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Chapter 1
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 texts Aunt Pooh that she got into the battle, and a few minutes after Jay leaves, Pooh arrives. Her ponytail holders and sneakers are green, since she's a member of the Garden Disciples gang. She happily greets Bri and seems unconcerned when Bri says that Jay bought Popkenchurch. Narrowing her eyes, Pooh refers to Bri's Darth Vader hoodie as "nerd shit," but Bri ignores this and climbs into Pooh's car. Bri tries to get into the zone, but she can't help but feel like something is very wrong.
The way that Pooh speaks about "nerd shit" indicates that though Bri may be less interested in school, she still has a foot firmly in a "nerdy" world that's very different from Pooh's life as a gang member. While Pooh's word choice may or may not translate to a belief that education isn't cool, this still shows that Bri is caught between different worlds and is trying to make sense of it all as she figures out where she fits.
Themes
Pooh pulls into the parking lot, where people are showing off their cars and stereo systems. The parking lot is one of the few safe spaces after last year, when a cop murdered a kid. After weeks of riots and protests, most of Garden Heights' businesses burned or were looted. Cops drive by the parking lot, and Bri knows that they're keeping an eye on Garden Heights' black residents. Pooh leads Bri to the door, and people greet Bri as Li'l Law. The bouncers, Reggie and Frank, ask if Bri is "carrying the torch for Law," and Bri thinks she'd like to make her own name. They wave Bri and Pooh inside and Pooh finds them a spot. A rapper named Dee-Nice enters the building and Pooh whispers that Dee-Nice just got a million-dollar record deal.
The mention of the cops murdering a kid refers back to Thomas's first book, The Hate U Give, which takes place in the same fictional world. Readers familiar with the book will then be able to trace how an event like that can continue to shape, harm, and haunt a community, even a full year later. When the bouncers suggest that Bri is just carrying Lawless's torch, it shows that out in public and in the rap arena, people's conception of Bri is entirely wrapped up in their memories of Lawless.
Themes
DJ Hype calls the room to attention and announces the first battle: a young woman named Ms. Tique and a guy named M-Dot. He introduces the judges, and M-Dot starts. Bri thinks he's okay, but Ms. Tique is fantastic. Hype announces the rookie battle next and calls a boy named Milez. Milez is the son of Supreme, Lawless's old manager, and Pooh recognizes him as the kid responsible for the popular yet bad song "Swagerific." Hype then calls her up, and Bri knows this means she has to win. Terrified, Bri introduces herself. When Hype asks, says she is Lawless's daughter. She finds this annoying, as her dad didn't even teach her to rap. Hype flips a coin, Bri wins, and she lets Milez go first.
Bri's annoyance at the fact that even DJ Hype only associates her with Lawless sets up the fact that she's chafing because of the way that people lump her in with her father, and it shows that she craves an identity that's all her own. Going up against Milez and the person responsible for Lawless's fame shows Bri basically going up against her dad's memory—now, she has the opportunity to prove that she's just as talented as he is and can stand on her own two feet.
Themes
