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The Upcycled Self: A Memoir on the Art of Becoming Who We Are Audiobook
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Publisher Description
“One of hip-hop’s greatest MCs, unpacking his harrowing, remarkable journey in his own words, with enough insights for two lifetimes.”—Lin-Manuel Miranda, award-winning songwriter, producer, director, and creator of In the Heights and Hamilton
From one of our generation’s most powerful artists and incisive storytellers comes a brilliantly crafted work about the art—and war—of becoming who we are.
upcycle verb
up·cy·cle ˈəp-ˌsī-kəl
: to recycle (something) in such a way that the resulting product is of a higher value than the original item
: to create an object of greater value from (a discarded object of lesser value)
Today Tariq Trotter—better known as Black Thought—is the platinum-selling, Grammy-winning co-founder of The Roots and one of the most exhilaratingly skillful and profound rappers our culture has ever produced. But his story begins with a tragedy: as a child, Trotter burned down his family’s home. The years that follow are the story of a life snatched from the flames, forged in fire.
In The Upcycled Self, Trotter doesn’t only narrate a riveting and moving portrait of the artist as a young man, he gives readers a courageous model of what it means to live an examined life. In vivid vignettes, he tells the dramatic stories of the four powerful relationships that shaped him—with community, friends, art, and family—each a complex weave of love, discovery, trauma, and loss.
And beyond offering the compellingly poetic account of one artist’s creative and emotional origins, Trotter explores the vital questions we all have to confront about our formative years: How can we see the story of our own young lives clearly? How do we use that story to understand who we’ve become? How do we forgive the people who loved and hurt us? How do we rediscover and honor our first dreams? And, finally, what do we take forward, what do we pass on, what do we leave behind? This is the beautifully bluesy story of a boy genius’s coming-of-age that illuminates the redemptive power of the upcycle.
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"A striking portrait of perseverance and creativity… [Trotter] 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’ . . . 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."
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Quotes
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“Trotter (also known as Black Thought) has refined literary fire from the soulful furnace of pain and suffering.”
— New York Times -
“A striking portrait of perseverance and creativity…Trotter powerfully gives due to the process of self-reinvention that has defined his life.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review) -
“The author’s vulnerability, circumspection, and compassion render this an outstanding read.”
— Kirkus Reviews -
One of hip-hop’s greatest MCs, unpacking his harrowing, remarkable journey in his own words, with enough insights for two lifetimes.
— Lin-Manuel Miranda, award-winning songwriter, producer, director, and creator of In the Heights and Hamilton -
Tariq Trotter, a founder of the music collective The Roots . . . could be hip-hop’s Dostoyevsky. Like the Russian novelist, Mr. Trotter (also known as Black Thought) has refined literary fire from the soulful furnace of pain and suffering.
— Barry Michael Cooper, The New York Times -
No one has ever been markedly better at rapping than Black Thought, and precious few musicians on earth have perfected their instrument to the extent that he has.
— Jack Hamilton, Slate -
The densely arrayed metaphors, the calibrated poise, and casual displays of erudition . . . Black Thought, née Tariq Trotter, is one of the greats in the pantheon of hip-hop.
— Jelani Cobb, The New Yorker -
An eloquently insightful autobiography from an iconic rapper and wordsmith . . . The book’s lyricism, clarity, and tone beautifully reflect Trotter’s facility with words, which he has demonstrated for years in the studio and on stage. . . . The author’s vulnerability, circumspection, and compassion render this an outstanding read.
— Kirkus Reviews
Awards
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A New York Times bestseller
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About the Narrators
Allyson Johnson is an actress and singer who began performing at age twelve as coanchor of Bubble Gum Digest, for which she won an Emmy. After earning a degree in psychology from Brown University, she moved to New York where she became a social worker before shifting to a career in television and radio. Johnson has recorded countless commercials, promos, audiobooks, narrations, and animation series.
Rhett S. Price is a skilled and sought after corporate narrator, versatile commercial voiceover talent, exceptional audiobook narrator, and former television on-air personality. An opportunity to further expand his career in voiceovers came through his unique experience as the on-air traffic reporter for Los Angeles’ KABC TV, Channel 7, and numerous southland radio stations.