ON THE COME UP

Narrator Bahni Turpin becomes The Neighborhood through the eyes of Bri, a 16-year-old hip-hop artist who raps to express how she feels. Turpin portrays the essence of this quick-thinking wordsmith who gets her first break by performing at the infamous Ring, where the best-of- the-best rap battles unfold. The spunk in Turpin’s voice brings this roller-coaster story to life. She captures the character’s emotional trauma at the threat of gang warfare and of being homeless, as well as her fear that her mother will relapse and return to drugs. Thomas’s story and Turpin’s narration are raw, funny, and filled with the vulnerable moments that adolescents experience as they develop into who they want to be in this world. T.E.C. 2020 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2019]