are the ideal exemplars for ghettofabulous TV. Audiences tune in each week to watch African American women and men cussing, arguing, fighting, and displaying certain levels of ignorance. To some extent that problematic and biased frame has become a staple when it comes to rap music and hip hop, but The Real Housewives of Atlanta (RHOA) features a number of prominent black women who became stars in their own right, yet still fit the mold. For example, Kandi Burris-Tucker is a Grammy award winning singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur formerly part of the popular group Xscape (Mitchell, 2017). Cynthia Bailey is a supermodel who has walked the runways of New York, Paris, and Mulan. She owns the Bailey Agency School of Fashion in Atlanta (Anderson, 2013). Kenya Moore was named Miss USA in 1993 and landed in the top six for the Miss Universe pageant (Hensley, 2016). Eva Marcille won the third season of Americas Next Top Model and has since become an actress, television host, and entrepreneur (Koerner, 2017).
Of course, there are other cast members who have built their fame and fortune from the show. For example, NeNe Leakes’ has milked ghettofabulous for all it is worth. Her original claim to fame before RHOA was as a stripper, but she has now launched a one-woman comedy show, appeared on Glee as a swim coach, co-hosted the Today Show, and acted on Broadway in Cinderella (Ferrise, 2018). Portia Williams went from a subservient athlete’s wife to a co-host on the nationally syndicated talk show Dish Nation (Ho, 2014).
The display of ghettofabulous in RHOA is obvious. There are ostentatious pictures of expensive houses, cars, and name brand products in every episode (Hawley, 2014). Each cast member seems eager to outshine the other when it comes to conspicuous consumption. On Season 4, NeNe Leakes told Sheree Whitfield (former cast member) “I am very rich, Bitch!” (Orr, 2019). Orr discusses how over several seasons, Whitfield and Kenya Moore battled about the size and quality of their homes: “Chateau Sheree” vs. “Moore Manor.”
Baby showers and weddings are ghettofabulous. Kenya Moore created a fairytale shower filled with princess ballgowns, tiaras, gold wigs, crowns, and capes in a room staged like a royal court, including an enchanted forest, with an oversized gold throne (Quinn, 2018). When Kandi Burress married Todd Tucker they had a Coming to America themed wedding that included African Dancers, drummers, and real lions (Palacios, 2015). Finally, Phaedra Parks ordered 12 different birthday cakes for her son’s first birthday party (Parks, 2012).
The cat fights among these upper-class, grown women are constant and ugly. For example, Sheree Whitfield got into a lot of battles. She and Marlo Hampton ←27 | 28→went at it in Africa when Marlo was purposely excluded from an activity (Lucas, 2012), she pulled off the wig of former RHOA cast member Kim Zolciak, and had an argument with her party planner Antony that resulted in the popular phrase “Who gonna check me, boo?” (Moylan, 2014). Kandi Burress has gone several rounds with various cast members as well including Portia Williams who she attacked for accusing Burress of planning to drug her for sex (Mathers, 2018). Burress and Phaedra Parks fell out behind a business deal with Burress’s husband, and later Burress was livid when she found out that the drugging allegation originally came from Parks (Quinn, 2017).
Sexuality and looks are over-the-top on the show. Kandi Burrus has launched a line of sex toys as part of her internet show Kandi Coated Nights (2018–) and produced a sold-out burlesque show in Atlanta. During Episode 12 in Season 11, the housewives visit Japan and in one crude scene they pretend that a pickle is a dick and imitate various sexual acts on each other. There are stories about some of the women having breast implants, liposuction, nose jobs, and butt lifts. The clothes that many of the cast members wear usually expose large sections of their huge breasts, thick thighs and wide bottoms. Parks and Moore even had a ridiculous blow up in Season 5 concerning the production of a DVD video that ended in a controversy over “stallion booties” vs. “donkey booties” (IMDb, 2013).
