Review: On the Come Up by Angie Thomas

On the Come Up by Angie Thomas

Published: February 5, 2019

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Format: via audiobook

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis

Sixteen-year-old Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. Or at least make it out of her neighborhood one day. As the daughter of an underground rap legend who died before he hit big, Bri’s got big shoes to fill. But now that her mom has unexpectedly lost her job, food banks and shutoff notices are as much a part of Bri’s life as beats and rhymes. With bills piling up and homelessness staring her family down, Bri no longer just wants to make it—she has to make it.

On the Come Up is Angie Thomas’s homage to hip-hop, the art that sparked her passion for storytelling and continues to inspire her to this day. It is the story of fighting for your dreams, even as the odds are stacked against you; of the struggle to become who you are and not who everyone expects you to be of the desperate realities of poor and working-class black families.

My Thoughts

On the Come Up centers around Bri and her ambition to become the next big rapper. She has the passion and talent for it not to mention it's in her blood, seriously her father is a local legend. However she has many things against her, her mother is a recovering addict and her brother quit school to help the family out not to mention the gangs and drugs that are consent in her daily life. And while having a father who was a legend in the rap game is a major plus living in his shadow is something that Bri doesn't want, she knows she has what it takes to make it.

We see Bri at local rap battles and how she kills it every time but no one thinks a girl rapper could seriously make it without using her body and Bri isn't about that life. She writes her own rhymes and only speaks of what she knows so when a label wants her to use their songs and “act the part” of someone who is running with gangs, using drugs and being sexual she is torn. She knows this isn't who she is but she wants to make it and support her family, her mother lost her job and Bri is scared this could set her back to drugs and she really doesn't want that. She also knows all of this shouldn't fall on her brother’s back, he should be back in college not working trying to make ends meet.

What makes this book so good is that this could be anyone's story. This is life for so many people, trying to make it day by day, living in areas that aren't safe with local gangs running things and drugs hurting and killing those around her. We see the double standard that Bri tries to overcome in trying to make her dreams come true. It’s hard to make it in entertainment in general but being female and black is even harder. Even her own mother tells her that her brother should follow his dreams of finishing college are way more important than Bri’s. Why is that? No dream should be shot down simply because you're a female, all dreams are of equal importance. I felt this story had a ton of topics that it touched upon that are very relevant: race, gender, and sexuality to name a few and they addressed them pretty well. This was an entertaining and relevant story that’s another winner from Angie Thomas.