00 ESSENCE | MONTH 2007 AMBER givesusaclose-up ofthegirlwhosaysshe’s past toscriptsongsthat are beautiful,honestandunflinching.JEANNINE With avoicelikeraw honey, R&BsingerKeyshiaColetapsthe painofher PHOTOGRAPHY BYGREGBROOMSTYLING AGNES CAMMOCK SOUL Just LikeYou visit essence.com

DUMMY CREDIT

DUMMY CREDIT and DeBeers. Jacqueline Rabun Georg Jensenby Coin, Movado, rings byRoberto and (fromleft) Dsquared2 jacket Keyshia wearsa visit essence.com k mental question theartist:Cana about funda- a reveals about, singing popularity emotionshe soared tochart-topping very love,the point. Cole’shesitationabout Young ishardly the Buthisidentity Jeezy). have been linkedwithAtlanta-based rapper to rumored widely she’s though it.” thingabout the crazy couldn’t submit.ButIlovedhim.That’s mit and letyourmandothething? the word whenyoujustkindoffallback What’s inlife. not donewithmygoals anymore. I’mjustnotready that.I’m for yourself youdon’tlivejustfor one; come be- was you I married, opposite. get the scared. Whenyou was it me, for But ring, tobeablerepresent something. a everything woman is tobemarried,witha livesfor: this dang, like, was weird. After thisguyproposedtome,I “I justcouldn’tdoit,”shesays.“It’s then again duringdinneraweeklater. brings itupoverthephoneonedayand hard becauseIreally missthatchild.” says, picking atherdinner.“It’sbeen son. “Itwasme,himandthebaby,”Cole year-old would-be stepchild,herfiancé’s complete withadiamondringand 10- year andahalf.Theengagement came gagement a toamanshewaswithfor is speakingaboutbreaking offheren- ambivalence, theplatinum-sellingartist years. Vacillating and betweencertainty seemmuchyounger thanher26 would She won’t share thenameofherex(al- She her. confounds breakup The ’ l akdu nta od just I word. that on up jacked all ? I’m E aigerirta a,she day, that earlier taping BET o themakeupleftonfroma for yhaCl sstigi the in sitting is Cole eyshia colored lpfosadacream- a and flip-flops simply dressed injeans, simply summer night.She’s lue fi weren’t it if blouse; okCt na on City York etuati New in restaurant onro dark a of corner Sub- is notmyfather!Getoutta here.’ ” man. When Isawthepicture, Isaid, ‘Ma, this full-Italian fat short, this he’s dead now,butIsawapicture of himand father is,andit’sSal,’”saysCole. “He’s world atthetime,butIknow whoyour “My dad. her outinthe mother waslike,‘Ivery be couldn’t man the lives withherfamousdaughter,insists her 20-yearcrack addictionandnow day. ButCole’smother,whohaskicked have beenwithhermotherback inthe abloodtest,claimingto show askingfor a manapproached hermanager aftera herbiologicalfather,butrecentlyabout ber mymotheralwaysleaving.” my baby!’Itwasreal hectic.Ijustremem- beyelling,‘That’smybaby!That’s both her toget away,”Colesays.“Thenthey’d motherwouldhouse, andmyfoster tell logical mother.“Shewould cometothe ated withtraumaticvisitsfromherbio- she toldmethetruth.” was getting me,that’swhen for money check stubs.WhenIaskedherwhyshe Iinvestigated alltheseold andIfound “So it wasnoneofmybusiness,”recalls Cole. it,andshesaid payee. “Iaskedherabout her name,withmotherlistedasthe agovernmentcheckfound madeoutin agewas adopted.Thenatabout 7she For years,Colesays,noonetoldhershe with afamilywhowould lateradopther. careCole wasplacedinfoster atage 2, With hermotherunabletocare her, for siblings, someofwhomshe’snevermet. and aprostitute,Colewasoneofseven drugaddict daughterofaformer born Cole didn’tbegineasily.TheOakland- for life from BillietoEtta toTinaMary, As withmostspine-tinglingsoulsingers, HOUSE OFPAIN offer evertrulybelieveineverlastinglove? offer woman whohasseentheworst hasto life For yearsColedidn’t knowanything Cole remembers achildhoodpunctu- OCTOBER 2007 | . ESSENCE 179 SOUL SURVIVOR Keyshia sports a Jean Paul Gaultier dress, OGI Ltd. bangles, Georg Jensen by Lina Falkesgaard bangle, and (from left) rings by Pasha de Cartier, Movado, While her biological mother dipped in and out of her life, Lorraine Schwartz, VBH Soon after, an early version of “Love” made one constant female presence was her older sister Neffeteria, and Roberto Coin. For its way into the hands of Ron Fair, chairman of 27, whose own chaotic life played out in season one of Cole’s details, see Where to Buy. Geffen Records. “I listened to the track and im- reality show The Way It Is, which returns for its second season mediately felt her oppression and hopefulness this month on BET. While Cole grew up in foster care, Neffe- and sadness,” says Fair. “Keyshia had a tear in teria was raised by their grandmother, whom Cole would of- her voice and an authenticity that really spoke ten visit. As a child, Neffeteria and another young relative to me. It made me feel we could change the were brutally raped after two men broke into their home. Cole world.” He offered her a deal on the spot. believes that her cousin Andre, who was 9 at the time, was forced to watch. At 19, Andre put a bullet in his head. THE BEST IS YET TO COME “It did something to all of them,” Cole says. “The other Watch Cole onstage and it’s easy to see the girl, she just went crazy.” And Neffeteria’s confidence level swagger and heartbreak of a young Mary J. plummeted, recalls Cole. Suddenly her then 10-year-old sis- But the similarities can be misleading. Blige ter was acting grown, parading her body like a teenager. “I entered the music scene scarred and adrift. hated it because my sister was just gone,” says Cole now. “Af- By her own admission, she clung to drugs ter that it was a wrap.” and men, looking for solace. But Cole is the To this day, Cole worries about how the rape has affected opposite. Her troubled past has manifested her sister. Last January she invited Neffeteria and her three in a fierce and self-protective independence. young children to come live with her. But it hasn’t been easy. In the second episode of The Way It Is, Ron “Neffe and