Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    On the Come Up
    On the Come Up
    On the Come Up
    Audiobook11 hours

    On the Come Up

    Written by Angie Thomas

    Narrated by Bahni Turpin

    4.5/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    Don't miss this audiobook, Audible's Young Adult Audiobook of the Year and an Audie Award finalist!

    The YA love letter to hip-hop—streaming on Paramount+ September 23, 2022! Starring Sanaa Lathan (in her directorial debut), Jamila C. Gray, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Lil Yachty, Method Man, Mike Epps, GaTa (Davionte Ganter), Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Titus Makin Jr., and Michael Anthony Cooper Jr.

    #1 New York Times bestseller · Seven starred reviews · Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor Book

    Sixteen-year-old Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. Or at least win her first battle. As the daughter of an underground hip hop legend who died right before he hit big, Bri’s got massive shoes to fill. But it’s hard to get your come up when you’re labeled a hoodlum at school, and your fridge at home is empty after your mom loses her job. So Bri pours her anger and frustration into her first song, which goes viral . . . for all the wrong reasons.

    Bri soon finds herself at the center of a controversy, portrayed by the media as more menace than MC. But with an eviction notice staring her family down, Bri doesn’t just want to make it—she has to. Even if it means becoming the very thing the public has made her out to be.

    Insightful, unflinching, and full of heart, On the Come Up is an ode to hip hop from one of the most influential literary voices of a generation. It is the story of fighting for your dreams, even as the odds are stacked against you; and about how, especially for young black people, freedom of speech isn’t always free.

    “For all the struggle in this book, Thomas rarely misses a step as a writer. Thomas continues to hold up that mirror with grace and confidence. We are lucky to have her, and lucky to know a girl like Bri.”—The New York Times Book Review

    Hear about more of life in Garden Heights from Angie Thomas in The Hate U Give and Concrete Rose.

    Editor's Note

    Shining sophomore story…

    Return to Garden Heights from “The Hate U Give” with Angie Thomas’ lauded sophomore story. Bri is working to make it big as a rapper, despite all the setbacks in her path, including racial stereotypes and poverty. The raw power of rap takes center stage in this star of a novel.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateFeb 5, 2019
    ISBN9780062840684
    Author

    Angie Thomas

    Angie Thomas is the author of the award-winning, #1 New York Times bestselling novels The Hate U Give, On the Come Up, and Concrete Rose as well as Find Your Voice: A Guided Journal for Writing Your Truth. She is also a coauthor of the bestselling collaborative novels Blackout and Whiteout. Angie divides her time between her native Jackson, Mississippi, and Atlanta, Georgia. You can find her online at angiethomas.com.

    More audiobooks from Angie Thomas

    Related to On the Come Up

    Related audiobooks

    Young Adult For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Shame Is Ever-Present When You’re Sitting in a Cell

      Oct 23, 2020

      Between a strained relationship with my family and the death of a good friend, I’ve struggled to feel like I’m worth something.

      5 min read

    • Article

      Bad-Time Dimitri

      Feb 3, 2022

      Bad-Time Dimitri
      16 min read

    • Article

      Social Promotion

      Mar 19, 2024

      I didn’t understand. If that boy couldn’t read, why was he up there? The girl they originally had hosting the ceremony didn’t show, but why they put that boy there? Just because he volunteer for everything? You can’t read off enthusiasm. It made the

      21 min read

    • Article

      I Failed My Daughter

      Jul 29, 2022

      I Failed My Daughter
      9 min read

    • Article

      Yellow Is the Color of Choices

      Dec 10, 2023

      For whatever reason, when she sees me each weekend, Megan still hugs me like when she was five. Her skinny arms wrap around my waist, and her eyes squeeze tight like she’s absorbing me into her skin. This is both heartening and heart-wrenching. I wan

      13 min read

    • Article

      Cold Calling

      Jan 18, 2021

      Two or three phone calls per week. Every week for six months. All more or less the same. “Hello Mrs Redmond, this is Martin/Tim/Alice/Marmaduke [I’m serious], I’m calling from your internet provider to let you know that your broadband server has been

      6 min read

    • Article

      Daughters’ Bodies

      Dec 1, 2019

      WHEN I’M about to go away to college, my grandmother dies and my mother silently puts herself up for adoption. LOOKING FOR SOMEONE TO ADOPT ME: Kind, lonely, beautiful woman in her 50s. Dead husband. No children. Cooks and cleans. 4’11 and 90 lbs. Gu

