Dee-Nice Character Analysis in On the Come Up

A 22-year-old rapper who got his start doing battles in the Ring. However, not long before the start of the novel, Dee-Nice hired Supreme as his manager and got a million-dollar record deal, which allowed him to "retire" from the Ring. Bri idolizes him, which is why Supreme uses Dee-Nice as bait when he tries to convince Bri to hire him as her manager. Though Dee-Nice appears to be a nice person, Bri also recognizes that he's entirely bought into Supreme's idea of what success is and how to get it, especially when he writes a song for Bri to perform in a studio as a test for a record label representative. The song he writes for Bri is even more violent than Bri's song, “On the Come Up,” doesn't have a deeper meaning to justify the surface violence, and is extremely sexist.

Dee-Nice Character Timeline in On the Come Up

The timeline below shows where the character Dee-Nice appears in On the Come Up. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...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. (full context)

...that Aunt Pooh is Bri's manager, he laughs and says that Pooh probably heard about Dee-Nice's deal and thinks that keeping Bri at the Ring will get her one too. This... (full context)

Dee-Nice enters and joins Bri and Supreme. Bri is star struck, especially when Dee-Nice compliments her.... (full context)

...spits that her dad wasn't a hoodlum, and Supreme tries to smooth over the situation. Dee-Nice arrives and asks Bri if she's ready to do a song. Bri thinks they're going... (full context)