Don’t Stop”. Production for the video would start in another 2 – 3 months.

By the end of the meeting, everyone was satisfied with what Russell had presented to them.

As Shanay and Latonya were making their way towards the door, they noticed that Red, Meth, and Scola were standing in the doorway as if they were waiting on them.

[CarolinaCutie]

“Oh lawd! Now here they go!”, Shanay chuckled as she rolled her eyes. “I didn’t know such fine specimen of men could be so dn annoyin’!”

“I know right! But maybe we juss gotta get used to ‘em.”, Latonya smiled.

Right before they reached the door, they were stopped by Jazz. “W’sup! I neva did get a chance to formerly introduce myself! I’m glad that we’ll be workin’ together!”, he smiled as she shook both of their hands.

“Thanks! It’s nice meetin’ you too!”, Shanay smiled.

“So is it okay to juss call yall Nay and Tonya?”, he asked.

“Well, actually, I go by Tay-Tay and she goes by Sunshine.”, Latonya replied. Just then they saw Sisqo making his way over to them.

“Oh, you mean like THE Sunshine?!”, he asked with a sly grin as he came and stood in between the two of them while throwing his arms across their shoulders.

“He!!!!!!!!!!!! no! So you might as well get that outta yo’ mind right now!”, Shanay laughed.

“Awww, too bad!”, Sisqo winked.

“Yeah, whateva!”, Shanay replied. “We really gotta be goin’, but we’ll see ya lata on tonight.”, she smiled at Jazz before waving goodbye to both him and Sisqo.

The girls had almost made their way out of the conference room before Red grabbed Shanay by the hand.

“Heyyyyyyyyyyy, sweetie! Listen, how about us hookin’ up?”, he smiled when she turned around.

Shanay looked down at their hands that were interlocked and then she looked back up at him. “I’m down with that…as soon as Bobby Brown gives up the tweed and isht!” She then pulled her hand from his.

“Well, playa, don’t count on it then!”, Scola laughed.

“Whateva, na!”, Red snapped.

“Excuse us, please!”, Latonya stated as she and Shanay made their way through the guys. Meth kept his eyes on Latonya the entire time while chewing on a drinking straw.

“ I’ll see ya lata, ma!”, he grinned when she finally decided to look at him.

“Yeah…much!”, she replied with a roll of her eyes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“What up my nas!”, Red grinned as he came walking into the studio later on in the evening.

“Now what’chu doin’ up in here?!”, Scola laughed when he, Jazz, and Nokio turned around.

“The same thing yall ms doin’ up in here!”, Red grinned. Just then Sisqo and Meth came into the studio.

“Yall think yall so dn slick!”, Jazz laughed heartily. “Yall can’t fool me!”

“Dat’s right!”, Scola slyly smiled while acting as if he was agreeing with Jazz.

“Man, shut up! You right in the bunch with these foo’s!”, Nokio laughed. “In no way is this gonna be the ghetto version of ‘Love Connection’! This is strictly business! Now yall can stay, but don’t start no isht…dn!”, he continued to laugh with a shake of his head.

“Dis na think he our daddy or somethin’!”, Meth grinned as he went over to sit with Jazz and Nokio at the mixing board.

“Whateva, man!”, Nokio chuckled before looking up at the door. Shanay and Latonya had just arrived. Nokio liked it that they were early. This was a good sign that they really meant business.

"Heyyyyyyyyy, Sunshine!", Red grinned as he ran over to the door to greet Shanay.

"W'sup.", she emptily replied while glancing over at Latonya. Latonya couldn't help from giggling.

"Let the games begin!", Latonya whispered to her.

When she looked over at the guys who were at the mixing board, she rolled her eyes when she saw Meth jump up and grab a chair. He placed it extra close to his and patted it as a signal that this chair was made especially for her.

"Look, why don'tchall chill out and let the ladies through!", Scola huffed at Sisqo and Red who were blocking the girls' path to come inside. He came walking up behind them to make them move out of their way.

"Right this way, ladies!", Scola grinned after walking through Red and Sisqo.

"Thanks.", Latonya replied with a shake of her head.

"You betta get away from me!", Shanay shouted when she noticed that Red was walking up on her just a little too close.

