RCM Book Reviews

The Condemnation Of Blackness Race, Crime, And The Making Of The Modern Urban America

Book Title: The Condemnation Of Blackness Race, Crime, and the making of the Modern Urban America

Author: Khalil Gibran Muhammad

Pages: 393

Genre: Race, History, Non-fiction

Published: 2010

Review: 4.5/5

“New statistical and racial identities forged out of raw census data showed that African Americans, as 12 percent of the population, made up 30 percent of the nation’s prison population. Although specially designed race-conscious laws, discriminatory punishments, and new forms of everyday racial surveillance had been institutionalized by the 1890s as a way to suppress black freedom, white social scientists presented the new crime data as objective, color-blind, and incontrovertible.”

Main Points Of The Book:

1- For white Americans of every ideological stripe—from radical southern racists to northern progressives—African American criminality became one of the most widely accepted bases for justifying prejudicial thinking, discriminatory treatment, and/or acceptance of racial violence as an instrument of public safety

2- African Americans were unfairly stigmatized by their criminality.

3- The white crime statistics are virtually invisible, except when used to dramatize the excessive criminality of African Americans

4- Violent crime rates in the nation’s biggest cities are generally understood as a reflection of the presence and behavior of the black men, women, and children who live there.

5- The statistical evidence of black criminality remained rooted in the concept of black inferiority or black pathology despite a shift in the social scientific discourse on the origins of race and crime.

Introduction: This book is written by Khalil Gibran Muhammad who is an American academic. This book is one of the most authentic sources of statistics of Black criminality and victimization in modern urban America. This book has 6 chapters. Each chapter defines the clear statistics and reports from various researchers about Black criminality and causes of crime. After the great African migration, it was assumed that the Black people were the major cause of crime and posed a threat to modern Urban America. This book defines how black people were considered as a dangerous race of criminals by explicit contrast to working-class whites and European immigrants. This book has many answers to some of the many difficult situations related to black criminality including

1- “How was the statistical link between blackness and criminality initially forged?”

2- “Why Black mortality is always high?”

3- “By what means did black and white social scientists, social reformers, journalists, antiracist activists, law enforcement officials, and politicians construct, contest, and corroborate their claims regarding black criminality?”

This book altogether tells the story of blacks and whites and the data in south and north America regarding criminality.

Summary: This book tells many reports and data related to the causes of Black criminality and racism. The writer explains through many government reports, newspaper accounts, and works in the fields of sociology and criminology to prove that “the numbers do not speak for themselves”. The whites have always been backed up by the state when any discrimination of crime had occurred. Whereas the blacks were provided with no assistance by the state including probation, prison facilities, and rehabilitation. Despite the low number of Black criminals in America as compared to the whites, blacks were always considered to be the main cause of criminality in the state. The researchers and reporters explained the black crime as a cause of physical inferiority i.e. their skin color. Whereas they explained the white crime as a product of class and social surroundings.

Racial discrimination was on peak and blacks were considered the prime suspects if any crime occurs. The blacks were considered to be inferior and were thought that they contained some criminal gene within their bodies that’s why they committed more crimes. The blacks were forcibly victimized through physiological differences and were deemed to be mentally, ethically, morally, and intellectually inferior to whites. The Blacks had lesser job opportunities than the whites. Due to the false allegations, the crime was considered as the negro problem and the cause of crime was thought to be because of the presence of Black men, women, and children. The racism and criminal injustices heavily negatively impacted Black people’s lives.

A Lot of progressive programs were denied to the Blacks which they deserved as a part of the country. The causes of black mortality by the researchers were defined as the cause of their lack of physical fitness. The researchers completely turned the blind eye to the injustices caused to the Blacks in the prisons. Apart from prisons and jails the book also defines the injustices done by the police officers to the Blacks.

Conclusion: This book is well-researched and perfect for everybody who wants to know about the origins of Black criminality and Black migration. This book will give you knowledge about the history of the connections between race and crime.

