5 Black Music/Entertainment Memoirs We Can’t Wait To Add To Our Bookshelves

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Black musicians and their co-authors are stepping up to tell their versions of what really goes down when you’re climbing the charts this year. We love a tipsy podcast interview that lasts the length of our cardio session and then some as much as the next person, but there is nothing like Black music memoirs. They fill you with energy in a way that no other medium can.

Why We Love Music Memoirs

Books like The Making of Mariah Carey, Let Love Have The Last Word, and The Beautiful Ones can provide the level of detail we crave about our favorite performers. It might seem like those in the spotlight are an open book. But their journeys often have a bit more peaks and valleys than can fit in a quick screenshot.

Behind the soundtrack to every kickback, girls’ trip , and breakup in your life is an artist. It is exciting to get their perspective on the moments that make up the culture. There’s variety among the artists teaming up with other storytellers to share their points of view this year.

Who Is Telling Their Stories This Year?

A Miami titan is taking her turn to share how she became a mother figure to a generation of mic-toting baddies with their eyes on big Birkins. Staten Island’s own is breaking his silence. We want to learn how he went from a shadowy schemer to one of the most respected emcees of all time.

There’s a seventies heartthrob whose supple looks and smooth voice made him a household name. He is taking us back to the beginnings of Black Hollywood. A rapper sitting on the edge of the Big Three is allowing us into the mentality that took him from a Midwestern upstart into a hip-hop tour de force. Finally, a pitbull in a skirt is taking us inside a record-smashing career with some glamorous detours.

See the five Black music memoirs we can not wait to add to our bookshelves and beach bags below.

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