January 21, 2003

VH1 is showing a special called "The Fabulous Life of Jennifer Lopez." The subject is Miss Souf Bronx and her money -- how much she has ("she could buy eight more mansions and pay in cash"), how much she spends, everything she spends it on. It's not unusual for the celebrity industry to toot its own diamond-encrusted horn, but it's pretty interesting to see VH1, which loves and dotes on its stars, airing something so expository and tabloidy about an artist/cash cow who's young, beautiful, at the top of her game, and for most pop fans decidedly Not A Joke (cf. Michael Jackson, or worse, any of the cavalcade of one-hit wunderkinds whose heads are reguarly dunked in the pop-culture toilet for chart-bully amusement).