October 1, 2023
Renowned hip-hop artist Trotter, aka Black Thought, describes how his most important relationships affected his art and his life. At the age of 6, Trotter accidentally burned down his family's home. While his family quickly forgave him, understanding that he was just a child, "that experience of total loss became the basis of all that I am." He continues, "When I was six, there were parts of me, subconscious maybe, that marked my fiery mistake as the beginning of the unraveling of my family. I internalized a simple narrative: it was my fault." By the time Trotter was 16, his experiences as a young graffiti artist, a student at Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts, and a witness to the destructive force of the crack epidemic unfolding in his beloved neighborhood in South Philadelphia, made him realize that his community's struggles--and, in particular, his mother's murder--were caused by circumstances that began long before his birth. Although he fondly describes his loving relationship with his grandmother, who had high hopes for Trotter and his half-brother, "her only grandkids," Trotter's family life was far from stable. Long before he dealt with his mother's crack addiction and subsequent death, the author also endured his father's murder. Throughout these extremely difficult times, Trotter credits his access to art and his strong sense of community with his ability to eventually heal. Beyond his family story, the author traces the origin of his musical group The Roots, focusing particularly on his decadeslong friendship with Ahmir Thompson, aka Questlove. The book's lyricism, clarity, and tone beautifully reflect Trotter's facility with words, which he has demonstrated for years in the studio and on stage. Although the storyline sometimes meanders, overall, the author's vulnerability, circumspection, and compassion render this an outstanding read. An eloquently insightful autobiography from an iconic rapper and wordsmith.
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Starred review from October 16, 2023
Grammy winner Trotter, better known as Black Thought from The Roots, debuts with a striking portrait of perseverance and creativity. At six years old, the author accidentally burned down his family’s Philadelphia house, a tragedy that shaped his childhood and indoctrinated him in the meaning of loss: “You sometimes hear stories about people who have ‘lost it all’ and rebuilt their lives, but what I learned at a young age is that sometimes shit is just lost forever.” Further heartache followed, including his older brother Keith’s periodic arrests and, in the author’s teens, his mother Cassandra’s murder after she became addicted to crack cocaine, leaving him convinced that despite his efforts to protect his family, it was “only me.” But he also found salvation in the arts, from taking visual arts classes when he was nine to etching graffiti onto buses and benches, to dreaming up raps in high school, where he met future Roots bandmate Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and found that music “allowed me to transmute my pent-up emotional energy into another essence.” As he charts the Roots’ rise in Philadelphia and beyond, Trotter powerfully gives due to the process of self-reinvention that has defined his life: “What if we... undid the stitches of ourselves that no longer served us, forgave them, and wove new legacies of old scraps?” Candid, visceral, and written with the hard-won wisdom of hindsight, this leaves a mark.
October 27, 2023
The Roots cofounder Trotter recounts his challenging childhood in this brisk memoir. After accidentally setting his home on fire at age six, Trotter and his mother had to move from place to place in South Philly. A recurring location was his religious grandmother Minnie's house, where Trotter honed his skills as a visual artist. Hip-hop would come to him, at first during rap-offs with a cousin by using random words from dictionaries, and later in high school when he met future the Roots bandmate Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson. However, the rise of the crack epidemic changed Trotter's community and brought tragedy to his life. The memoir discusses Trotter's childhood matter-of-factly, and the short chapters prevent scenes from lagging. It also introduces several family members who could be fascinating characters in their own books. Meanwhile, there is an undercurrent of longing for the days before crack, as neighborhoods went from being safe enough to overly violent nearly overnight. VERDICT A welcome addition to memoir collections. The book is at its best when Trotter talks about his family and his love of art.--Anjelica Rufus-Barnes
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