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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; and of the desperate realities of poor and working-class black families.

Review:

It’s been about five months since I read The Hate You Give, and so while not every memory of the book is as clear anymore, I can tell that On the Come Up is just as good.

Bri gives us an entirely new perspective on growing up in her neighborhood, one that might not seem as clear cut as Starr’s experience. While Starr’s story revolved around Khalil’s shooting and fighting the injustice and racism behind it, Bri’s story brings in more “gray”, if that’s the right phrase. Her family struggles to keep food on the table, the lights working, and to keep their home—and Bri’s aunt deals the very drugs that Bri’s mother was once addicted to.

In On the Come Up, you see how much Bri and her family care for each other. They may fight sometimes, they may disagree, but it is unquestionable that they love each other very much. Bri loves rapping by itself, but what she really wants is to make it big so she can help out her struggling family.

Bri’s mother, Wanda, does her best to earn money, but with an employment gap in her resume, few people will take her when they learn she did not work because she was on drugs—even though she has been clean for years. Wanda wants to become a drug counselor and help those who were in her position, but soon she has to choose between continuing college classes and withdrawing so she can qualify for food stamps.

Bri’s older brother, Trey, graduated from college as a top student, but works in a pizza shop.

Bri’s aunt, Pooh, earns her money running with the local gang.

And Bri’s father, known as Lawless in the rapping world, was murdered when she was four.

As their financial situation gets increasingly worse and they continue to struggle, it seems like the world has set them up to fail.

Sometimes I dream that I’m drowning. It’s always in a big, blue ocean that’s too deep for me to see the bottom. But I tell myself I’m not going to die no matter how much water gets in my lungs or how deep I sink, I am not going to die. Because I say so.

Suddenly, I can breathe underwater. I can swim. The ocean isn’t so scary anymore. It’s actually kinda cool. I even learn how to control it.

But I’m awake, I’m drowning, and I don’t know how to control any of this.

Bri is a headstrong and impulsive, a total opposite from my own personality. Our situations are also very different. Still, Angie Thomas found a way to make me empathize with her and the other characters. All the characters felt well fleshed out, and I was fully immersed in seeing Bri navigate her relationships with her family and friends. I felt the injustice of the incident of what happened at her school.

Throughout the book, you see Bri struggle to choose between catering to the masses and remaining true to who she really is. With her family’s situation and so many barriers blocking the way to get anywhere, it may seem tempting to do whatever it takes to get the money in. But what about Bri’s voice? Rapping is her dream, but does she want it to be like this?