A lot of people think that the Love & Hip Hop franchise is pure trash–and a lot of times it is precisely that. Despite the trashiness, I’ve been a steadfast fan of the franchise since the very first season; I just keep getting sucked back in season after season, even as the storylines and theatrics continue to escalate to levels of sheer implausibility for what is supposed to be “reality.”.But if you look (like really look) beyond the weave pulling and other ratchetness, the show actually has some redeeming, dare I say inspirational, qualities about it. However paradoxical it may seem, I’ve actually picked up a few useful lessons from watching this foolery.
1. Stand up for yourself
I hate confrontation. In the past, I haven’t been very good at responding to shade. More often than not, my way of dealing with shade was to resort to passive aggressive techniques. But here’s the thing with passive aggression–it doesn’t work if the other person is not good at picking up on subtleties! Sometimes one needs to respond to a threat in very direct terms. The cast members of Love & Hip Hop understand this quite well. Even the more levelheaded cast members like Tammy Rivera don’t take too kindly to blatant shade, as we’ve seen in the latest Atlanta season. A core principle of the show seems to be: don’t let people walk all over you. Having said that, in regular non-reality-TV-show life, not every instigator deserves a drink to the face or a wig snatching–sometimes the best response is a calm and icy one, like something that House of Cards’ Claire Underwood would say or do. Nonetheless, the lesson learned is to defend oneself.
2. Believe in yourself
Perhaps one of the most addictive things about Love &
Hip Hop is watching people hustling to achieve their dreams in the music industry. Some of the cast members pursuing music have, let’s just say “questionable” talent and/or methods of pursuit, yet they are unafraid to allow themselves to want what they truly want. In my opinion, that’s brave. Theirs are the rags to riches stories that draw in viewers–stories that evidence that there are people who reject the tedium of the 9 – 5 job to wholeheartedly go after their dreams. We root for them and hope that at least a few of them make it so that we too can believe it possible for ourselves, whatever our dreams may be. I mean, even Momma Dee is out here dropping albums for Christ’s sake! If that doesn’t motivate you to get your butt off the couch I don’t know what will...
Excerpt from post originally published on Madame Noire.