Book Of The Week: Mis Education Of The Negro

Book Title: The Mis Education Of The Negro

Author: Carter G. Woodson

Pages: 215

Genre: Non-fiction, History, Race

Published: First published 1933

Review: 4.8/5

Main Points Of The Book:

1- History shows that it does not matter who is in power or what revolutionary forces take over the government, those who have not learned to do for themselves and have to depend solely on others never obtain any more rights or privileges in the end than they had in the beginning

2- When you control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his ‘proper place’ and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary

3- The “educated Negroes” have the attitude of contempt toward their own people because in their own as well as in their mixed schools Negroes are taught to admire the Hebrew, the Greek, the Latin and the Teuton and to despise the African. Of the hundreds of Negro high schools recently examined by an expert in the United States Bureau of Education only eighteen offer a course taking up the history of the Negro

4-The differentness of races, moreover, is no evidence of superiority or of inferiority. This merely indicates that each race has certain gifts which the others do not possess. It is by the development of these gifts that every race must justify its right to exist

5- The education of the Negroes, then, the most important thing in the uplift of the Negroes, is almost entirely in the hands of those who have enslaved them and now segregate them

Introduction:

This book is written by Carter Godwin Woodson, who was an African-American historian, author, journalist, and founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. He was one of the first scholars to study African-American history. He is the founder of The Journal of Negro History in 1915. Woodson has been cited as the father of black history. This book is an eye-opener and informative for nearly every person. Even after 87 years, this book remains accurate from many perspectives. It is a great historical document related to racial injustice. Woodson has outlined what he sees as the repercussions of an ineffective Negro educational system.

Summary:

The Mis-Education of the Negro gives insight into the state of the Negro in the Early 20th Century. The Negroes in the schools are taught to become convinced of their inferiority. Woodson shared that the educational system taught the Negroes that his black face is a curse and that his struggle to change his condition is hopeless. Woodrow says that the language, mathematics, and science may have served a good purpose in the universities, but much of what they have taught as economics, history, literature, religion, and philosophy is propaganda and has misdirected the Negroes. Woodson has explained and discussed in each chapter that how the miseducation process has impacted the life of a Negro in the church, politics, business sector, vision, and leadership.

Woodson encourages his fellow Black people and intellectuals to do all they can to uplift their race. This book addresses the role of education in the development of our minds, lives, and experiences. Woodson has discussed the idea of elevating people through the education process. In the educational institutions, almost in every subject the negroes were made convinced that they are inferior. In geography poet of distinction was selected to illustrate the physical features of the white race, a prince the yellow, the Negro stood at the foot of the social ladder.

From the teaching of science, the Negro was eliminated. They mentioned only the achievements of whites at the beginning of science in various parts of the world. But the African’s early advancement in this field was omitted. Students were not told that ancient Africans of the interior knew sufficient science to concoct poisons for arrowheads, to mix durable colors for paintings, to extract metals from nature, and refine them for development in the industrial arts. The Negro law students were told that they belonged to the most criminal element in the country. In medical schools, the Negroes were likewise convinced of their inferiority in being reminded of their role as germ carriers. These examples prove how negroes were made confirmed about their inferiority. This book explains how an improper education can make people unsuccessful and backward and how a proper education can lead to freedom, success, and prosperity. The schools in the U.S have totally neglected and ignored the authentic African history and their achievements. This form of mis education led to a brain-washed acceptance of the inferior role assigned to black people by the oppressor.

Conclusion:

This book is an excellent and a must-read for every person of color. This book helps us understand the internalized racism that African-Americans had suffered. This book educates about the history of Black people, their past and current situation, and solutions to how they can get out of the oppression.

Author Of The Month: Rory C Morgan

This month’s Author is Rory C Morgan, who is an artist, author, and entrepreneur. He has written three amazing self-help books. He grew up in South London and has long been intended to write self-help books. His first book was Own Your Words, which was published in 2020. His first book Own Your Words was formed by turning his university dissertation into a short book. His other two books were also published in the same year which is The Perfect Take: A Musician’s Guide To Happiness & Wellbeing and The Quiet Investor: A Musician’s Guide To Investing. Rory C Morgan has a keen interest in books written towards the end of slavery by black authors and likes self-help and business genre books. His interest in Black history and great writing and entrepreneurship qualities encouraged him to write books and start his own clothing brand Its raw and become an entrepreneur.

