A Memoir on the Art of Becoming Who We Are
Starred review from October 16, 2023
Grammy winner Trotter, better known as Black Thought from The Roots, debuts with a striking portrait of perseverance and creativity. At six years old, the author accidentally burned down his family’s Philadelphia house, a tragedy that shaped his childhood and indoctrinated him in the meaning of loss: “You sometimes hear stories about people who have ‘lost it all’ and rebuilt their lives, but what I learned at a young age is that sometimes shit is just lost forever.” Further heartache followed, including his older brother Keith’s periodic arrests and, in the author’s teens, his mother Cassandra’s murder after she became addicted to crack cocaine, leaving him convinced that despite his efforts to protect his family, it was “only me.” But he also found salvation in the arts, from taking visual arts classes when he was nine to etching graffiti onto buses and benches, to dreaming up raps in high school, where he met future Roots bandmate Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and found that music “allowed me to transmute my pent-up emotional energy into another essence.” As he charts the Roots’ rise in Philadelphia and beyond, Trotter powerfully gives due to the process of self-reinvention that has defined his life: “What if we... undid the stitches of ourselves that no longer served us, forgave them, and wove new legacies of old scraps?” Candid, visceral, and written with the hard-won wisdom of hindsight, this leaves a mark.
Starred review from March 1, 2024
Hip-hop artist Trotter (better known as Black Thought), cofounder and lead MC of the Roots, pens a fiery and soulful debut memoir. Trotter reads the main text, with shorter sections performed by Allyson Johnson as his mother and Rhett Samuel Price as his deep-voiced uncle. Trotter first describes a pivotal event in his life when, at six years old, he accidentally burned down his childhood home. Reflecting on that moment, he notes that the incident taught him to understand the true meaning of loss. From there, he recounts the struggles and victories that came with growing up in Philadelphia in the '70s and '80s. His life was often unstable as he moved from selling crack to becoming a graffiti artist, then gravitated toward rap and hip-hop. Through it all, art became a savior and a lifeline. Throughout this memoir, Trotter dwells upon the four groups of relationships that shaped his life: community, friends, art, and family. He explores these relationships by sharing childhood memories, some humorous and many heartbreaking and emotional. Trotter's memoir is poetic and deftly written and is made even more powerful by his passionate, heartfelt performance of the audio. VERDICT A portrait of an artist's evolution that should resonate with hip-hop lovers and Roots fans alike. It's short and will leave listeners wanting more.--Erin Cataldi
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