On the Come Up
The YA love letter to hip-hop--streaming on Paramount+ September 23, 2022! Starring Sanaa Lathan (in her directorial debut), Jamila C. Gray, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Lil Yachty, Method Man, Mike Epps, GaTa (Davionte Ganter), Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Titus Makin Jr., and Michael Anthony Cooper Jr.
#1 New York Times bestseller - Seven starred reviews - Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor Book
Sixteen-year-old Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. Or at least win her first battle. As the daughter of an underground hip hop legend who died right before he hit big, Bri's got massive shoes to fill. But it's hard to get your come up when you're labeled a hoodlum at school, and your fridge at home is empty after your mom loses her job. So Bri pours her anger and frustration into her first song, which goes viral . . . for all the wrong reasons.
Bri soon finds herself at the center of a controversy, portrayed by the media as more menace than MC. But with an eviction notice staring her family down, Bri doesn't just want to make it--she has to. Even if it means becoming the very thing the public has made her out to be.
Insightful, unflinching, and full of heart, On the Come Up is an ode to hip hop from one of the most influential literary voices of a generation. It is the story of fighting for your dreams, even as the odds are stacked against you; and about how, especially for young black people, freedom of speech isn't always free.
"For all the struggle in this book, Thomas rarely misses a step as a writer. Thomas continues to hold up that mirror with grace and confidence. We are lucky to have her, and lucky to know a girl like Bri."--The New York Times Book Review
Plus don't miss Concrete Rose, Angie Thomas's powerful prequel to her phenomenal bestseller, The Hate U Give!
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Community Reviews
Despite all this, I liked this book quite a bit.
Quick Pro/Con List to summarize my general feelings on the book:
CONS
1. While I'm no stranger to hearing (or saying) swear words, there were a lot of them in the beginning - to the point that it was distracting. These do continue throughout the book but the frequency tapers off and it does become less distracting.
2. Bri. Our MC, Bri, was incredibly difficult for me to like. She does rash things, she's frequently rude and/or disrespectful, she is petty, she is a hothead, she throws hissy fits and gets mad and says crappy things to strangers, friends, and family alike when they're not agreeing with her. She's a lot to handle. She is also a teenager, which makes some of the behavior pretty typical. By the the end of the book, I still hadn't really warmed up to her the way I had hoped I would, but I did acknowledge the progress she had made and recognized that her age and her life experiences had much to do with her character.
PROS
1. The saving grace of characters such as Jay (Bri's mom), Trey (Bri's brother), and her friends/classmates/potential love interests. Jay was a breath of fresh air. She had a hard past as an addict and came across as very genuine and very human and very...mom like.
Jay puts her hands to her mouth like she's praying. "One: Check. Your. Tone," she growls.
Oh, if I had a dollar for every time I've had to say this exact same thing to my tween daughter...
2. I appreciate the issues addressed and/or touched on. There was a lot going on here, but I don't think any of it didn't need to be said. There are references to black people being targeted by police and riots, black people having to have a set of unspoken rules just to stay safe ("don't give them a reason"), profiling/assumptions made just for being black (hoodlum, hood rat, affiliated with gangs, guns, stealing, etc.). There's poverty, violence, gangs, drugs (selling of and/or implication of selling). There are important lessons about the impact of words and about a responsibility we have to our impressionable youth. All of these things were interwoven into this story that on the surface seemed about a young girl wanting to pursue a hip hop career but was clearly trying to be about much more.
Additional note: I have not yet read [b:The Hate U Give|32075671|The Hate U Give (The Hate U Give, #1)|Angie Thomas|https:i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1476284759l/32075671._SY75_.jpg|49638190], so I don't have that to compare this to. That may be a good thing because it seems that many reviewers had a hard time liking this one as much due to loving THUG so much.
3 Stars
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