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October 4, 2022
Prince Shakur's Playlist for His Memoir "When They Tell You To Be Good"
In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book.
Previous contributors include Jesmyn Ward, Lauren Groff, Bret Easton Ellis, Celeste Ng, T.C. Boyle, Dana Spiotta, Amy Bloom, Aimee Bender, Roxane Gay, and many others.
Prince Shakur's memoir When They Tell You To Be Good is one of the most moving books of the year, a poignant story of trauma and identity.
Publishers Weekly wrote of the book:
"Electric. . . . moving. . . . captivating. . . . A searing account of self-discovery in the face of structural oppression."
In his own words, here is Prince Shakur's Book Notes music playlist for his memoir When They Tell You To Be Good:
“17” by Youth Lagoon
This song reminds a lot of the notion of mothering one’s self, which is something I explore deeply in the memoir. For me, 17 was a pivotal age. It was when I came out to my stepfather, when I started college, and began to see myself as an adult. Though I was excited for the world, I still felt a sense of dread that needed to be grappled with. My favorite lines from this song is, “When I was 17, my mother said to me/don’t stop imagining/because the day that you do/is the day that you die.”
“Lower Your Eyelids To The Sun” by M83
When I reread sections of this memoir, this is the song that I always go to to put me in the headspace of what I’ve worked to do - to create a literary world that explores the past, present, and future through the various systems, choices, traumas, and trumps that have led me here. In many ways, this song also feels like an attempt to soothe my inner child. A portal shooting through space.
“Sing About Me, I’m Dying” by Kendrick Lamar
Kendrick paints a visual landscape of Black Death. This song feels like a shout into a deep void, one that is filled with so many of the thoughts and feelings I have towards the male figures in my family. A song about death, facing death, and making art that contends with it are all things that I constantly attempt in my work.
“Nothing’s Gonna Hurt You Baby” by Cigarettes After Sex
Falling in love can be such a hard thing, just like it can beautiful. Listening to this band while I was navigating my feelings about love helped me open up my heart and release myself to romance while traveling in France in 2018. The slowness of this band allowed me to not ignore the paramount parts of my feelings around love. In a lot of ways, falling in love with like learning how to write again and again and again.
“Montana” by Youth Lagoon
Another song that reminds me of long drives, especially through my summers working in Yellowstone National Park and Montana. There is a particular joy to one of the first experiences that a traveler has going off on their own to a new part of the country or the world. This song captures some of that joy and attention that being in a new place, experiencing new things, and making close friends.
“Morbs” by Jagguar
For about two years, I made a monthly playlist of new music that I liked. This song is on the playlist from my three months in France in 2018, and reminds me so much of the love and emotional turmoil that I confronted during those three months. There’s also an element of hyper-emotionality to this song that I love to as a Cancer. I also laugh sometimes when I listen to this because my ex-boyfriend would always say this song was sad and I kind of still disagree.
“Live Good Today” by Prince Jazzbo
After learning that my father was named after this artist, I listened to his music more. this song feels like the closing of a chapter, a chance to say goodbye; which is why this is the song I imagine myself turning on the radio to find in the last moments of my memoir.
Prince Shakur is a queer, Jamaican-American freelance journalist, cultural essayist, and grassroots organizer with a BA in Creative Writing from Ohio University. His words have been featured in Teen Vogue, Catapult, Level, Electric Lit, and more. In addition, Shakur is the proud writer in residence at Sangam House, Twelve Arts, The Studios of Key West, and La Maison Baldwin.
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