I remember being a tomboy as a kid. I wanted to be like the boys and compete with the boys. I wouldn’t play with Barbie dolls and carry purses. I liked watching the action-hero cartoons on Saturday mornings and organizing tennis shoes similar to how they were organized in shoe stores. When I became a teen, I preferred baseball caps and Timbs over dresses and high heels. Nothing wrong with it.
The main reason I was such a tomboy was because of the influence of Hip Hop. I couldn’t wait for albums to drop so I could beg my mother to buy it for me. One time, growing up in Houston, TX, I started my own in-house candy store selling all kinds of chocolate bars and candies. All the kids in the neighborhood would come by my place to buy two quarter snacks. It was my version of the trap house and business was poppin’ bruh. I would even sell bubble gum at school. When I made enough money, I purchased my first album Da Brat’s Funkdafied, with the help of an unidentified adult of course. I was so happy to get that CD. It was the first CD with a parental advisory that I ever owned.
Before that, I used to record songs from Houston’s radio station 97.9 The Box on my little boom box. I had tapes of Aaliyah and Immature, that dope music. But, Da Brat was the very first album I ever owned and she was the ish, okkkuuurrrr! She had that same vibe I felt inside. A beast, a monster, unstoppable, un-toppable. Yeah, in the fifth grade, I felt just like that. I was hard with my candy business.
Da Brat gave me that energy and confidence to be like it’s ok to be a tomboy. It’s ok that you want to compete with the boys. That was back then. Now, you’ll find me wearing makeup, getting the latest nail designs and buying pretty flowers from Trader Joe’s. All the result of assimilation into college life and later, the corporate world. I still won’t wear a dress for nothing. I know that’ll change though. Comes with the territory of being a woman in the entertainment industry (or so we think). But, every now and then, you’ll catch me with a unisex wallet, with some Timbs and a gold chain on, talking mad crazy for a lady. Just how I like it, RAW.
Random Bema Stories is a collection of stories about the life and times of Betty Bema, creator of The MouthSoap and Pabulum Entertainment. She is a self-proclaimed Hip Hop analyst with a knack for pop culture news. For more information, contact info@themouthsoap.com.