“Entrepreneurs have the courage and self-belief to turn dreams into reality articulating freedom in spirit, creativity, and vision”

Rory C morgan manages two blogs. The Smart Donnys co-owned by Kevin Munga, which is a blog about Colorism, Mental Health, Entrepreneurship, and Financial tips. His blog provides great posts about mental health and entrepreneurship ideas and journeys, which are a must-read for everybody. His other blog is about book reviews. This Book blog strongly focuses on Black Authors. It is a blog that promotes Black Authors. The aim of the RCM book review blog is to show, recommend, highlight, and support black authors and books written by them, which are mostly not found or recommended by many other book review blogs and bloggers. The Black authors despite their great writing qualities, entrepreneurship, and storytelling skills have many times been ignored as compared to the white authors. This book blog helps every person of color to know about the black authors who not only are amazing human beings but also an inspiration to the whole of humanity.

Rory C Morgan wants to create something that helps his followers and all the people in general. His book Own Your Words helps musicians how to control their emotions and think more about business and entrepreneurship. Talking with him, he shared the current book which he is reading, The Mis-Education of the Negro. His favorite music genre is Hip-Hop.

He is currently working on creating a Podcast where he can talk about different things like World literacy, colorism, and on many other different topics. Rory C Morgan inspires us in many ways. His enthusiasm to focus on black personalities and highlight problems on colorism and race evokes harmony and educates the world about the Black authors, personalities, Racism, and entrepreneurship.

Rory C Morgan’s clothing brand ItsRawClothing is based in Thornton Heath. His clothing brand sells a stunning variety of jumpers, t-shirts, wooly hats, and face masks. You can check his clothing brand here.

“Words travel thousands of miles and words recorded in songs will live forever. As you are writing your next song realise that you are writing words which will subsequently outlive you”

Rory C Morgan is an amazing rapper and musician. His music videos can be found here.

Book Of The Week: Forgiveness: 21 Days to Forgive Everyone for Everything by Iyanla Vanzant

Author: Iyanla Vanzant

Genre: Self-help

Pages: 303

Review: 4.3/5

Main Points Of the Book:

1- Forgiveness addresses how we think and feel about others and ourselves and how those thoughts manifest within our lives as energy

2- Nothing in life causes more pain and suffering than the judgments we hold about and against ourselves

3- Regardless of how hard, challenging, frightening, or difficult an experience may seem, everything is just as it needs to be in order for us to heal, grow, and learn

4- Comparison is an act of violence against the self

5- Forgiveness is not forgetting; it is simply denying your pain the right to control your life

Introduction:

This book is written by Iyanla Vanzant. Iyanla Vanzant is an American inspirational speaker, spiritual teacher, author, life coach, and television personality. She was listed among the 100 Most Influential African-Americans by Ebony magazine. She was also awarded the 31st NAACP Image Award for “Outstanding Literary Work, Non-Fiction” for Yesterday I Cried. This book provides an intensive personal transformation process. She has shared a detailed journaling work and Emotional freedom techniques in the 21 day forgiveness process in the book.

Summary:

Reading the book’s title, one can come up with the question of “Why would I want to practice forgiveness?”. Well, we should practice forgiveness because Many times we do not let go of our past. If the past is bitter and brings back painful memories and bad experiences or relationships with people, then we should go for the process of forgiveness.

When we master the practice of forgiveness, we can let go of so many bad memories and people who have had wronged us. And when we know how to forgive, we eliminate excess mental and emotional weight that keeps us stuck in repetitive situations, circumstances, and experiences that are not healthy or productive for us. The only true way to create a more loving, productive, and fulfilling life is by forgiving the past. Releasing the past restores us to the full energy of the present moment.

To start the process of forgiveness, Iyanla has shared the Emotional Trigger List. When a word catches your attention, write it down, and begin writing your 12 Forgiveness Statement. By writing the forgiveness statements, it will be easy to identify the negative emotions hiding behind your thoughts.

We judge ourselves and others harshly most of the time. When we judge another person, we do not for a second think that what if, what we think of the other person is wrong and unjustified? What if they need help? Or tough situations have made them cold-hearted that’s why they behave the opposite way? Our judgments sometimes give rise to a toxic or negative feeling. Forgiveness of our judgments opens space and energy in our minds and hearts that have held blocked off by anger, bitterness, and resentment.