Empire (2015–) has been ranked as the number one broadcast drama among the 18 to 49 demographic (Berg, 2017). There have been many situation comedies, but a prominent black drama is rare on prime-time television. It is not surprising this black drama on television about a successful music company is ghettofabulous. The show is riddled with controversy based on the stereotypes perpetuating ghetto life including criminals, murderers, drug dealers, and thugs. The executive-producer, director Lee Daniels says, “It’s all set against a “boughetto” (that’s bougie + ghetto- try to keep up) backdrop of gunplay, glitz and gold diggers” (Williams, 2015).
Cookie Lyons played by Taraji Henson is a ghettofabulous character described by her stylist as flaunting a classy-hood style (Hope, 2015). When she is released from prison Cookie is wearing big hoop earrings, a white fur jacket, and a tight-fitting leopard print dress from the 1980s (Jones, 2015). Unfortunately, her wardrobe doesn’t change much once she is back in the real world.
In one instance she might wear an Alexander McQueen dress with a Balenciaga clutch. In another moment she might wear a rhinestone tiger-striped dress with a long slit up the side. She uses a big Chanel gold pendant, Cavalli necklaces, and Gucci python bags to accessorize her leopard jumpsuits. (Wright, 2018, pp. 93–94)
Wright adds that Cookie’s character is constantly slipping between hustler and music mogul. Dr. Boyce Watkins called the show “Ghettofied Coonery” on ←28 | 29→CNN in a discussion with Don Lemon (Emery & Bennett, 2015). Watkins said, “A lot of black actors and actresses are tired of being put in the entertainment ghetto. The entertainment ghetto is basically the place where you have roles … specifically designed for black people, where black actors are kind of locked into” (Emery & Bennett, 2015).
Niecy Nash has solidified her spot in Claws, a ghettofabulous dramedy on TNT. Nash plays Desna, the owner of a nail salon who launders money for the mafia, commits and covers up murders, but takes care of her crew who are known for their unique, over-the-top manicures. Nash wears signature tight fitting, low-cut jumpsuits, emphasizing her big breasts, small waist, and large behind (Carter, 2017). Her character also enjoys hood-style bling with rings on every finger, big silver chain belts, gold bangles, huge dangling earrings and necklaces, and, of course, long dazzling fingernails (Cutler, 2017). In a 2018 NPR interview, Nash said at five-years-old she told her grandmother that she wanted to be, “Black, fabulous and on TV” (Sanders & Sastry, 2018). She has definitely accomplished that.
Ghettofabulous in Urban Fiction
Waiting to Exhale by Terry McMillan was released in 1992 and it became a huge success. The book sold four million copies, it was followed by a sequel and became a hit movie. Because of the success of Waiting to Exhale the doors to publishing opened wide for African American women’s fiction. Fast forward twenty years later, African American Women’s fiction has, for the most part, been replaced at large publishing companies by urban/street fiction which is flying off the shelves.
This new focus on negative black stereotypes of male thugs and female hoochies has made urban/street fiction the perfect genre to push into the mainstream. James Fugate the owner of Eso Wan Books in Los Angeles expressed his concerned, “The ghetto lit being written today is mostly ‘mindless garbage about murder, killing, thuggery. When you read this ghetto lit nothing happens to your mind. And that is the problem” (Daniels, 2007, p. 65).
Research in this area suggests that remedial learners are more engaged with urban fiction. Specifically, the stereotypes, sexual themes, and violence serves to lure them in despite poor reading achievement (DeBlaze, 2003; Mahiri, 2004; Morris, Hughes-Hassell, Agosto, & Cottman, 2006; Rampey, Dion, & Donahue, 2009; Stovall, 2005; Townsend, Thomas, Neilands, & Jackson, 2010). Gibson (2016) produced a study on African American girls reading urban fiction and found that outside of class urban fiction was very popular. She suggested that street lit could be used as a bridge to interest African American girls in other reading genres.
←29 | 30→
In 2005, Stovall reported that a variety of readers from a broad range of class backgrounds were reading urban fiction. This report worried Pollard (2015) who argued that the depiction of drug