"My bad, ma! Isht!", he laughed.

"Hey, Sunshine!", Jazz smiled when he moved over to make room for Shanay to sit next to him.

"W'sup, Jazz!", she grinned. It was like he automatically changed her sour mood when she saw his smile. But it was changed back for a hot minute when Sisqo leaned up on the mixing board on the other side of her.

"You need a soda or anything?", he grinned while looking deep into her eyes.

"Nah, but thanks for askin'!", Shanay replied with a smile. She had been a fan of Sisqo's from day one, but the last thing she needed was for him to think of her as just another groupie that got her foot in the door.

Meanwhile, Meth was still trying to push up on Latonya until she put him in check. "Look, I'm not into breakin' up happy homes if that's aight wit'chu! Dn!!!", she snapped with a shake of her head. She proceeded to get up to move her chair on the other side of Nokio. Meth was speechless as he watched what she was doing.

"I don't have a happy home!", Scola smiled when she walked past him.

"My heart bleeds for you!", she huffed as she sat down. He and Meth both looked at each other and started laughing.

"Aight'chall! It's work time now. So, ummm, Meth, I guess you and Jazz can go into the recording booth and go ova yall's lyrics while the girls and I brainstorm ova some technical stuff with the beats and isht!", Nokio announced.

"Aight, coo'!", Jazz agreed with a nod of his head. He and Meth proceeded to walk ova to the otha' side of the studio.

The girls and Nokio were about to start going over some things when Nokio realized that he hadn't turned the microphone down. But then he thought nothin' of it since Jazz was going over how he was going to sing the hook for Meth's song. It was entitled, "What I Gotta Do".

Shanay noticed that Jazz had forgotten his paper with his lyrics that he had wrote down earlier. He was patting the pockets of his jeans before she saw the lyrics lying on the mixing board. She asked Scola to pass them to her. There was something about Jazz that was attracting her to him so she was going to take every chance she had to be around him. But of course, she was going to know how to act. When Jazz looked up, he saw her smiling and waving the paper as she headed towards the recording booth. She thought she was going to be alone, but she was wrong. Red got up to follow her.

While Nokio and Latonya began to clash over what sample should be used for the song, Scola and Sisqo started chuckling at them.

"Why can't 'Bring the Pain' be the sample used?! That's a classic Meth joint that put him on the map!", Latonya loudly stated.

"That's why it shouldn't be used! I think "What the Bloodclot" should be used because it's one of his underground hits and it sounds grimy and that's the idea I want to come across in this song. Yeah, it's gonna be anotha ghetto love anthem like 'All I Need', but this time around we want it to be even more street!", Nokio huffed back with a shake of his head.

"You're not listenin', Noke! 'Bring the Pain', in my opinion would...", Latonya began before Scola told both her and Nokio to be quiet. He motioned for Nokio to turn up the sound from inside the booth a little louder.

"Na, I done told you one time to back up off me! I'm juss not interested if that's aight wit’chu!", Shanay shouted at Red who wasn't going to give up.

Meth came running out of the booth dying laughing. "Yo, man! Why don'tchall record them fussin'?! I gotta have that isht as the intro to my song!" Meth laughed even harder.

A sly grin spread across Nokio's face and he put his finger up to his mouth to tell everybody to be quiet. When he got Jazz's attention from across the studio, he gave him the same signal.

"Awww c'mon! Let the sunshine in, boo!", Red grinned even though Shanay was holding her hand up in his face.

"Na, I ain't gonna let no sunshine in! I'ma bring the pain like yo' boy, Meth instead. Keep right on!", Shanay warned.

"You know you want all this!", Red grinned as he stepped back and opened his arms.

"Yeah, whateva you say, playa-pimp wannabe! Get outta my dn way! I gots to go!", she spat as she pushed her way past him to join everybody else back on the other side of the studio. When she reached them, she noticed they were cracking up.

"Dn! What I miss?!", she half-laughed.

"This!", Nokio laughed as he pressed the playback button to let her hear the convo that she and Red had just finished having.

"Yall ain't even right!", Shanay laughed as she sat down in between Latonya and Scola.