Further, she has shared her painful memory of losing her daughter. She experienced anger, rage, sadness, and other negative emotions that are harmful to the body and mind. At that time, she did not know how to deal with all the negativity and rage around her. That is when she wrote down everything she could think of that made her mad as hell.

She became trained and certified as an expert in a healing process known as the Progressive Emotional Freedom Technique or tapping. We all hold negative energy in the form of thoughts, beliefs, emotions, and memories about someone or something. These thoughts not only create stress, they can also trigger a disruption in the body’s energy or meridian system. That stress is experienced as physical or psychological pain. Tapping is a process that can unblock the stuck mental, emotional, or psychological discomfort caused by blocked energy. By tapping on specific meridian points on the body and speaking aloud the thoughts and feelings that we hold, we can stimulate and clear the systems in our body that block our positive energy.

Each chapter in the book contains Journal work, Daily forgiveness process reminders, and prayer of forgiveness. All the forgiveness exercises and writing work helps get better thoughts, and most importantly allows us to reflect on our thoughts and surroundings. The exercises provided in the book attract positive energy and aids the healing of the mind and body.

Conclusion: This book helps to shift our perspective in many different areas of our life. Through beautiful prayers, journaling work, and the tapping process described in the book, we can achieve peace and positivity around us.

Book Of The Week: Year Of Yes By Shonda Rhimes

Author: Shonda Rhimes

Genre: Non-fiction, Self-help, Autobiography

Pages: 352

Publisher: October 20th, 2016 by Simon & Schuster Ltd

Review: 4.5/5

Main Points Of The Book:

1- You do not have to lose weight to feel beautiful

2- Happiness comes from living as you need to, as you want to. As your inner voice tells you to.

3- Happiness comes from being who you actually are instead of who you think you are supposed to be

4- Saying yes, saying yes is courage. Saying yes is the sun. Saying yes is life.

5- DITCH THE DREAM. BE A DOER, NOT A DREAMER.

6- When you negate someone’s compliment, you are telling them they are wrong. You’re telling them they wasted their time. You are questioning their taste and judgment. You are insulting them. If someone wants to compliment you, let them.

Introduction:

This book is written by Shonda rhymes. Shonda Lynn Rhimes is an American television producer, screenwriter, and author. She was born in Chicago Illinois, USA. She is an award-winning writer and producer. She is famously known as a creator and executive producer of television medical drama Grey’s Anatomy, Private practice, and thriller series Scandal. She has won a Golden Globe award and was nominated for Emmy Awards. Shonda Rhimes has twice been included in TIME magazine’s 100 lists of the most influential people.

Summary:

The idea of saying yes came to her mind when her sister Delorse told her these six words while cooking their Thanksgiving dinner: “You never say yes to anything”. Rhymes is a hardworking lady and being busy and occupied in work most of the time she used to say “no” to the many invitations she received to attend events, to be a speaker, and for being interviewed.

Her sister’s words changed her mind and made her realize that she needed to change. That’s where the idea came into her mind to start the year of yes- where she will say yes to those things that she was saying ‘no’ previously. She realized that she was saying ‘no’ to such things, and offers because those circumstances were challenging and scary to her and would take her out of her comfort zone.

In her first book, she tells how her entire life changed when she committed to saying “yes” to everything for one year. Every person on this earth matters and so does his/her experience. Whether you raise your voice through social media, facing your fears, or by standing for what is right. We never know how our voice can change another person’s life.

She tells how she felt embarrassed about her weight and judged herself harshly. But when she decided to lose weight, she lost over 120 pounds. She was determined to be healthier and started to eat nutritious foods. She advises that one should not have to lose weight to feel beautiful. We have to love ourselves the way we are. We should say yes to loving our bodies.

It’s not a bad thing to say “no” to someone. She shares how she found the courage to say ‘no’ to toxic people in her life. Many times we avoid difficult conversations, and we fear these conversations and confronting others or those who are harsh to us and we suffer in silence. But once we come to know that these difficult conversations are important for us and our personal growth and saying no to the things and people who are rude to us can make things much easier for us, we start to gain confidence within and start making better life choices.

