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A manager of rap artists who becomes involved in Bri’s career. He's wealthy, lives in the suburbs, and always wears sunglasses no matter the time of day. He used to be Lawless's manager and, in the beginning of the novel, manages his son, Milez. Bri is wary of Supreme from the first time she sees him during her rap battle with Milez at the Ring. She recognizes that Milez's rhymes are prewritten in addition to being extremely rude, all of which suggests to Bri that Supreme plays dirty and just wants to win. Despite this and other evidence suggesting that Supreme is bad news and wants to profit off of other people's bad fortune, Bri desperately asks him to listen to her song, “On the Come Up.” Supreme declares it a hit and follows through on his promise to send the song onto others in the industry. As Bri's song gets more popular and as she gets closer to Supreme, it becomes clear that Supreme does indeed just want to use others to get rich. He preys on Bri's desperate desire to raise her family out of poverty by offering her help and publicity, as well as baiting her with a pair of brand new Timbs. He encourages her to play the role of the "ratchet hood rat," despite Bri's insistence that that's not her identity. Once Bri agrees to work with him, he sets about putting her in situations where Bri is guaranteed to lose her temper and play into stereotypes even more. He insists that he told Lawless to do the same thing, but Lawless took the role-play too far and got killed for it. All of this takes place behind Jay's back, which is questionably legal given Bri's status as a minor. Bri ultimately chooses to distance herself from Supreme after realizing that to him, she's just a do-over of her dad. She obtains more evidence that she's being used as she gets to know Miles, who explains that Supreme makes him rap even though he hates it and makes him pretend to be straight, just to make money.
Supreme Quotes in On the Come Up
The On the Come Up quotes below are all either spoken by Supreme or refer to Supreme. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 9
Quotes
I mean...I don't think she is.
For one, eight years is a hell of a long time to be clean. Two, Jay wouldn't go back to all of that. She knows how much it messed us up. She wouldn't put me and Trey through that again.
But.
She put us through it in the first place.
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Chapter 12
Quotes
I almost roll my eyes. How would these people feel if they knew Milez was here to see how messed up we are to remind him how good he's got it? He's gonna go to his nice house in the suburbs and forget this in a week, tops, while we're still struggling.
My situation shouldn't be his after-school special.
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Chapter 15
Quotes
"You know who the biggest consumers of hip-hop are?"
"White kids in the suburbs," Miles answers dryly, as if he's heard this before.
"Exactly! White kids in the suburbs," Supreme says. "You know what white kids in the suburbs love? Listening to shit that scares their parents. You scare the hell outta their folks, they'll flock to you like birds. The videos from tonight? Gonna scare the hell outta them. Watch your numbers shoot up."
It actually makes sense that white kids in the suburbs will love the videos. But Long and Tate called me a "hoodlum," and I can't seem to shake that word.
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Chapter 18
Quotes
But it's like how when she does stuff I don't like and says it's "for my own good." This is for hers. I'm willing to do anything to keep that sadness in her eyes from becoming permanent.
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Chapter 27
Quotes
It's like having a bucket of ice water thrown into my face.
Ratchet hood rat.
Thousands of people just heard me act like that. Millions more may see the video. They won't care that my life is a mess and I had every right to be mad. They'll just see an angry black girl from the ghetto, acting like they expected me to act.
Supreme laughs to himself. "You played the role," he says. "Goddamn, you played the role."
Problem is, I wasn't playing. That's what I've become.
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Chapter 32
Quotes
"I'm done being who my dad wants me to be," Miles says. "It's not worth it."
Does he mean what I think he means? "You're giving up your rap career?"
Miles slowly nods. "Yeah. I am. Besides, is it really mine if I'm not being myself?
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Get the entire On the Come Up LitChart as a printable PDF.
Supreme Quotes in On the Come Up
The On the Come Up quotes below are all either spoken by Supreme or refer to Supreme. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 9
Quotes
I mean...I don't think she is.
For one, eight years is a hell of a long time to be clean. Two, Jay wouldn't go back to all of that. She knows how much it messed us up. She wouldn't put me and Trey through that again.
But.
She put us through it in the first place.
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12
Quotes
I almost roll my eyes. How would these people feel if they knew Milez was here to see how messed up we are to remind him how good he's got it? He's gonna go to his nice house in the suburbs and forget this in a week, tops, while we're still struggling.
My situation shouldn't be his after-school special.
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 15
Quotes
"You know who the biggest consumers of hip-hop are?"
"White kids in the suburbs," Miles answers dryly, as if he's heard this before.
"Exactly! White kids in the suburbs," Supreme says. "You know what white kids in the suburbs love? Listening to shit that scares their parents. You scare the hell outta their folks, they'll flock to you like birds. The videos from tonight? Gonna scare the hell outta them. Watch your numbers shoot up."
It actually makes sense that white kids in the suburbs will love the videos. But Long and Tate called me a "hoodlum," and I can't seem to shake that word.
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Chapter 18
Quotes
But it's like how when she does stuff I don't like and says it's "for my own good." This is for hers. I'm willing to do anything to keep that sadness in her eyes from becoming permanent.
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Chapter 27
Quotes
It's like having a bucket of ice water thrown into my face.
Ratchet hood rat.
Thousands of people just heard me act like that. Millions more may see the video. They won't care that my life is a mess and I had every right to be mad. They'll just see an angry black girl from the ghetto, acting like they expected me to act.
Supreme laughs to himself. "You played the role," he says. "Goddamn, you played the role."
Problem is, I wasn't playing. That's what I've become.
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Chapter 32
Quotes
"I'm done being who my dad wants me to be," Miles says. "It's not worth it."
Does he mean what I think he means? "You're giving up your rap career?"
Miles slowly nods. "Yeah. I am. Besides, is it really mine if I'm not being myself?
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