Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in On the Come Up, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Identity and Individuality
Racism and Prejudice
Trauma, Poverty, and Childhood
Control, Image, and Fame
Summary
Analysis
On the first day of school after Christmas break, Bri, Jay, and Trey wake up to loud banging on their front door. It's Ms. Lewis, the landlady, asking for rent money. Both Trey and Bri join Jay at the door as Jay asks for more time, but Ms. Lewis insists that rent is more than a week late and Jay hasn't even paid last month yet. She mentions Jay's "begging ass," offending Bri and Trey, but Jay calmly asks for more time, and only snaps when Ms. Lewis asks if Jay can't pay because she's back on drugs. After Jay closes the door, she seems to slump. Trey offers to go to a check advance place, but Jay tells him not to. Bri wants to know what'll happen if they end up homeless, but Jay assures her that everything will work out.
Though Jay certainly intends her response to Bri to be comforting, all it does is make Bri feel even more that she's been treated like a child who can't handle the realities of living in poverty—especially when those realities come knocking on the door and conduct themselves right in front of Bri. In other words, Jay's attempts to shelter Bri are backfiring and are only making Bri more desperate and afraid.
Themes
Bri feels sick of adults refusing to tell her about this sort of thing. In the car on the way to school she offers to get a job, but Jay shuts this down. Bri thinks that Lawless was working two jobs and rapping when he was sixteen and Trey was born, but she knows that he did it so they wouldn't end up like this today. Bri tells Jay that she'd rather work and have to grow up too fast than end up homeless. She stares at the chain and suggests they pawn it, but Jay shoots this down too.
Bri's family has existed in poverty for (at least) two generations—Lawless was doing his best to pull his family out, just as Jay is now. This shows how families like Bri's can be kept in the cycle, given that there are few resources (and few items like the chain to sell) to help people get back on their feet, and accessing the ones that exist can be very difficult.
Themes
At school, Bri leaps up the steps to meet Sonny. He comments on the chain and asks about Malik. Bri hasn't spoken to Malik since lunch at Sal's, but she's not willing to admit that she's angry because Malik isn't romantically interested in her. Sonny finally shows Bri the reason he wanted to talk: he got a message from Rapid asking if they can meet up. Bri asks why Sonny hasn't responded. Sonny says he's worried that Rapid might be an old man in a basement, and Rapid is also a distraction. He says that Malik is trying to figure out who Rapid is, which hurts Bri's feelings—it seems like their trio is breaking up.
Sonny's fears that Rapid might not actually be another sixteen-year-old kid are entirely legitimate. More broadly, this fear speaks to the way that a person's image, especially online, can be easily manipulated. Just as it's not that difficult for someone to impersonate a teenager, it's also not difficult for Bri's song to make her out to be someone she's not, once it ends up online thanks to Supreme.
Themes
The new security guards are still at Midtown, so Bri and Sonny get through security smoothly. They see Malik at Bri's locker and Bri approaches while Sonny leaves to talk to a teacher. Malik doesn't believe Bri when she insists that things are fine between them, and he grabs her arm. This is even worse for Bri, and she tells herself that Shana's boyfriend is touching her. As Malik asks Bri what all this is really about, Bri hears Curtis yelling for her and coming toward them. Bri turns to him, exasperated, but Curtis says that Bri's a big deal now. He asks if she's seen the post on Blackout, a black gossip blog, and pulls up the page.
Structurally, having Curtis butt in here to show Bri that she's getting famous offers another indicator that Bri's coming fame is going to get in the way of and harm her relationships with her family and friends. She's not able to have a very necessary conversation with Malik because of the Blackout post, something that doesn't seem like a huge deal to Bri now but will become a problem as she gets more famous.
Themes
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The headline refers to Bri as Lawless's daughter and doesn't use her name, but she decides to ignore this. She sees that the embedded Dat Cloud link for her song shows twenty thousand streams. She starts shouting in surprise, attracting attention from her classmates and Dr. Rhodes. Curtis congratulates Bri, while Malik halfheartedly does the same and then disappears. Curtis comments on Malik's strange behavior, and Bri explains that Malik doesn't like that the song talks about guns. Curtis points out that even if Bri doesn't carry a gun, people are going to think she does, and she should make money off of that assumption if she can. This shocks Bri, but the conversation descends into an insult battle and Bri suddenly experiences the urge to kiss Curtis. She's saved when the bell rings. The rest of the day passes like a dream, and even Mrs. Murray is happy for Bri.
While it's nice that Curtis is trying to support Bri, his choice to stand up for her song and to tell her specifically that she should profit off of people's assumptions if possible suggests that he too has an inexperienced and naïve view of fame. What neither Bri nor Curtis realize is that getting famous for this song and the lyrics has the potential to trap Bri in an identity that she really doesn't want—but one that, nonetheless, is profitable. Bri's desire to kiss Curtis also shows that she's still growing up and learning to see more people as human and worthy of her time and attention.
Themes
