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
Bri wakes up at 8:00 the next morning after falling asleep listening to Lawless rapping. She spent most of the night poring through her notebook, trying to choose a song to record. Bri hears Jay shushing people—Jay hosts a support group for recovered drug addicts once per month, along with Aunt Gina and Aunt 'Chelle, Sonny and Malik's moms. Jay always makes sandwiches, and Bri can't decide if this generosity awes or annoys her when they barely have food for themselves. Bri heads for the kitchen.
Jay's generosity continues to develop her as someone with a huge sense of responsibility to her community, something she likely developed thanks to help that she did receive when she was getting clean (she did go to rehab and had her children to work for). Now, she's positioning herself as a mentor for these other recovering addicts in an attempt to break the cycle and help them achieve success.
Themes
Bri stops to listen to Jay speak about how Grandma and Granddaddy wouldn't let her see Bri and Trey after she got out of rehab, and says that she still feels like people punish her for her mistakes—once prospective employers find out she was on drugs, they never call. Aunt Gina rolls her eyes and points out that plenty of white people can get jobs after being on drugs. Jay spots Bri and pulls her into the kitchen and onto her lap. Bri tells the reader that she lets Jay do this because she wonders if Jay still sees her as a little girl in need of snuggles. Today, it feels like Jay needs the snuggles.
Bri's assessment of why Jay still snuggles her like this shows again that Bri and Jay haven't fully recovered from the trauma that both of them suffered when Jay left Bri and Trey with her in-laws. Jay still feels the need to make Bri feel loved in the same way she did when Bri was a child, and Bri's suspicion indicates that Jay may not be entirely comfortable with the fact that Bri is growing up and changing so fast.
Themes
Aunt Pooh picks Bri up later. Bri tells Jay that she and Pooh are just hanging out, as she knows that Jay won't let her record until her grades improve. Scrap accompanies Pooh and Bri to the studio, and Bri sees why: it's a trap house and there's evidence of drug use everywhere. Pooh assures Bri that her friend, Doc, is cool and this will be great. Pooh knocks on the garage door and Doc opens it. The inside looks like a real studio. Pooh introduces Bri to Doc, and the other guys sitting with him tease Bri about rapping nursery rhymes. Bri insults them and then listens to the beat that Doc put together for her. It reminds her of being patted down, and Bri decides to write something new. She mutters, "you can't stop me on the come up."
The fact that this recording studio is in a "trap house" tells Bri that at this point, her music career is very tied up with the gang and drug activity of Garden Heights, whether Bri herself is involved or not. Scrap’s presence also suggests that even if Pooh does assure Bri that this will be fine, there is a possibility of danger anyway. This in turn makes recording feel even more illicit for Bri, who's already going around Jay to do this in the first place.
Themes
Pooh is excited, but when her phone goes off, she announces that she needs to go. Bri follows her outside and insists that Pooh has to stay. She knows that Pooh is going to a drug deal and realizes that she only assumed that Pooh would stop dealing. Bri watches Pooh drive away and puts on a brave face. Doc encourages Bri and asks her what the world has done to her. Bri sits in the corner with her notebook, thinking of Long and Tate. She watches Scrap show Doc his gun and his silencer, and Bri thinks about how nobody hears the black residents of Garden Heights—they just blame them for any violence.
The fact that Pooh leaves Bri to attend to drug business should flag for Bri that she can't actually rely on Pooh to be there for her as a manager or as an aunt—for Pooh, her work will take precedence (and given the danger inherent to her work, this is understandable). Giving the reader Bri's thought process provides insight into what the resulting song is actually about, which brings the reader onto Bri's side for the scuffles that follow.
Themes
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A half an hour later, Bri is ready. She puts on the headphones and thinks that if people are going to call her a hoodlum, she'll embrace the label. She raps about having a gun, being willing to play the role of a gangster, and about how the police unfairly target black people. Bri also mentions Lawless.
Again, by telling the reader upfront that she's embracing a label that other people will put on her anyway, Bri encourages the reader to side with her and understand what her true intention is—to show how messed up all of it is, not to scare people into thinking she actually has a gun.
Themes