In this book, she also shares her decision to break off an engagement. She says she accepted that marriage was not something she ever wanted. Saying ‘yes’ to love means being honest with yourself and your partner. She has shared how she overcame her fears and faced the challenges that changed her life as a result.

Conclusion:

This book helps to build and guide about leadership skills, and improve our self-esteem and motivation. This book is a great guide to say ‘yes’ and confront those difficult and challenging things and people to which we most often fear. This book helps you feel much better.

Book Of The Week: No Matter What! 9 Steps to Living the Life You Love by Lisa Nichols

Author: Lisa Nichols

Pages: 282

Genre: Self-help, Inspirational

Review: 4.5/5

Main points of the book:

1- A situation that may initially hurt and be uncomfortable can often turn out to be a blessing

2- Quitters never win, and winners never quit

3- The world sees you the way you see yourself

4-When you submit your burdens to your Higher Power, you remain responsible for the part that you’ve played in them as well as for creating solutions to them

5- You can’t get where you want to go until you know where you’re starting from

Introduction:

No matter What is a self-help book by Lisa Nichols. Lisa Nichols is a motivational speaker, and in this book, she empowers her readers to realize their dreams. It has ten chapters. She offers nine steps or ‘muscles’ which explains how anyone can use them to achieve happiness and success. In this book, Lisa Nichols shares steps to move forward despite obstacles and achieve prosperity and success. She has been featured in The Secret and explained the Law of attraction. She has shared her own law of happiness and success that is the Law of No matter What. She has described her own struggles and how she tackled them, which is truly motivational for the readers.

Summary:

In the first chapter, she guides to build the bounce-back muscles. These bounce back muscles are the muscles of your character. These muscles are shaped and formed by life experiences, by overcoming challenges and rising to the occasion. She has shared the nine muscles to build. Building one or more of these muscles will help us get through a life-threatening or painful situation and to begin experiencing the peace of mind and joy that we deserve.

‘Understanding Muscle’ is the most important of all the muscles. This muscle allows us to see beyond the present moment and our immediate situation. When in difficulty one should ask himself the questions “What is my lesson at this moment? How can I grow from this and be better and stronger on the other side because of this experience? You can strengthen your understanding muscle by asking yourself immediately how and what you’re going through will make you a better person?

She has shared her bitter experiences and stories of racism. She has defined her past and how the people in her past had treated her as different, as an outcast, and the people’s words and actions had left her to feel unimportant and inadequate.

One should always believe in his/herself. The self-talk and the conversations in our head majorly decide how we can face our obstacles and struggles. Having faith in ourselves determines our success and failures. She guides to develop Faith-in-Myself muscles, which help us keep moving forward even when we face obstacles and challenges. Your negative conversations in your mind will create Low self-esteem and negative vibes around yourself. Even when things are going really well, your negative chattering in the mind will pull you down. We all talk to ourselves. Observe yourself how you talk to yourself. Do you talk like a loving friend or are you hard on yourself and critical, impatient, and verbally abusive? The author has also shared the solutions to the problems that we face.

Changing the conversations in our heads can have a great effect on our lives. She has shared her own experience of how having Faith-in-Yourself muscles can change our mindset and helps us achieve success. When we recognize our negative self-talk, we stop letting our fear of failure take charge of our lives.

We often focus on what we do not want and focus very little on What we do want. The Law of Attraction states that like attracts like. Keeping our attention on what we don’t want attracts those things that we don’t want to happen. It’s important to keep our self-talk positive and to stay focused on our goals. You can use your energy to help yourself or hinder yourself.

We hold the key to our own success or failure. The way we treat ourselves allows others to treat us the same way. It’s up to you to show the world how to treat you.

Conclusion:

This book encourages readers to face their struggles and guide them on how to be calm and achieve success and happiness. This is one of the best self-help books that I have read. Every chapter offers brilliant advice and encourages us to become a better person.

Book Of The Week: Rise and Grind: Outperform, Outwork, and Outhustle Your Way to a More Successful and Rewarding Life

Author: Daymond John

Genre: Business and Finance, Self-help

Pages: 320

Review: 4.5/5

Main points of the book:

1- You can’t start moving toward your goals until and unless you take that all-important first step. But here’s the thing: That first step doesn’t have to be a big one. It simply has to move you forward, even just a little bit.

