On Monday night (April 15), the cast of Love & Hip Hop Atlanta met
up at the city's Cream Ultra Lounge to view the screening of the second
season's first episode. As a couple hundred bloggers and Atlanta
tastemakers looked on, it was evident that the drama could, at any point
spill over from reality television to actual reality—without the help
of camera filters or glossy cinematography.
The only castmembers not in attendance were K. Michelle and Lil
Scrappy—presumably because of his legal issues—but there was enough
going on between his fiancé Erica Dixon, Momma Dee and scorned ex-lover
Shay to distract guests from his absence.
During the evening's Q&A session, Momma Dee defended her stance
on intervening in Scrap's love life saying, “There isn't anyone in here
that wouldn't fight to protect their son. He's grown but he's still my
son.” As the crowd murmured, unconvinced, Shay jumped in, fueled by last
season's humiliation and the evening's unlimited access to liquid
courage. “Will Scrappy marry Erica?” It was a challenge more than a
question. “Will. Scrappy. Marry. Erica?,” she said again with emphasis.
“Hell f-ck nah.”
Dixon, Scrappy's fiancé and the mother of his child, sat stewing up until that point.
“I have nothing to prove,” she said dismissively, “There is no
competition baby.” To which Shay responded, clearly inebriated, “No
competition at all. There is nothing!” The crowd of event attendees grew
anxious, almost expectant of a glass to be thrown as the tension
increased in a venue that was already too packed for a girlfight of epic
proportions.
Momma Dee, queen of the facetious soundbite cut in with, “Lemme tell
you something.” She continued, “It's a shaking in the palace baby. It's a
shaking in the palace!” The guests collectively chuckled, confused but
comforted by her signature ambiguity, while Shay, increasingly
aggressive, admitted, “Scrappy will always be my friend and I will
always love Scrappy. Forever. Period.”
On the other end of the setup, Stevie J and Joseline sat side by
side, comforted in the new status of their relationship. Even while
Stevie openly flirted with every woman on cast—outside of rapper
Rasheeda, who is clearly pregnant—Joseline sat, content in her new
position as Stevie's main. Mimi on the other hand, was sauced and primed
for confrontation.
Stevie made his way down the line of women and before he could get
too close to Mimi, she let him have it. Apparently, he'd made reference
to her missing their intimate relationship, to which Mimi fired, “It's
not. The d-ck. For me.”
She continued, directing her attention to Stevie's new girlfriend in
front of hundreds, “It may be the d-ck for you [Joseline]. But it's not
the d-ck for me. Let's be clear. Are we clear?”
“Sit yo @ss back down,” she told Stevie huskily, “Ni--a I've known
you for a hundred years. It's not the d-ck. Let's be clear ni--a. She
might like yo d-ck. I'm tired of your d-ck. Just gimme the money ni--a.
Just gimme the money. F-ck yo' d-ck.”
Joseline, clearly unaffected by any of Mimi's ranting, spoke on her
level of content these days. “I'm always working,” she said evenly, “I'm
always on the road doing shows, trying to perform so... I'm just happy.
Anything else really don't matter.”
Read more
Still, the self-proclaimed Puerto Rican princess hasn't lost sight of
who she's dealing with. “Stevie's the man. Stevie's a player. I know
he's a player,” she said with a shrug.
“But I've only been around Stevie for a year and three months and my
life has changed completely,” she continued, “So, I'm f-cking happy. I
couldn't be happier. I make a lot of money. I was just a stripper last
year and now I'm partying, I'm an artist, I'm travelling everywhere. I
just appreciate him and his f-cking shenanigans, I don't give a f-ck.”
The premiere episode of the popular franchise's second season
promises new beginnings, old beef, and the continuance of perpetual line
stepping.
“These women and their lives exist,” show producer Mona Scott-Young
recently told Hip-Hop Wired “I never said that this was the total
definite picture of all African-American women the world over. This is
just a specific slice and yeah, you have to be a certain kind of woman
to live, work and exist in this space and that's just the reality of it.
It might not be you, it might not be me but again, I'm not sitting here
judging like you shouldn't have a platform. Your story should be told.”
The second season of VH1's
Love & Hip Hop Atlanta will debut on Monday, April 22 at 8 pm EST. Check out photos from the cast's visit to NYC in the gallery below.
