I Make My Own Rules Essays - African-American Culture, Free Essays

I Make My Own Rules Essays - African-American Culture, Free Essays "I Make My Own Rules" LL Cool J's autobiography "I Make My Own Rules" is a very well written book. I liked the way he got into detail about his childhood. He had a very interesting childhood. The way he explains the good and the bad of his hip-hop life is also interesting. It is also very interesting how he tells how he went from a bad sinful child to a nice spiritual man. The way LL tells about his childhood is interesting. The way he tells about it is not that interesting, yet his childhood is very interesting. For instance in the story he tells about as a child how he tried to run away from his father Roscoe (his abusive step father), and got a very bad beating, He goes into detail about how Roscoe would beat him and neglect him. He also tells about how when he was older how Roscoes' abusive behavior rubbed off on him. He would beat kids up for no reason, just like Roscoe. The way he tells about this is scary and sad. I loved these parts of the story because they open your eyes to child abuse and show you that it does exist. The way he explains his hip-hop life is very interesting/funny. For example he tells about how his accountants would take money from him by telling him to take a cheaper deal and then charging him for a more expensive deal and pocketing the difference. Since he didn't finish his education he didn't know what to do therefore he just went along with what was going on. In the long run he looked back and figured out he lost more than 20,000 dollars. He also explains going on tour and some of the stuff they would do. "Sometimes my friends would put itching powder in my bed and look at scratching and bust up laughing (pg.140)" said LL. He said that on the whole the hip-hop life was the life for him, even after all the drama unfolded. As a beginner in the hip-hop industry he was a very vulnerable young man. He easily got caught up in the sex and money (he never did drugs because he never liked them). He would do all kind of things that many would not approve of. He would have many different women at one time, he would buy many frivolous things, and he would cheat on his wife (it was only one time for a week though). He also then explains how when he got older he completely turned his life around. He met a friend named Charles. He taught him how to communicate with the spiritual side of life. It was from there that he turned his life around, he went back to school, and he stayed faithful to his wife, and had three loving kids. "If said if it weren't for Charles my life would have ever been the same," said LL. The book was a very good way to get across the point that if you want to get in the hip hop industry you must really want to do well. I highly enjoyed the book. It was a very funny book at times and a very sad book at times. I would highly recommend this book to a lot of people.