2- Do something once and achieve a successful outcome, and it might just be dumb luck. Do something again and again and achieve that same successful outcome, and you just might be on to something.

3- Life isn’t what you accept, it’s what you negotiate

4- Know that disappointments will find you, from time to time. And know that the only way to make sure a project or endeavor fails is to quit on it.

5- When there’s something you want more than anything and it requires a bit of reaching, you find a way to reach.

Introduction:

Rise and Grind is a self-help business and finance book by Daymond John. Daymond John is an entrepreneur, business consultant, and motivational speaker. He is co-founder, president, and CEO of FUBU, a $6 billion sportswear company. In this book, Daymond John has shared the stories, strategies, and interviews of the actual life successful entrepreneurs. This book has 8 chapters. He has shared how we can become successful and do better in our lives. His advice and life experiences are motivating to everybody. Nobody will come and solve our problems, we have to do this ourselves. He started from a very humble beginning. He worked very hard to build his company. He also had Dyslexia, which made things much hard for him in childhood and school. He had to work extra hard to do things that were much easier for other people. He did not feel sorry for himself, he just did rise and grind every day to overcome the adversities of life. All the messages of this book are positive, and there are a lot of ideas to see how other people got successful. There is just not one way to do things, rather there are a lot of other ways to get your goals.

Summary:

This book does a good job of motivating oneself no matter where we are in our life. People who get up before 7 am have less stress in their life than the people getting up after 7 am. Even this has been proved by science that getting up early every day helps us do better every day. There are so many things around us that can inspire us every day. There is a lot of motivation regarding don’t be afraid to chase your dreams. Daymond has shared his secrets to what makes him so successful and how one can achieve the same. There are 15 stories of other successful people in this book.

One should always remember that success springs from a positive attitude, optimism, faith, and positive action. Consider the mistakes as stepping stones on your path to success. The opportunities come when you least expect them, and you have to be moving in order to benefit from that opportunity. Figure out what moves you, what excites you, what lifts you from the grind of your day.

That’s a line from boxer Floyd Mayweather “Everybody is blessed with a certain talent. You have to know what your talent is, maximize it, and push it to the limit” There are a lot of motivational stories and struggles shared by many successful people about how they became successful and what they did to keep rising. There are different strategies for success shared in this book, which helps in getting us on the path of success.

Conclusion:

It’s a good read with real-life inspirational stories. Highly recommended.

Book Of The Week: The Quiet Investor: A Musician’s Guide to Investing

Book Title: The Quiet Investor: A Musician’s Guide to Investing

Author: Rory C. Morgan

Genre: Self-help, Music, Business

Review: 4.8/5

Main points of the book:

1- Creating a business that supports your production of music and allows you to manage your own time and enjoy more freedom is key to longevity and happiness in this field

2- Effectively managing finances determines the success

3- Dealing with failure by being mindful is important for long-term success

4- No matter what stage you are in your career budgeting will help you lead a life without financial pressure

5- Marketing as a musician is vital for raising awareness of your music

Introduction:

This book is written by Rory C. Morgan, a rapper, a songwriter, an author, and an entrepreneur. In this book the author, Rory C. morgan has many guides for his readers and new upcoming musicians about finance and music. He has described how to achieve financial stability and financial freedom. How to not overspend, and learn unique ways to generate income and most importantly how to create diversified income streams. This book has a complete guide towards a stress-free financial future for the Musicians.

Summary:

In the first chapter, the author has informed us about what tangible and intangible assets are. With the growth of technology and social media, Information based businesses such as blog or vlog on YouTube and a website on social media platform can also be an asset for a musician. Apart from promoting one’s own business, or music the most important thing in finance is Copyright. Copyright protects the work that we produce or create. It is the most relevant intellectual property for an artist because through copyright a person can claim his own rights on work, art, or anything that he has created whether it’s art or music. For the musicians, When a record company or the artist owns a copyright to this own composed or created song, they get paid a royalty each time the song is played. As a musician, he must take his time to understand that intellectual property and branding are vital intangible assets for his music. A brand also plays an important part in the financial matters of a musician. As the brand depicts the true value of an artist and also reduces potential competition, Data also plays an important part in generating revenue.

