This memoir by 2 Chainz is lyrical and motivational, telling the story of how he grew up in a broken home in College Park, Georgia, worked hard in school, and did his best to stay away from those on the streets and in the hallways at school who wanted to use him for no good.
He sells drugs, goes to prison, but also earns a scholarship to college, and graduates with a degree in psychology. Now, he’s a successful musical artist and an entrepreneur.
2 Chainz tells a story of honesty, hard work, gratitude, learning wisdom, and turning difficult times into new opportunities. He returns again and again to the subject of integrity. He writes:
“A lot of people in the [music] industry lack integrity. Hell, a lot of people in life lack integrity…. My moral compass started forming probably before grade school. My parents instilled character in me from the moment I could speak and understand…. The decisions we make tally us over time and create a register for us to refer to when we find ourselves needing to make hard decisions. Learning how past decisions have affected us and the people around us helps to locate what integrity is.”
His is a story of the pilgrimage that is everyone’s life — seeing it, and learning to understand that failures along the way don’t make you a failure. It isn’t a universal story by any means. 2 Chainz is a Black man in America who has faced difficult challenges that many of us cannot fully understand. But he emphasizes forgiving yourself, forgiving others, and how not learning from experience is the biggest mistake you can make.
His father in prison still serves as an inspiration to him, for instance, as in this letter that 2 Chainz received from him: “God is love and love never fails. Keep on loving unconditionally. Believe me, you don’t go through any more than anyone else. Be strong and carry on. God is with you.”
That is one of the clear messages of this book — the presence of God in human life, no matter how difficult living becomes.
