{"id":2432,"date":"2012-06-17T15:05:33","date_gmt":"2012-06-17T20:05:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sistahsontheshelf.com\/blog\/?p=2432"},"modified":"2020-05-08T22:34:20","modified_gmt":"2020-05-09T02:34:20","slug":"i-aint-yo-bitch-by-jabulile-bongiwe-ngwenya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/?p=2432","title":{"rendered":"I Ain\u2019t Yo Bitch by Jabulile Bongiwe Ngwenya"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>Publisher\/Date:\u00a0<\/strong> Paper Bag Publishing, Aug. 2009
Genre(s):<\/strong> Coming of Age, Young Adult
Pages:<\/strong>\u00a0 163<\/p>\n

Rating:<\/strong> \"★\"\"★\"\"★\"\"★\"\"☆\" <\/p><\/strong><\/p>\n

If I AIN\u2019T YO BITCH<\/em><\/strong> was defined by a current song, it would sound like Drake\u2019s “Crew Love.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Mainly because Tebogo\u2019s world revolves around being the lone female in her crew, honing her music craft, partying, and appeasing her groupies. Nothing else matters.<\/p>\n

Set in Johannesburg, South Africa, Tebogo\u2019s almost bipolar tale is deep, rooted in the loss of her mother and surviving a family betrayal. Living with her father, Tebogo relied on her grandmother\u2019s gentle counsel, friendship and discipline. It is she, unlike her father, who accepted her granddaughter\u2019s sexuality with love and understanding.<\/p>\n

\n

“Will it get easier? Sometimes I think there is something wrong with me,\u201d said Tebogo, tears welling.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhere have you ever heard of such a ridiculous idea?\u2019 laughed her grandmother, opening her arms to embrace Tebogo. She held the child, gently rubbing her back with soft, gnarled hands. \u201cYou\u2019re different. You like different things. I don\u2019t understand how that\u2019s wrong? God created a variety of flowers in his garden. Not everyone will like roses, not everyone will smell the daffodils, but someone will fall in love with a daisy or lily.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Now after her grandmother\u2019s recent passing, Tebogo is a 19-year-old local hip-hop star trying to make it to the big leagues with her boys: Welile, Siphiwe, and cousin Andile. In the group, SWAT, her image is wrapped up in being \u201cTube,\u201d which means being one the guys.<\/p>\n

She thinks she\u2019s one of them, proud that she can do anything the boys can\u2026except she\u2019s a girl\u2026a fact she doesn\u2019t fully realize until it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n

Though the male posturing is a bit much, I Ain\u2019t Yo Bitch <\/em>is true to its portrayal of a girl\u2019s coming of age in the hip-hop era. The success she and her boys aspire to have is based on American rap culture, which causes you think about the types of messages, often negative, we express to the world in our music.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s also interesting is that being surrounded by men, Tebogo can\u2019t discern that what will gain them the success they crave is<\/em> her femininity, not in a Nicki Minaj way, but adding her experiences will help them stand out and combat the misogyny pervading hip hop. Because truthfully, the real Tebogo is the sweetness she demonstrates with her grandmother. That\u2019s what I wished there was more of.<\/p>\n

But then, it wouldn\u2019t be the same story now, would it?<\/p>\n

Reviewed June 2012<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Publisher\/Date:\u00a0 Paper Bag Publishing, Aug. 2009Genre(s): Coming of Age, Young AdultPages:\u00a0 163 If I AIN\u2019T YO BITCH was defined by a current song, it would sound like Drake\u2019s “Crew Love.” Mainly because Tebogo\u2019s world revolves around being the lone female in her crew, honing her music craft, partying, and appeasing her groupies. Nothing else matters. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[41,136,234,254,457,534],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2432"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2432"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7303,"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2432\/revisions\/7303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}