Urban Fiction Annotation - Who Ya Wit'

Title: Who Ya Wit’
Author: Brenda Hampton
Genre: Street Lit/Urban Fiction
Publication Information: September 30, 2014/Urban Renaissance Publishing
Pages: 288
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
Time Period: Present

Synopsis

As a middle-aged, attractive, independent black woman, Desa Rae is content with her quiet and predictable life. She is on good terms with her ex-husband Reggie, a proud mother to Latrel who is going to college, works hard at a steady job, and has her best friend Monica to keep her life interesting.

Interesting, that is, until she meets Roc. In back to back chance encounters, she meets a smooth-talking, street hustler who can’t keep his eyes off her. Oh, and he’s almost half her age. Desa Rae spends time trying to distract and discourage Roc, but he keeps showing up – at her home, out at the club, all around town – and finally wins her over. Desa Rae and Roc have a chemistry that they can’t deny, and once Desa Rae lets down her guard, Roc wins over.

The trouble is, Desa Rae isn’t ready to love or trust a man who calls himself “a mover and shaker”, especially once she realizes that involves selling drugs, violence, association with his Uncle Ronnie (a high-profile gang leader in St. Louis) and other women. Many other women – some of whom are out to cause trouble.

Desa Rae and Roc chase each other in circles, oscillating between fighting, moments of peace and mind-blowing sex – which always ends with one of the two being disappointed. Their on-again, off-again relationship has to change when Desa Rae finds out that at the age of 40, she is pregnant with Roc’s child. Roc is pleased, but his Uncle Ronnie isn’t – as he believes that Desa Rae is trying to get Roc out of the gang/drug trade. Roc’s also battling Vanessa – his long-time girlfriend and the mother of his other child, who refuses to be replaced by Desa Rae. Between Ronnie and Vanessa, Desa Rae is in danger of losing Roc, or something even more – until Roc takes a stand that forever alters things between his crew, himself, and Desa Rae.

As Roc continues to test her patience and commitment to him, Desa Rae has to find a way to love him that doesn’t involve getting hurt by him and his lying, philandering ways. She tries to find balance as he moves in and out of her life, unsettling her and not allowing her love for him to die. And at the end of it, that’s what Desa Rae needs know – can she love Roc without losing herself?

Elements of Street Lit/Urban Fiction

Language

In keeping with urban fiction, the language of Who Ya Wit’ was peppered with vernacular of the urban culture. Desa Rae’s character hardly swore which put her in opposition to Roc and Ronnie who were quite prolific! These characters heavily used the “N” word in their speech, used some slang words that may have been unfamiliar to a new reader, and utilized the use of some pretty strong curse words and sexual language.

Sex

Urban fiction is known for its steaminess – and this book did not disappoint! Characters were having sex, thinking about sex, talking about sex, reminiscing about sex – constantly. The cycles of Roc and Desa Rae’s relationship seemed to start and end with a sexual encounter, which continue to keep that tension as a critical part of the development of their relationship and the story as a whole.

Pacing

This book, like others in this genre, moved quickly. The language and POV (usually singular) keeps the reader engaged, and the author chose to move time at a pretty fast pace. Over the course of this novel, the best way to keep track of the time was to track a) holidays (it spanned 3 Thanksgivings) and b) the age of her children. Events occurred quickly but readers don’t feel like they are missing important details in the process.

Presence of Street Life and Hip Hop culture

This book is somewhat unique as it does explore “street life” – drugs, violence, gangs, jail and prison, etc. – but it also promotes Desa Rae as a character that remains highly removed from the day-to-day street life. This juxtaposition further highlights the differences between Desa Rae and Roc, but the inclusion of these elements demonstrate Roc’s life as a mover and shaker.

One moment of street life is depicted when a character named “Sippi” is shot and killed. Desa Rae runs to comfort Roc who nonchalantly notes that “he had it coming” and “nobody is surprised – he had some enemies.” For many readers this type of attitude would be appalling, but urban fiction explores this element of life as a pragmatic fact and almost expected.

Likewise, there are a number of elements that reflect current hip-hop culture. The author places a high emphasis on describing clothes and accessories for the characters – lots of jewelry, name brand clothes, etc. The author also takes a great deal of care to describe possessions like nice cars, expensive stereo equipment, and homes which “invite the reader to take pleasure in lush descriptions of expensive, high-status material goods” (Honig, 2011).

Book Read-Alikes

Every Thug Needs a Lady – Wahida Clark

Similarly to Who Ya Wit’, Every Thug Needs a Lady explores relationships between men who are heavily involved in street culture and the women who they love who are trying to get them out. These books both feature African-American characters, highlight love triangles and messy love affairs, and present relationships where one partner is trying to get the other to leave a street life behind.

Torn – Tina Ervin

Mo loves a man who just can’t seem to love her back – at least not the way she wants. She knows he’s unpredictable and wrapped up in a game, but she wants the chance to see if that love can flourish – but Mo knows that he can only love her the way he knows how. Will this work for her? Like Who Ya Wit, True explores the difficult and unstable relationships between men working in the gang-life and the women who love them.

True to the Game – Teri Woods

In this book, author Woods explores relationships between men and women who are all caught up in street violence and drug trade – and need to hang on to one another to make it. While the characters are madly in love, one has to take the fall for another’s mistakes – leaving them to figure out if their relationship, and their street game, will make it.

Author Read-Alikes

Carl Weber - http://www.carlweber.net/

Shannon Holmes - http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Shannon-Holmes/21456262

Erick Gray - http://www.amazon.com/Erick-S.-Gray/e/B001JS8QGM

Reader Commentary

Well, this was certainly a new venture for me. The only exposure I’ve ever really had to Urban Fiction has been through the Zane series, and I didn’t think it was appropriate to review that (if you don’t know Zane, well…just trust me). So I was intrigued to try this book! I saw that Carl Weber was a popular author in this genre, so when I saw that he was promoting Brenda Hampton, I thought this would be a good choice.

Surprisingly, I liked this book. It was fun to read, fast to read, and kept me on my toes. I did tire of the circular drama that surrounded the main characters, but the addition of Desa Rae’s ongoing love for her ex-husband Reggie was fun, and I liked some of the female characters that adorned Roc (it seemed as if that’s all they did). Desa Rae was funny - she was smart and articulate and kept her patience far more than I would have!

All in all, I don’t think this is a genre I would actively seek out, but it was enjoyable. The pace made it as such – had it been slower moving I think it would have been more difficult to handle some of the ongoing drama and repetitive conversations.