"Hey, boo! I'm sorry, but I gotta have that isht on this joint!", Meth laughed as he made his way back over to the recording booth.

"Juss make sure I get my cut!", Shanay yelled after him.

[CarolinaCutie]

When Red came back out, he, surprisingly, apologized to Shanay after talking with Jazz who had told him that maybe she would give him a chance if he didn't come on so strong.

Shanay noticed how cool Red was for the rest of the recording session. She was even more friendly towards him by the end of the evening.

In the meantime, Nokio and Latonya came to a compromise. The sample to "Bring the Pain" would be used as the intro to Meth's song and "What the Bloodclot" would be the sample used for the actual song. And boy did Jazz and Meth rip it!

Afterwards, everyone decided to call it a night. Latonya and Shanay actually ended up being pretty cool with the guys. They even decided to take Nokio and Jazz up on their offer to grab a late bite to eat. The girls figured that they could probably get some info out of them about what was going on at the label.

After the guys pulled up behind the girls in front of a late-night deli shop, they met up at the door to head inside.

"I've never been to this place. Do they have vegetarian subs up in here?", Latonya asked Jazz as they headed for the counter. After all, he was the one who had suggested this place.

Nokio stopped in his tracks when he heard Latonya's question. He and Jazz were looking at her like she was crazy. Shanay proceeded to lightly giggle.

"What the hell is yo' problem?!", Latonya asked when she saw the way the guys were looking at her.

"Dn, girl! How'd you get so thick juss eatin' vegetables?!!", Nokio asked with an approving look. He had to admit that she was stacked quite nicely.

"Let's juss say that my years of eatin' collard greens and cornbread hit all the right places! Are you coo' with that?!", she asked while rolling her eyes at him. "Now like I asked, do they have veggie subs up in here?"

Jazz laughed. "Yeah, they do! They're pretty good!" Meanwhile, Nokio chuckled to himself as he continued to secretly admire his new co-worker.

"Well, that's all good for my girl here, but I'm like Martin. I gotta have somethin' on my sub that has a first name!", Shanay chuckled as she proceeded to walk alongside of Jazz. Nokio and Latonya were walking behind them.

"Do yall wanna eat here or get this to go?", Jazz asked before placing his order.

"Why don't we eat here?", Latonya smiled.

"Aight, I'm coo' with that!", Nokio smiled as he turned to look at her.

When they sat down at their table with their orders, the girls began to ask questions about what was going on at the label. At first, the guys were a little suspicious that they would be asking a million and one questions about the latest that had been happening, but then they figured the girls were just curious since it had been all over the news lately. However, Nokio decided to switch up the conversation.

"Say enough of this work talk. We don't really know that much about you two.", Nokio smiled while looking at Latonya and Shanay.

"Yeah, that's right!", Jazz agreed with a nod of his head while taking a sip of his lemonade.

"Well, would you like to start?", Shanay smiled while looking over at Latonya.

"Aight, sure! Well, there's really not much to tell! We grew up together like play-cousins and now we’re like blood-sisters. We run our own magazine and we love music. It's basically the same stuff that Russ brought up in the meetin' earlier today.", Latonya replied with a warm smile.

"So how did Russ find yall?", Nokio asked while wiping his mouth with his napkin. He was the first one to finish eating. Latonya chuckled to herself when she noticed that for a little guy, he could sho'nuff eat.

"Uhhhh...", Shanay kinda stammered as she looked over at Latonya.

"Ummmm...he accidentally found out about our musical background when he called us up to ask us to do a cover story on Def Jam.", Shanay stated with a nod of her head as she took a bite from her sandwich.

"Oh, that's coo'! So how long have yall had the magazine?", Jazz asked while finishing up his sandwich.

"We've had it for about 5 months, but it's goin' well so far!", Latonya proudly smiled before taking a sip of her water.

After chatting with each other for a few more minutes, they decided to leave and call it a night since work on the cover story for the magazine would begin tomorrow.

"Well, thanks again for our late dinner! It was fun!", Latonya smiled at Nokio while giving him a handshake.

"Thanks, same here!", he smiled back.

"Yeah, maybe we can do this again sometime!", Shanay shyly smiled while looking at Jazz.