The author has also described advice on How to be your own boss. As at the start of a musician’s career, he has to perform at different venues and work hard. Therefore it is not easy to be your own boss under immense pressure and stress. But being your own boss even in difficult situations will enable you to make your own choices, control your future, and enable you to make money from something you love. At the start of any business, there is a high chance of failure therefore, you have to determine your objectives and create a plan to reach your goals and aims. Before starting a business one should keep in mind the start-up costs and other factors to enable sustenance of the business and to generate income for yourself. The author has further effectively and broadly defined what is interest, and simple interest, and how they function in your business.

Budgeting is the most important part of a business. Many times we are caught up to present ourselves in a certain way to go with the trend like wearing expensive clothes, flaunting cash, and living a lifestyle that is beyond our reach, which leads to financial stress. Budgeting helps to track how we are spending our money. After a month of budgeting, we come to know where all our money is going. Analyzing our expenditure through budgeting will show us where we can save and invest our money.

Marketing is a great opportunity to grow your audience. Marketing can be done through online and offline means. Marketing as a musician raises awareness of your music in the world. Personalized websites and social media platforms are great ways to enhance the marketing of your music. Try to post frequently and engage with your fans through social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. These platforms help you connect with your fans, and also build strong relationships with your fans and increase your popularity among people.

Conclusion:

This is a great book not only for the Musicians, but also for new start-up businesses to manage their finances and know about investing and interests. Marketing strategy and investing are very well defined, which helps the readers gain knowledge in starting their own career as a Musician. You can get this book here on amazon.

Author Of The Month: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

“There are some things that are so unforgivable that they make other things easily forgivable.” Half Of A Yellow Sun
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is an influential Nigerian writer, novelist, and a feminist. Her work range from novels to short stories to nonfiction. She was born in Nigeria and studied Medicine and Pharmacy for a year and a half. After that, she left for the United States to study communications and political science. She was the fifth of the six children and grew up in Nsukka. She received a Master’s degree in creative writing from Johns Hopkins University and studied African history at Yale University.

Her inspiration in writing came from Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Her first novel was Purple Hibiscus (2003), which received wide critical acclaim. It was awarded the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Book (2005), and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. Adichie’s work has been translated into over thirty languages. Her work has also been appeared in various publications, including The New Yorker, Granta, The O. Henry Price Stories, the Financial Times, and Zoetrope. Her other notable books are Americana, Half Of A Yellow Sun, We Should All Be Feminists, and You In America.
She has spoken at various platforms around the world. Her 2009 TED Talk, The Danger of A Single Story, is one of the most-viewed TED Talks of all time. Her 2012 talk We Should All Be Feminists has started a worldwide conversation about feminism and was published as a book in 2014. She is also the author of the story collection The Thing Around Your Neck. It is a collection of 12 stories that explore the relationships between men and women, parents and children, Africa and the United States. Her novels, essays, and short stories have won numerous awards.

She has spoken in various interviews about discovering what it means to be black in America as a Nigerian immigrant. Adichie told in an interview that “Black meant something, and that wasn’t necessarily a good thing.” She has supported Black Lives Matter on various platforms. She thinks that Black Lives Matter is doing something really important. Adichie said that It’s raising awareness about things that have existed in the United States and the world for a long time. The black Lives Matter movement is a sign of success. Adichie has written about United States-race relations in her books.

Some people ask: “Why the word feminist? Why not just say you are a believer in human rights or something like that?” Because that would be dishonest. Feminism is, of course, part of human rights in general—but to choose to use the vague expression of human rights is to deny the specific and particular problem of gender. It would be a way of pretending that it was not women who have, for centuries, been excluded. It would be a way of denying that the problem of gender targets women.

Every human being in the world deserves dignity. Talking about her becoming a feminist, she said that “It was clear to me, very early on, that women and men were not treated the same way; that women were treated unfairly, just because they were women” Adichie was raised Catholic as a child, though her views, especially those on feminism, sometimes conflict with her religion. At an event at Georgetown University, she stated that “religion is not a women-friendly institution and has been used to justify oppressions that are based on the idea that women are not equal human beings”.

