Ray J Shows His Immature Side on VH1's Brandy & Ray J: A Family Business

NBA athlete Matt Barnes says reality shows are scripted. Although I absolutely believe the women on "Basketball Wives" are really this bitter, I'm hoping Barnes' opinion about reality shows is correct about another Sunday night show. After watching the May 2, episode of "Brandy & Ray J: A Family Business" called "House of Blues," it'd be disappointing to find out that Ray J really does act like he's closer to three instead of 30.

The latter VH1 reality show focuses on the Norwood family, highlighting R&B star and actor Brandy and her reality dating show brother Ray J, who had a few hit singles "Let It Go," "One Wish" and "Sexy Can I." Brandy has decided to rap under the alias Bran'Nu with super producer Timbaland while Ray J is supposedly headed into the studio with another super producer Rodney Jerkins. And while I thought the show was going to be about a successful, African-American music family living in the industry, it's turning into a bunch of buffoonery.

In May 2 episode, Ray J came into the family office hung over, laid on the desk, talked about how he wanted to throw up, played a guitar in a business meeting and complained about how he didn't have chicken noodle soup.

Brandy, who was visibly annoyed, asked the camera, "What kind of CEO or partner walks into a meeting hungover and actually acts like it? Ray."

I guess that wasn't goofy enough for him. Then his KO Krew paid for a stripper to dance for him in his office. Never mind that his parents both work in that office, too, along with Brandy. One would think a young man would be embarrassed to have this kind of foolishness happening in front of his mother, but nope, not Ray J. He closed the door and let her keep on dancing, but Brandy dropped the ball.

Now what happened after that was just plain strange. Instead of Brandy's mother--also their manager--getting mad at Ray J, she was furious with Brandy for defending Ray J's "extra" friend, Shorty Mac. Brandy didn't care for Sonja Norwood saying to him, "That's the reason why you are where you are today. Nowhere." Now while I understood the comment was harsh, observing the ridiculous questions Shorty Mac asked on "For the Love of Ray J," in addition to boldly talking about how he would bring a stripper around his own mother and completely ignoring Sonja Norwood's displeasure with him paying for the stripper to come in, how could you blame her? Who does that in real life? What guy sends a stripper to the same job where his friend's mother works?

While that was stupid, that wasn't what puzzled me the most. Sonja Norwood got mad at Brandy for defending Shorty Mac even though he was being blatantly disrespectful. Keep in mind Brandy's father stood there completely mute during the situation, another reason I could see why Sonja Norwood was mad. Quite frankly if Willie Norwood Sr. was whining for his son to put the guitar back in his office and Ray J ignored him, how could he possibly be an authoritative figure now? I understand why she was mad at her husband. I understand why she was annoyed with Brandy (not enough to not see her perform, but that's another entry). But I definitely don't understand why she wasn't mad at Ray J for humoring it all, letting the girl dance, being drunk in the meeting, giggling and half-heartedly kicking his friends out. I do commend his other KO Krew friend, Dre One, for at least apologizing about the stripper.

Now whether this episode wraps up peacefully next week is completely in the air. But what I will say is this. This reality show may have been Ray J's braniac idea, in addition to the two dating shows he keeps trying to disassociate himself with, but every time I see more about this guy, the less I respect his business sense. There's no challenge in going to a party and getting drunk. His bank account may reflect differently, but if he continues to turn his music supporters off (I'm not one of them, by the way, and never owned an album but I do like his three hit singles), his balance is going to end up at zero. I'm not usually one to jump on the I-don't-like-this-celebrity bandwagon since I don't know him personally, but his television persona is repulsive.

While some reality shows forget the "real" in reality, I truly hope this show is completely fake and he's not like this in real life. Initially I thought the show was genius, but I'm quickly losing my patience watching him ruin each episode with Shorty Mac dragging him down. We have enough stereotypical shows on television. Why add another one? This one episode was worse than all of the seasons of "Flavor of Love."