How TLC’s Left Eye Helped Save The Hate U Give Author Angie Thomas’ Life

The best-selling author of The  Hate  U Give on growing up in Mississippi and On the Come Up, her new YA novel about a teen rapper.
What made you fall in love with hip-hop?
Sometimes I say my biggest literary influences are rappers, which catches people off guard. When I didn’t see myself in books, I saw myself in hip-hop. When I was young, the two big series were Twilight and The Hunger Games. I had nothing against them, but I couldn’t connect.

The best-selling author of The  Hate  U Give on growing up in Mississippi and On the Come Up, her new YA novel about a teen rapper. What made you fall in love with hip-hop? Sometimes I say my biggest literary influences are rappers, which catches people off guard. When I didn’t see myself in books, I saw myself in hip-hop. When I was young, the two big series were Twilight and The Hunger Games. I had nothing against them, but I couldn’t connect.