Never Drank the Kool-Aid Essays [Paperback]

His name is Tour?--just Tour?--and like many of the musicians, athletes, and celebrities he's profiled, he has affected the way that we think about culture in America. He has profiled Eminem, 50 Cent, and Alicia Keys for the cover ofRolling Stone. He's played high-stakes poker with Jay-Z and basketball with Prince and Wynton Marsalis. In Tour?'s world, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. sits beside Condoleezza Rice who sits beside hip-hop pioneer Tupac Shakur, and all of them are fascinating company.

Never Drank the Kool-Aidis the chronicle of Tour?'s unparalleled journey through the American funhouse called pop culture. Its rooms are filled with creative, arrogant, kind, ordinary, and extraordinary people, most of whom happen to be famous. It is Tour?'s gift to be able to see through the artifice of their world and understand the genuine motivations behind their achievements--to see who they truly are as people. This is a searingly funny, surprisingly unguarded, and deeply insightful look at a world few of us comprehend.

Introduction

1. I'm Audi
It Was a Wonderful World (Biggie Smalls,The Village Voice)

2. Sensitive Thugs
The Family Man (Eninem,Rolling Stone)
The Life of a Hunted Man (50 Cent,Rolling Stone)
DMX Drives Crazy, but He Loves You (Rolling Stone)
I'm Scared to Death, but I Gotta Live (Biggie Smalls,Rolling Stone)
The Toughest Record Exec Ever (Dick Griffey,XXL)

3. Big Willies
Best Rapper Alive (Puff Daddy,The Village Voice)
Hiphop's Biggest Kid Grows Up (Russell Simmons,Playboy)
The Power of Radio (Andre Harrell, unpublished)
Al Sharpton Has a Dream (Playboy)
Ships Passing in the Night (Barack Obama and Colin Powell,Suedemagazine)

4. Icaruses
Invincible Man (Tupac,The Village Voice)
The Ivy League Counterfeiter (Cliff Evans,Rolling Stone)
The Greatest Tennis Player You've Never Heard Of (Al Pal³,