I, we don’t always get along,” she says of their re- Fair is seen repeatedly trying to offer Cole lationship. “Sometimes I think maybe I’m being mean for not help in wrangling artists for her new album understanding. Maybe she just needs someone to hug her. Just Like You, which drops September 25. Cole She’s been through a lot.” turns down his offer with a cool “I’ll be all right.” She wears this insistence like armor. ALL EYES ON KEYSHIA Her independence may be her greatest With a family history this fraught with troubles, one could strength, but it also shields her from anyone easily imagine Cole going down her own dark path. Mention who tries to get too close. Especially men. the possibility and Cole stiffens her back. “I’d die before “Sometimes other people feel like they know that,” she balks. “When she was on drugs, my mother used what’s best for you,” says Cole. “But I know to say to me, ‘You’re gonna end up just like me.’ But no, where I want to be. I see my future, and I’d sorry, I’m not. I’ve always kept my dignity, my morals and rather go ahead and knock that out myself. I my perspective because God always had my back. Even can’t risk creating misfortune or unhappi- though it very well could have been that type of situation ness right now. I work so hard to represent for me, I was raised in the church. My foster mother was myself well; for me to let anyone else drive pastor, and I know God very well. He’s like my father, and my vehicle beside God, it’s like, no. I’m not He just made sure I was always okay.” even looking for anybody. I don’t want any- Cole was 6 when she started singing over at her best body. I just can’t.” friend’s house, the two of them trying to outdo her adopted In the first leg of promoting Just Like You, the brother, an aspiring rapper. When she was 12, her brother intro- not your fault. But guys are gonna want to have sex with you. You ““I’ve always kept singer sits on the red sofa of BET’s 106 and Park, fielding questions duced her to fellow Oakland native MC Hammer. Determined to gotta watch them.’ I’m like, ‘You gotta be kidding me.’ I was only a about her life. At one point there’s an undercurrent of discomfort parlay the meeting into an opportunity, Cole called the studio daily, kid. I hadn’t even started my menstruation. I told him I didn’t know my dignity, my as the hosts allude to her engagement, which Cole deflects. “Don’t leaving messages with the secretary. Finally her brother took her what the hell he was talking about. He said I’d figure it out one day.” even start,” she says with a laugh. But then she suddenly turns into the studio with him, and she ended up singing on Hammer’s Years later, when a record executive whom Cole had come to serious. “As young women, I think we need to realize that a rela- never-released track “I’m Just a Kid.” regard as a father figure leaned forward and tried to kiss her when morals and tionship is really a commitment,” she says to explain why she’s Two years later, when Hammer was signed to Suge Knight’s the two were alone together, Tupac’s words rang in her ears. “I still single. “In this business, you need to pay attention and do Death Row record label, he bought the then 14-year-old Cole a haven’t told anybody about that,” she says quietly. She refuses to my perspective what you have to do.” plane ticket to Los Angeles, where she ended up performing at reveal the exec’s name, “because even after he did that, I still had Later, as she exits the building, she’s mobbed by teenagers Knight’s annual Mother’s Day Party. “When I first heard her, I respect for everything he had done for me. It’s just that he really, because God always wielding picture-taking cell phones. She poses for a while, smiling knew she was going to be a star,” says Knight. “It’s not often that really hurt me and made me change my views on men. You think graciously, then hops into an SUV. “Was that okay?” she leans for- someone comes along who doesn’t need to be coached to sing. someone loves you for one reason and then they… ” Her voice had my back.” ward to ask her bodyguard. “Was it okay that I said that on TV?” she They just express themselves through their music. Mary was like trails off. “I just don’t get it.” parole-violation charges, Cole ended up back in Oakland, struggling asks again. Because for all her emotive talent, for all the raw pain, that, and so is Keyshia.” Cole says after she rebuffed his advances, the executive suddenly again. She worked at a coffee shop and a hair salon, but short of longing, bitterness and joy she captures in song, it seems Keyshia For two years, on and off, Cole spent time hanging out in the stu- stopped helping her career. “Everyone was saying to me, ‘That was cash, she ended up living with an ex-boyfriend and his mother. The Cole still isn’t sure just what to say about that thing called love. [ dio with Death Row artists like Snoop Dogg and the Outlawz. Tupac your shot! You only get one chance in life and that was it,’ ” she says. situation was less than ideal. One night her ex came home flaunting Jeannine Amber is a senior writer at ESSENCE. Shakur took a special interest in the petite and boisterous Cole, “I remember praying to God that this couldn’t have been my shot his new girl. An argument erupted and Cole decided she’d had treating her like a little sister. Cole remembers his pulling her aside because it seemed so wrong.” enough. She filled up her car with gas, drove back to Los Angeles, Visit ESSENCE.COM to hear more from Keyshia Cole. the day he died: “He was like, ‘You are really beautiful, baby, and it’s After Tupac’s death and Knight’s subsequent incarceration on NELSON AJ CRIMSON/EPIPHANY ARTISTS. HAIR, MAKEUP, HONEY/DE FACTO. MANICURIST, VERCHER/DE FACTO. and made her way back into the studio to work on a demo.

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