"Aight! That'd be cool! Well yall drive home safely. We'll see ya tomorrow for the story!", Jazz replied as he and Nokio made their way to his ride.

"Aight! Yall drive home safely too!", Latonya replied as she waved at them before she and Shanay climbed in her ride to head home.
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[CarolinaCutie]

The next morning, Deidre arrived at Latonya's place extra early. She was their childhood friend and photographer for their magazine.

Latonya and Shanay weren't used to waking up early on Saturday mornings, but with their new call of duty, they were going to have to start.

"Dee-Dee! It's quarter to eight! I told you to meet us at 9:30! I was tryna get my last minute of sleep!", Latonya yawned after letting Deidre inside.

"I'm sorry, Tay-Tay, but I'm so excited that I'm gonna meet Luda Luda! Is he as coo' as you said, girl? Is he?!", Deidre giggled as she went to sit on the sofa to make sure she had all of her camera equipment.

"Dn! How did I fo'get that he's yo' baby daddy?! You and Sunshine are somethin' else! Joe Budden's her baby’s daddy…Luda’s is yours! Dn! Yall juss some straight up skanky hoes!", Latonya joked as she went into the kitchen to put on some coffee .

"Hol' up! I know you ain't talkin' Nokio's baby’s momma!", Deidre snapped before laughing.

"Oh yeah!", Latonya giggled. While waiting for her coffee to brew, Latonya heard her doorbell ring.

"I'll get that!", Deidre shouted as she went over to answer it. It was Shanay.

"W'sup, Dee!", Shanay smiled as she followed Deidre inside.

"Hey, girl! I see you up early too! You ready to see Joe again, huh?", Deidre asked with a wink.

Before answering her question, Shanay looked around the living room to make sure that Latonya wasn't anywhere around. She wasn’t ready for her to know that she was feelin’ Jazz.

"Nah, girl, actually I can't wait to see Jahhhhh...", she started before she saw Latonya walking into the living room with her coffee.

"You know, I can't wait to see Jazzy Jeff on that episode of 'Fresh Prince' when he gets married!", Shanay tried to lie while laughing.

"Don't even try it, heffah! You was gettin' ready to say you can't wait to see Jazz again!", Latonya grinned while shaking her head. She sat on the sofa next to Deidre.

"Awwwwwwww...he's cute!", Deidre giggled.

"Well even if I was, what about you and Nokio?! You always did have a thang-thang for him!", Shanay teased while pointing at Latonya.

"That's not true! Besides, he's not the best person in the world to work wit'! He's so dn bossy!", Latonya replied with a shake of her head.

"Oh is he now?! Hmmmmm...can I use your bathroom real quick?", Shanay slyly asked.

"Why you askin' to use it? You neva' do no otha time!", Latonya replied before she saw Shanay heading for her bedroom.

Latonya slammed her coffee mug down on the coffee table to try to keep Shanay out of her room. "Come back here, Nay!", she shouted. But it was too late! Shanay had already went inside and come back out with an outfit that Latonya decided to wear on today which was hanging on the front of her closet door.

"Check this out, Dee-Dee! Somebody is gonna make sure she makes an impression on Nokio!", Shanay laughed as she held up Latonya's "Get 'Em Girl" outfit that she only wore when she knew she would have a male's attention. It was a long, denim skirt with a thigh-high split in the front and a red low-cut blouse.

"Stay outta my room, ho!", Latonya laughed as she walked up to Shanay to snatch the outfit from her. Deidre was on the chair cracking up.

"And anyway, yall two are dressed like some reject 'Soul Train' dancers! You in yo' painted on jeans and 3-inch heels and Dee-Dee in her see-through blouse and short skirt!", Latonya huffed.

"Whateverrrrrrrr!!!! Ehhhhhhh!!!", Deidre and Shanay laughed at the same time as they turned around and smacked their butts at Latonya. This was somethin' silly they all did from the time they met each other.

"Dn, I can't stand yall!", Latonya laughed as she went ahead to start getting dressed for the day.
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"Well, I guess the girls will be here soon!", Sisqo stated with a wide grin as he walked up to Scola and Nokio who were chatting with Ludacris. All of the Def Jam artists had arrived at the photography studio to wait on Latonya, Shanay and their helper who would be arriving shortly to begin the interview and photo session.

