by Thomas Long

Cash Rules is a tale about three best friends from Baltimore City who have big plans to make it in the rap world. Takeisha, Latrell, and Danita are three around the way girls who spend their teenage years in the streets of Baltimore City chasing the fast life that's filled with hustlas, money, expensive cars, and pure uncut drama. They see becoming the next superstar rap group as their way to make it outta the hood. As a result, they sharpen up their lyrical skills and form a gangsta rap group called The KS (Killin'em Softly) Crew. They derive the name of the group from their sexy cover girl looks and hard core rhyme style. After hooking up with Scar, another up and coming Baltimore rapper, big time drug dealer, and Takeisha's boyfriend, they are given an opportunity to become major stars in the music industry. However, after Scar and Takeisha break up and he winds up in jail on a trumped up charge, the girls are left to fend for themselves. They hook up with a group of producers from New York City, named The Smith Brothers, and land a record deal with Cash Rules Records. The book chronicles their rise to the top of the rap world and the struggles they endure along the path of fame and fortune. It details the pitfalls that lie along the road and shows how the trappings of success threaten to tear the very fiber of their lifelong friendship with each other apart as demons from their past come back to haunt them.