On the Come Up

Bri fixates on her potential “date” with Malik as people around school look at her with surprise and pity, and she “wish[es] [she] was invisible again” (160). When it’s time to meet Malik for lunch, Bri is shocked to see that another girl, Shana, is joining them. Bri is seized with jealousy as she realizes that Malik and Shana are dating. Malik and Shana convince Bri to play her song, “On the Come Up,” and Bri obliges. Malik expresses concern because the song makes references to guns and violence. Shana points out that Bri’s “not saying she actually does that stuff. She’s saying this is what they expect her to do” (166). Shana and Malik tell Bri that they’ve formed a coalition for Black and Latinx students at Midtown, and they want to demand change from the school administration. Malik wants to release the full video he took of the incident with the security guards, but Bri doesn’t “wanna be the poster child for this” (168). Malik is upset that Bri would rather rap about gangs and guns instead of using her experience to help make a change, and he accuses her of only rapping about those things because “[she] thought it would be an easy way to a hit song and make money” (170). Bri is furious and tells Malik that what she raps about is none of his business. Still, she does remind him that her family is struggling financially, and he shouldn’t shame her for wanting to help make ends meet for her family before storming out.

Bri refuses to talk to Malik, but she has more important things to worry about, like the “almost empty refrigerator” (173) in her house. She explains that Jay had to make a tough choice, and the gas bill was paid, “which is why the house is warm and the fridge is almost empty” (174). Jay decides to go to a food giveaway and asks Bri to come with her. Bri is embarrassed by the cameras at the giveaway, and when she sees the workers looking at her and her mother with pity, she wants to tell them to “stop looking at [her] like that. [...] [she’s] gonna fix this one day” (180). Bri spies a pair of free Timbs, and she wants them, but pride won’t let her take them. Her father’s old manager Supreme, who is there volunteering, spies her and starts up a conversation, and although Bri is initially wary, she is flattered when Supreme compliments her skills as a rapper. Supreme explains that he also comes from poverty, and before he made it in the music industry, he went to similar giveaways as a child. She shares her song with him and is thrilled when he says, “That’s a hit” (186), and he expresses a desire to work with her to help launch her rap career. As Bri and her mother leave the giveaway with their food, Bri wonders if she was in the right place at the right time and if meeting Supreme at the giveaway was fate.

On Christmas morning, there are no presents under the tree. While Bri is playing video games with Trey, their mother surprises them with a box of their father’s belongings that she kept in the garage. As they look among his belongings, Bri finds “a glistening crown pendant [that] dangles from a gold rope chain” (197) that her father bought with his first big paycheck. Trey suggests selling it, commenting that the necklace is probably “worth more than [their father] was” (198), which upsets Jay. She tells Bri that she can have the whole box since Trey doesn’t want anything to do with their father’s memory. Aunt Pooh arrives with her girlfriend Lena, and when Bri plays her song for Pooh, her aunt becomes agitated. She tells Bri that she made too many references to being involved with gangs, insisting that Bri’s “not ‘bout that life” (201). She points out that Bri’s song references the Crowns, the rival gang of the Garden Disciples. She urges Bri to delete the song. They get into an argument, and Bri points out that Pooh is involved with drug dealing and gang life and that her song was about being independent. Bri starts to question Pooh’s effectiveness as her manager. She decides to take Supreme up on his offer, and she uploads the song to the Internet and sends him the link. He assures her that “[she’s] about to blow up” (205).