Veteran Hip-Hop Journalist Dee Barnes Is Homeless And Asking For Help

Deadline is reporting that things have gotten bad  for hip-hop reporter and former host of FOX’s Pump It Up!, Dee Barnes, as she’s had to open a GoFundMe to help with her dire financial situation. Dee asked for help when she was in danger of being evicted, and now says she’s officially homeless. When you can’t make enough money to pay your bills, or you have a medical emergency not covered by your insurance, don’t worry someone is always there to help you… …No, not the government who you pay taxes to and is supposed to take care of its citizens; GoFundMe! 

Dee told HipHopDX that she’s officially without a home and was reluctant to ask the people for help:

“What made me finally say enough I’m going to ask for help is that quote, ‘You can overcome anything in life, but you must first be willing to live in your truth. I realized that I had come too far and had been through too much to just give up without trying.

I had never asked for public help before, but I then remembered a long time ago while I was going through the assault trial in 1991 people were sending me checks for my legal fees. I never cashed any of them — not one — but knowing I had that support kept me strong enough to continue to face each court date. Right now, I am officially homeless. My goal with the campaign is to regain stability, which is imperative for survivors of any trauma.”

Dee confirmed that the GoFundMe was hers on Twitter, and also told Deadline the same thing when they reached her before she attended an event about black women and the #MeToo movement.

Dee was a member of the female rap duo Body & Soul and also worked as an on-air personality for LA radio station KDAY. She then landed the job working for Fox on Pump It Up! and is credited as one of the first female hip-hop journalists in America to host a national TV show. During her time on Pump It Up! she interviewed people like Queen Latifah, Ice Cube and N.W.A. …Speaking of N.W.A….

In 1991 Dee was “brutally attacked” by someone we’re all familiar with–Dr. Dre–while at a music industry party in LA. Dre was still a member of N.W.A. and he decided that he would assault Dee because he was unhappy about a segment on her show–which is a totally rational reaction and not at all psychotic. She filed a civil suit against him (there was no criminal one?!) and he pleaded no contest to the assault and the case settled. This vicious attack on a female reporter was strangely left out of that N.W.A. biopic that came out a few years ago, Straight Outta Compton. And Dr. Dre was a producer on the film… Hmmm… do you think he tried to cover up the documented fact that he beat a woman up for having an opinion? Hmmm…  Dee called it “revisionist history” in an editorial for Gawker.

I think it’s time for some revisionist history of Dee’s. Namely, she needs to revise whatever settlement she had with Dr. Dre. If he can spend millions on a building at USC (a building that obviously helped get his daughter in to USC) then he can hand Dee a couple mil for literally attacking her and covering it up in his movie.

Pic: Instagram