Rise of a Killah: My Life in the Wu-Tang

Rapper Ghostface Killah (The World According to Pretty Toney), a founding member of the Wu-Tang Clan and prolific solo artist whose legal name is Dennis Coles, portrays in his heartfelt memoir the “sharper than cleats” youth he drew on for his rhymes. Studded with full-color snapshots, the narrative has a free-associative flow, making readers feel as if they’re chopping it up with Coles as he reminisces about the painful background to such songs as 1996’s “All That I Got Is You.” He describes, for instance, how, as a preteen, he took care of his two younger brothers with muscular dystrophy after his parents separated in early-’80s Staten Island. Stories of the thefts, robberies, and drug deals that came a few years later are vaguer by comparison. Also featured are bracing depictions of Coles’s mental health issues and struggles to manage his diabetes so he can continue to tour, which lend a poignant note to the book’s triumphant conclusion (“We the Rolling Stones of this hip-hop shit,” Cole says of the Wu-Tang Clan, which formed in 1992). Just as revealing are his descriptions of the writing process behind his cinematic verses, which have often been inspired by hearing bandmate RZA’s production tracks (“I see things so vividly”). Devotees of hip-hop’s golden age will appreciate this jagged portrait. Illus. (May)