Nephew: A Memoir in 4-Part Harmony

by M. K. Asante, Adenrele Ojo (Read by)

Overview

As urgent, resonant, and essential as The Fire Next Time and Between the World and Me, a poetic, raw, and inspirational love letter from the bestselling author of Buck, written to a nephew who was shot nine times and survived—a reflection on life, overcoming odds, finding your voice, and the power of music and family.

Waiting in the emergency room at Temple University Hospital in North Philadelphia where his eighteen-year-old nephew, Nasir, lay unconscious after being shot nine times, MK Asante began pouring his heart and soul into a series of letters to a beautiful, dying Black boy so full of life.

As Nasir fought for survival, MK realized there was so much—too much—that he had kept from his nephew, starting with the truth about his father, MK’s brother, Uzi, whom Nasir had never met. MK could no longer remain silent because in many ways, his nephew was repeating the mistakes of the past. MK began his confessional to repair family bonds—to save Nasir from the same streets that stole his father and to introduce him to the man and family history the young man had never known. The result is this beautiful, poignant, and honest family memoir.

Nephew introduces us to two men, strangers to each other, whose similarities are astonishing. Both have red hot tempers, both struggle with opioid addiction, and most profoundly, both are lyrical geniuses whose raps are raw, powerful, and autobiographical. Yet neither had ever heard the other’s lyrics. As he tells his family’s story, MK draws vivid portraits of both Nasir and Uzi through their songs—lyrics that become the touchstone of their relationship. When father and son eventually meet, they confront each other and share a dialogue through their lyrics.

An explosive, innovative memoir of family, faith, poetry, secrets, love, race, poverty, redemption, addiction, Philadelphia, hip-hop, jail, purpose, mental health, and violence. Nephew is fast-paced, intimate, lyrical, educational, and inspirational. It is the epic, painful, poetic, and miraculous redemptive story of a new generation—a new style of memoir for a new decade, the rhythmic story of a family in love, struggle, and verse.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798874623579
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	05/21/2024
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 5.70(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

M. K. Asante is an award-winning filmmaker, recording artist, distinguished professor, and the bestselling author of Buck: A Memoir. He studied at the University of London and earned a B.A. from Lafayette College and an M.F.A. from the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television. He is the host and co-executive producer of While Black, a Snap Original docuseries produced by NBCUniversal, Indigo Development and Entertainment Arts, and Main Event Media. Asante has been featured on CNN, NPR, The Breakfast Club, VH1, and MTV. His essays have been published in the New York Times and USA Today, and his inspirational story "The Blank Page" is featured in the number-one New York Times bestseller, Chicken Soup for the Soul: 20th Anniversary Edition.

M. K. Asante is an award-winning filmmaker, recording artist, distinguished professor, and the bestselling author of Buck: A Memoir. He studied at the University of London and earned a B.A. from Lafayette College and an M.F.A. from the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television. He is the host and co-executive producer of While Black, a Snap Original docuseries produced by NBCUniversal, Indigo Development and Entertainment Arts, and Main Event Media. Asante has been featured on CNN, NPR, The Breakfast Club, VH1, and MTV. His essays have been published in the New York Times and USA Today, and his inspirational story "The Blank Page" is featured in the number-one New York Times bestseller, Chicken Soup for the Soul: 20th Anniversary Edition.

Adenrele Ojo is an actress, dancer, and audiobook narrator, winner of over a dozen Earphones Awards and the prestigious Audie Award for best narration in 2018. She made her on-screen debut in My Little Girl, starring Jennifer Lopez, and has since starred in several other films. She has also performed extensively with the Philadelphia Dance Company. As the daughter of John E. Allen, Jr., founder and artistic director of Freedom Theatre, the oldest African American theater in Pennsylvania, is no stranger to the stage. In 2010 she performed in the Fountain Theatre's production of The Ballad of Emmett Till, which won the 2010 LA Stage Alliance Ovation Award and the Los Angeles Drama Critics Award for Best Ensemble. Other plays include August Wilson's Jitney and Freedom Theatre's own Black Nativity, where she played Mary.

Dion Graham is an award-winning narrator named a "Golden Voice" by AudioFile magazine. He has been a recipient of the prestigious Audie Award numerous times, as well as Earphones Awards, the Publishers Weekly Listen Up Awards, IBPA Ben Franklin Awards, and the ALA Odyssey Award. He was nominated in 2015 for a Voice Arts Award for Outstanding Narration. He is also a critically acclaimed actor who has performed on Broadway, off Broadway, internationally, in films, and in several hit television series. He is a graduate of Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts, with an MFA degree in acting.