"Yeah, I know!", Nokio slyly grinned. "I'm only tellin' yall like I told Jazz last night...I'm really feelin' Tay-Tay, but on a personal level only. When it comes to us workin' together, I can't take it! She's too dn bossy!" Nokio shook his head.

"We saw that last night!", Scola chuckled as he and Sisqo gave each other a pound.

"I know right!", Nokio laughed. Just then Red walked over to where they were.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the studio, 112 were talking amongst themselves.

"Man, yall don't think Russ will find out about this money isht anytime soon do you?!", Mike whispered.

"Let's hope not! What's goin' on with our old and new manager is dead-wrong, but we have our lives and our families’ lives to worry about!", Slim whispered back while shaking his head.

"I know man, it's bad enough to feel alienated ova here, and now this!", Daron quietly replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

Ludacris and Jazz were in the middle of chatting when the girls came walking into the studio.

"Whew na! I see pros, I see prooooooooooooooos...", Ludacris laughed as he watched the girls saying hi to everybody.

Jazz began to laugh. "You are stoopid, man!"

"I'm juss sayin'!", Ludacris chuckled as he noticed the girls making their way over to them.

"Hey, Jazz!", Shanay smiled as she put her hand up to wave her fingers at him. "W'sup, Luda Luda!"

"Hey yall! I don't believe we've met!", Jazz smiled as he stuck out his hand to shake Deidre's.

"This is our photographer, Deidre!", Latonya smiled as she looked away for a minute to see if she saw Nokio. When she spotted him, she excused herself.

"It's nice to meet you both!", Deidre smiled after shaking Ludacris' and Jazz's hands.

"Likewise, ma!", Ludacris grinned. Deidre felt herself blushing.

"W'sup, Noke!", Latonya smiled as she walked over to him. She gave Meth a weak smile and hello.

"Hey, Tay-Tay! Yall 'bout ready to get started?", Nokio smiled as he tried to keep his eyes from wandering away from her face. It was extremely hard to do so when he noticed her outfit from the time she walked through the door.

"Yup! I juss wanted to come over and say hi! Have you seen Russ? He said he would prolly be comin' down to take a few photos for us.", Latonya stated.

"Nah, I haven't seen him yet. He'll prolly be here soon though.", Nokio replied.

After waiting around for a few more minutes, Shanay decided that she and the girls should go ahead and get started.

They began by interviewing Kelly and Jonell first. They asked them several questions about how it felt to be the only females working at a label dominated by men. Of course, Kelly and Jo gave feisty answers in their interview. It was evident that they held it down at the label. Deidre took some beautiful photos of them too. They were very photogenic.

A few minutes later, Russell showed up. However, the girls decided to interview 112 next since they were the newest group at the label. During the interview, the girls noticed that it seemed as if the group was holding back with some of the answers to their questions although Q did most of the talking. It was like they were struggling to be pleasant although they were having a hard time in doing so. But a little while later, the girls noticed how they loosened up when it was time for them to take some photographs.

And down the line it went as they interviewed and took photos of Redman, LL, Method Man, Dru, Musiq, Case, Erick Sermon, and Ludacris. They finished up by interviewing Russell.

By the time the girls were leaving, Ludacris and Deidre had hit it off very well. She was very excited because they would be going out later on that night.

"Well, whoop-dee-doo!", Latonya huffed while shaking her head.

"Don't playa hate…congratulate!", Deidre laughed as they headed for Shanay's ride.

"That is sooooooo late 1990ish!", Shanay laughed along with Latonya.

[glow=red,2,300]“She can walk with a switch/And talk the street slang/I love it when a woman ain’t scared to do her thang”
— LL Cool J: Around the Way Girl[/glow]

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[sexysmile]

Eeeeeeeeeeeee! I like it....going to the next part!!
*clicks mouse and proceeds*

[aDRUfan4LiFe]

Good! You kill me with those Redman quotes! lol Interesting...heads to the next chapter...

[DruDiamond]

Hey Mikey, she likes it *turns the pg to read pt.2*