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Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in On the Come Up, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Identity and Individuality
Racism and Prejudice
Trauma, Poverty, and Childhood
Control, Image, and Fame
Summary
Analysis
Ten days after Pooh disappeared, Bri gets a text from her asking to meet up after school. She gets off the bus with Curtis, who lives in Pooh's apartment complex. Bri is wearing the fake Timbs since Jay was up this morning and she hasn't talked to Jay about Supreme yet. The soles are almost gone. Curtis teases Bri about "stalking" him, but then seriously says he went to visit his mom over the weekend. He thanks her for convincing him to go.
For Curtis, choosing to go see his mom in jail shows that he's taking Bri's advice to heart and is using it to form a more adult and meaningful relationship with his mom. It's important that the advice to see her did come from Bri—Bri can be mature and has a clear view of how relationships work, and Curtis also respects and listens to her.
Themes
A group of small kids, along with Jojo, race up to Bri and Curtis. The little kids ask for autographs and Curtis walks away, laughing. Bri starts to sign and confirms for the kids that she and Jojo are friends—assuming Jojo has been going to school. He says he has. A set of twin girls squeakily recite some of Bri's lines about being "strapped" and having "clips on her hips," which makes Bri stop short. Jojo says that he's told the kids that Bri shoots gangsters. Pooh calls for Bri before Bri can refute this. Bri wonders if she's done something bad by getting kids to rap about guns.
Hearing these small kids rapping her song makes Bri understand the consequences of a song like hers, especially since these kids clearly don't understand the deeper meaning. For them, the song glorifies gang activity and violence, something that, when put in this form and those terms, Bri does realize she has a problem with. This helps her see that she has a responsibility to her community, as her song can do harm just as it can do good.
Themes
Bri joins Pooh on top of her car. As usual, Pooh refuses to say where she's been, but she says she didn't kill the Crown or get the chain back. Bri is still worried, as she knows Pooh started something bad and it's all her fault. Pooh apologizes for not getting the chain back, but Bri says she'd rather have Pooh than the chain. Mockingly, Pooh says the chain was a great excuse to go after the Crowns, which she's wanted to do since they killed Lawless. She admits that she joined the Garden Disciples to get revenge for Lawless's death. Bri didn't know this. Meanwhile Pooh starts staring at a nearby black car with dark windows. She says that Lawless was her mentor, and it was devastating when he died. She turned to the Garden Disciples, since she felt like she had nobody. Bri points out that Pooh has her.
Leveling with Bri like this allows Bri to humanize Pooh to a degree that she hasn't been able to before. She's able to see that Pooh was lonely and isolated as a young person, and that isolation led directly to choosing to get involved with the Garden Disciples. This shows Bri that if she wants to avoid having to sell drugs and join the Garden Disciples like Pooh, she needs to make sure that she builds a community around herself.
Themes
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Pooh says that Bri has annoyed lots of people with her song. Bri mentions the invite to go on DJ Hype's show and guiltily says that Supreme set it up. Pooh seems surprisingly okay that Supreme is Bri's manager. She admits that she understands that she doesn't know enough to be much help and has too much other stuff going on. She says she can still help Bri write songs, and pulls Bri across her lap, kissing her on the cheek. The black car stops, facing Pooh. Seriously, Pooh asks Bri to promise her that she's going to get out of Garden Heights. Bri is confused, but promises. Pooh tells Bri to go home as two SWAT vans pull in and armed officers spill out of them.
While it's clear that Pooh does care for Bri, it seems to come as almost a relief to her that someone else is taking over managerial duties. This offers more evidence to support that Pooh is just as inexperienced as Bri is when it comes to managing fame—but since she was a manager, not the artist, it's much easier for Pooh to take a step back and abdicate the responsibility.
Themes
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