      20 min read

    • Article

      TOWN & COUNTRY

      Jun 1, 2022

      TOWN & COUNTRY
      3 min read

    • Article

      Miranda Tapsell

      Nov 2, 2023

      Miranda Tapsell
      7 min read

    • Article

      The MOTHER ODE

      Apr 18, 2022

      The MOTHER ODE
      5 min read

    • Article

      Sam Delaney Is At Home

      Aug 1, 2022

      My daughter wanted to have her mates over to celebrate her 15th birthday. Sure, I said. But there were some conditions (hers, not mine). She wanted her mum, her brother and me to fuck off out of it for the evening so they could have the house to them

      3 min read

    • Article

      Girls On The Playground

      Feb 18, 2021

      Girls On The Playground
      15 min read

    • Article

      Miranda Tapsell

      Nov 2, 2023

      Miranda Tapsell
      8 min read

    • Article

      I’ll Not Risk Myself

      Feb 10, 2024

      My phone reception is better outside the laundromat, so I spend most of my time waiting for laundry on the bench near the door. I don’t talk with my friends, but I surf the news. I like to know what’s going on. I don’t like people to know about me, t

      13 min read

    • Article

      My Last Moment With Mom

      Jul 25, 2019

      My Last Moment With Mom
      4 min read

    • Article

      Maria

      Mar 1, 2022

      MARIA AND I had just settled into a corner of the classroom to work on our Civil War project when Mr. Sanchez told me I had a message from the front office. OooOOOOoohs echoed around the room. “OK, OK, pipe down, everyone,” said Mr. Sanchez. I s

      9 min read

    • Article

      Philip Roth

      Jun 4, 2018

      Philip Roth
      25 min read

    • Article

      The Quintessential Hustler

      May 20, 2019

      The Quintessential Hustler
      6 min read

    • Article

      Quarantine Album

      Sep 8, 2020

      It all started with a very simple request: I asked my mom, when she had time, could she look through old photos to see if there were any of pint-size me decked out for Halloween—primo Instagram content for my show Scream, Queen! (a podcast about scar

      4 min read

    • Article

      Prometheus Bound In ISS

      Dec 10, 2021

      The room I’m in lacks character. Oh, it’s full of characters, all right, but none of them are the prizes of this fine institution. But as a room, it fits the basic definition. There are four walls, a door, the standard issued government purchased des

      16 min read

    • Article

      App-ily Never After

      Sep 4, 2019

      App-ily Never After
      7 min read

    • Article

      Why, Dad? Why?

      Oct 2, 2022

      Why, Dad? Why?
      7 min read

    • Article

      Where’s Her Body?

      Mar 21, 2024

      Where’s Her Body?
      2 min read

    • Article

      Touch

      Nov 4, 2021

      Touch
      8 min read

    • Article

      Q + A

      Nov 28, 2022

      Q + A
      10 min read

    • Article

      How To Get The Girl (even If You’re Half Way Around The World)

      Nov 25, 2022

      One new message from Birthday Girl” pops up like a Shein ad on the Uber Tesla’s fancy screen. I Black-girlblush so hard that my friends start to tease me. No, her name is not actually Birthday Girl, but when you make a move on a busy LA street corner

      2 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for On the Come Up

    4.5/5

    1,069 ratings56 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Enjoyed every min. Would recommend to read. You won’t be disappointed

      3 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      really enjoyed it from the beginning to the end number one

      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      really good story about hip hop and making it big

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      If you liked The Hate U Give, you will absolutely positively without a doubt LOVE this book. It's a continuation in the best way possible of T.H.U.G.. The internal and external struggle that Bri had throughout the entire book felt so real. Also, fact that she was split between two worlds in almost every situation she was in didn't make it an easier. Sometimes the person you want to be and the people see you as don't always line up and this book was the greatest example of that. There are so many different layers to people that not everyone sees or will get a chance to see. I also loved the different ways the book shines light on the how you can even be from the same family, and have different ideas on "how to make it". Bri is so talented and the audiobook made her shine!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      This is an amazing audiobook, I’m glad I chose this medium for it
    • 5/5
      The book and narration were awesome. I hated to have it end.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book, it really made me feel connected to the characters
    • 4/5
      Really liked this book. Took me a while to finish it, but once I dedicated time every day to chip away at it, I looked forward to my time with the characters.
    • 3/5
      It's alright. Not nearly as good as "The Hate You Give". It just doesn't tap into the feelings that you see in THUG.
    • 5/5
      Angie Thomas does it again. Her voice is distinct, her characters well developed and lovable, and I adore Bahni Turpin’s narration. The evolution of Thomas’s characters is so endearing - this book will have you cheering for Bri and feeling like a proud big sister. Angie Thomas is on the come up!
    • 5/5
      I was just as engaged as I was while reading the Hate You Give... amazing!
    • 5/5
      This books was awesome and entertaining. I highly recommend this book. Beautiful story line.
    • 5/5
      Best audiobook I have ever listened to. I‘d recommend the audiobook over the written copy
    • 5/5
      CHILLS. I got literal chills at the end. What a fantastic book. Loved it!
    • 4/5
      Sixteen-year-old Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. Or at least make it out of her neighborhood one day. As the daughter of an underground rap legend who died before he hit big, Bri’s got big shoes to fill. But now that her mom has unexpectedly lost her job, food banks and shutoff notices are as much a part of Bri’s life as beats and rhymes. With bills piling up and homelessness staring her family down, Bri no longer just wants to make it—she has to make it.

