Straight
up, I’m no hip-hop, rapping expert or even fan. The combative nature of this
genre of music and the whole gangster rap code that surrounds much of it
inhibits my understanding and desire to get up close and cosy with it.
I’m also
a bit of a stranger to the world of the older teen, so this contentious tale of
sixteen-year-old Bri Lawless was never going to be an easy record for me to spin.
However, wait, because On The Come Up by
YA master, Angie Thomas is worth playing to the very end.
Bri
tells her story in first person providing even more edgy immediacy to a tale that
is full of raw language and frequently bared emotions.
She comes from the
impoverished side of town, daughter of an executed ex-rap king father and
recovered drug user mother, whose sole objective is to rap. However, it’s one
thing wanting to be the world’s greatest rapper of all time. It’s quite another
translating future success into saving the family from sliding inextricably
into homeless especially after her mother loses her job.
Despite
a couple of stalwart friends, Malik and Sonny, Bri’s school life is otherwise riddled
with anguish. ‘Trouble’ is her moniker. She is conspicuous because of her creed
and skin colour, her actions frequently misunderstood. Such resentments however
feed the songs pent up inside her just like the frustrations she carries,
and allow her to rap with incomparable fevor.
But are
blind passion and a desire to break free from the stereotypes and prejudices that
plague her enough to ensure success? Her first recording opportunity goes viral
but ill-placed loyalties and misguided intentions soon send earthquake sized fissures
among the community, dividing her friends and family.
As controversy becomes a
constant companion, Bri slowly learns how to trust, not just those around her who
are keen to exploit and manipulate her, but more importantly, herself,
eventually rising up out of the mud of her environment and becoming who she
wants to be, her way.
On The Come Up was difficult for me to appreciate
– at first. It taught me a few things though and a dictionary of street-speak! Apart from an incredibly well-crafted character study of a
slice of social demographic that many of us are only familiar with from the
other side of a screen, it taught me how to embrace rap (and rappers).
Bri’s
shared introspective moments as she pens new lyrics and performs new material
reveal the mysterious artistry and poetry of rap, the beauty of rhythm and
rhyme concealing the story’s true purpose and force. It is legitimately illuminating.
Like this story, which entreats teens to fight for their dreams and keep
looking skyward.
Punchy,
inelegant, real, this story is dope.
(Read it for yourself to understand why).
Author: Angie Thomas
Publisher: Walker Books, $ 17.99
Publication Date: May 2018
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781406372168
For ages: 14+
Type: Young Adult Fiction