“Race doesn’t really exist for you because it has never been a barrier. Black folks don’t have that choice.”
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

She has faced racism and stereotypes because of being Black after coming to the United States. When she came to the United States, she realized how many negative stereotypes were attached to blackness. As a black African in America, Adichie was suddenly confronted with what it meant to be a person of color in the United States. She takes a lot of pride in identifying herself as Black.

“Dear Non-American Black, when you make the choice to come to America, you become black. Stop arguing. Stop saying I’m Jamaican or I’m Ghanaian. America doesn’t care.”
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Adichie’s writings and talks focus on how individual experiences and stories can provide insight into feminism, intersectionality, cultural identity, stereotypes, and racism. She has been featured as one of the 15 women described as “Forces of Change” by British Vogue and selected by Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, to appear on the cover of the September 2019 issue.

Book Of The Week: Own Your Words: The Importance Of Ownership and Entrepreneurship Within Hip-Hop

Book Title: Own Your Words: The Importance of Ownership & Entrepreneurship within Hip-Hop

Author: Rory C. Morgan

Genre: Self-help, Business, Entrepreneurship, Music

Review: 4.5/5

It is clear that to have control of your career as a Hip Hop artist you must foster ownership over several income-generating streams

Main points of the book:

1- Entrepreneurs have the courage and self-belief to turn dreams into reality articulating freedom in spirit, creativity, and vision

2- The most important part of building any personal brand is to be authentic or genuine

3- The structure of major and independent labels affects the amount of ownership the artist has over their creative control

4- Respect has never been given but demanded by Hip-Hop artists

5- Social media allows direct communication with millions of consumers creating a power shift from the major media corporations to the artist

Introduction:

This book is written by Rory C Morgan, a rapper, a songwriter, an author, and an entrepreneur. This book contains 10 chapters, each chapter focusing on value, concept, and importance of entrepreneurship in Hip-Hop music.

Summary:

Entrepreneurship is multidimensional. He first describes what entrepreneurship is and the responsibilities and risks taken by an entrepreneur. Authenticity is crucial in Hip-Hop and rap music. As the lyrics will determine the personality of the rapper. Not many people consider rap music as authentic, some consider it as criminally provocative. Rap music has always reflected the stories of the underprivileged, focusing majorly on Blacks. Rap music still continues to influence the world. The blacks have always faced injustices as compared to whites in racial discrimination and in the employment industry. They are last to get hired and easily fired. They have no prospects in Job promotion. Unemployment and poverty among black teenagers and adults have always been on the rise since history.

Sylvia Robinson was the first successful entrepreneur whose music received mainstream attention. The famous rap group of Run (Joseph Simmons), DMC (Darryl McDaniels) and Jam Master Jay (Jason Mizell) revolutionized the rap music. They were the first Hip-Hop artists to have entered an endorsement deal with a major corporation. The white audience also appreciated and listened to their music. They were signed by the German sportswear company but lacked the much-needed aspect of ownership. These mistakes served as lessons that needed to be learned for Hip-Hop entrepreneurs who were planning to enter into Hip-Hop music.

Jay-Z faced many challenges in becoming a rap star. After rejected by many record labels, he established his own record company. He signed an early business deal with Def Jam recording and became partners. In this deal, Jay Z was able to sell his record label as a brand. Because of his good entrepreneurship skills, Jay Z was able to endorse and sponsor deals from major companies such as Samsung Galaxy, Hublot, Reebok, Budweiser, Barack Obama, and Brooklyn Nets. The writer further educates how much ownership of the artist is important in business and entrepreneurship.

Artists in Hip Hop often face bad business deals due to having a lack of entrepreneurship skills. The independent labels affect the ownership of the artists. The artists in turn receive a low percentage. Because the record labels control various rights including, publishing and manufacturing. Ever since the introduction of the internet, the distribution costs have been lessened, yet artists still receive smaller percentages from the record labels. Streaming, Downloads, and monthly subscriptions have also benefitted artists. Entrepreneurs such as Jay Z took advantage of the online market by creating his streaming service. Social media has created many opportunities for the artists and connection to the fans and listeners.

Conclusion:

This book is very nice and easy to read with perfect examples of famous black artists in entrepreneurship, music, and ownership. To have control of your career as a Hip Hop artist, one must foster ownership over several income-generating streams. You can find this book on Amazon.