      Review

      I felt every bit of bri’s pain and anger as she watched her family scrape together to try to pay the bills, watched her aunt buried deep in the world of drug dealing, and struggled to manage her overwhelming music career on her own. I have mixed feelings about this book. I do enjoy Angie Thomas’s writing, however I find it a little bit difficult to fully put myself in another character's brain at her age. I wasn’t a fan of the constant rhyming and rapping going on in Bri’s brain during conversations she was having with other characters. I respect her creative brain and personality expressing her pain and thoughts into music but I'm not a fan of that.


      Pros
      I really liked the relationship between Bri and her friends. The Gay romance between Sunny and his online boyfriend. I’ll admit it was a shock to see who the online boyfriend was when he finally was revealed.


      Cons
      When it came to the scene in the book where Malik’s girlfriend asked Bri to go to the meeting and she was thinking about choosing, I was thinking she could’ve had someone record her say and thoughts on their phone so they could set it up to play at the meeting even though she wasn’t going to be there. Easy fix. Also the “big issue” that happened in the start of the book with Bri being shoved to the ground by the security guards was made to be a HUGE deal. My opinion is that although it was a bit excessive, if she had acted properly and cooperated she wouldn’t have been portrayed as a potential threat to the school and it wouldn’t have led to an “attack”. I understand she was worried about her candy stash but she made herself look like she was hiding a gun or drugs in her bag with how defensive she got.


      Bri
      Bri was a very frustrating character in this book. She's angry, resentful, impulsive, and outright rude at times. She gets into fights and doesn't play nice. She has a difficult relationship with pretty much everyone in the book. She pushes her family and supporters away, but believes she is doing it to get “on the come up” for them. Bri’s attitude really pissed me off. It was hard for me to read the book when she didn’t get that her actions have consequences. Her negative attitude/behaviour towards people and how she acts have negative reactions. After something “bad” happens like she mouthed off to a teacher she gets sent to the office and then complains it’s “racist”. I get that she's young and immature but come on. She likes to jump to conclusions and often acts without thinking about the consequences. Even when people tell her to watch out and lay low because whatever she might say or do will put her in a difficult position, she still doesn’t stop to think. She keeps making that mistake over and over again and I quickly ran out of patience.

    • 4/5
      Great book! Not as emotional as THUG but both moving and thought-provoking.
    • 5/5
      The reader is amazing, the voice switches and the raps kept me interested the whole time and I’m hard to please when it comes to things like this. Passed my quiz with a 100 when I’d only listened a day before it. Totally recommend!
    • 5/5
      My second audiobook and both have been by Angie , I love her imagery and her ability to make me visualize all of the character’s mannerisms and lives in the ghetto. Keep doing what you’re doing Angie ✊?
    • 5/5
      very nice. relatable and captivating story. great flow. held me all through to the end.
    • 5/5
      A VERY realistic story. Loved the brother/ sister relationship and the suspense with her friend possibly being catfished. Shows all young people have to deal with growing up, trying to figure themselves out. Really enjoyed the book.
    • 5/5
      Dear Angie Thomas, who wrote that tweet at the end and why you gotta leave us like that? Love this book and can't wait for the next book by you though no lie.
    • 5/5
      Excellent book! Excellent audio book! Enjoyed it immensely! Definately recommend
    • 5/5
      All that speaks out the tip of tongue is wow.
    • 5/5
      Good. Includes actual rap and stuff which the main character says. Balanced and real; not just 'poor kid becomes star and all is well'. A bit about being yourself, a bit about poverty and a lot of fun.
    • 5/5
      I love Angie Thomas's books. Her sophomore novel is just as powerful and impactful as her debut! I cannot wait to read/listen to everything else she publishes.
    • 5/5
      This was a masterpiece and I’ve no more words ????
    • 5/5
      Angie Thomas does it again! I felt this book to my core. I couldn’t put it down. It pulled me in from the very first chapter and I was hooked until the very end. This is one I have to purchase and add to my bookshelf.
    • 5/5
      Excellent, on every level. This is the best Young Adult novel I have ever read.
    • 5/5
      Another BRILLIANTLY written and narrated book by Angie Thomas. I can't wait to listen to her next book, Concrete.
    • 4/5
      This isn't as well-crafted as THUG and I have a theory that this book was written before Ms. Thomas' first published novel. If anyone can confirm or deny this theory, please let me know.