No Disrespect by Sister Souljah, Souljah, Sister Souljah

From the Publisher

Rapper, activist, and hip-hop rebel, Sister Souljah possesses the most passionate and articulate voice to emerge from the projects. Now she uses that voice to deliver what is at once a fiercely candid autobiography and a survival manual for any African American woman determined to keep her heart open and her integrity intact in 1990s America.

Publishers Weekly

Those seeking tales of Souljah's rap career-or the controversy in which candidate Bill Clinton condemned her statements about the Los Angeles riots-must look elsewhere. This is a memoir of the author's surviving-the-ghetto life and her passionate relationships. ``What I am is natural and serious and as sensitive as an open nerve on an ice cube,'' declares Souljah at the outset, but her lightly edited vernacular tale-complete with large chunks of ``freely recreated'' dialogue-rarely has such style. Still, her story of childhood in the Bronx projects, where women on welfare accepted dissolute men as ``rentals,'' is chilling. Souljah's mom, admirably, encouraged her daughter's reading at an early age, and she grew-it's not too clear how-to gain a fervent sense of self and spirituality. Her portraits of people-including a Muslim boyfriend fighting his homosexuality, a female classmate at Rutgers University casually manipulating men for money and a dream boyfriend who lies about having a wife-should strike a chord with peers. Though Souljah's continual comments on Afrocentrism and white oppression are unfortunately Manichean, her closing advice to parents and to peers about successful relationships (``Remember: men will lie'') is, in the main, wisely cautionary. Author tour. (Feb.)

Library Journal

In 1992, rapper Sister Souljah made big news, provoking a response from then-candidate Clinton to her exhortation that black people should "take a week and kill white people." Sister Souljah's social philosophy, apparently, has not changed much. In this rambling, lurid autobiography of her pre-rap star years, she works to attribute each shortcoming, mistake, or problem of every African American to one cause: white oppression. Her true attitude and the purpose of her tale are both unclear. Aggrandizing (at length) her "spiritual eye" and devotion to God, she simultaneously revels in the abuse of other humans. Claiming a transcendent, ascetic disdain for uncommitted sex, she blithely luxuriates in a series of affairs. While the brief concluding chapter offers solid, sensible advice for young people, Sister Souljah's earlier boasts belie its convictions. For a clearer, better-stated account of ghetto youth's struggle, consider Nathan McCall's Makes Me Wanna Holler (LJ 2/1/94). Buy only when the star's fans request it. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 10/1/94.]-Bill Piekarski, Southwestern Coll. Lib., Chula Vista, Cal.

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Table of Contents