Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member

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More About This Book

Overview

After pumping eight blasts from a sawed-off shotgun at a group of rival gang members, twelve-year-old Kody Scott was initiated into the L.A. gang the Crips. He quickly matured into one of the most formidable Crip combat soldiers, earning the name "Monster” for committing acts of brutality and violence that repulsed even his fellow gang members. When the inevitable jail term confined him to a maximum-security cell, a complete political and personal transformation followed: from Monster to Sanyika Shakur, black nationalist, member of the New Afrikan Independence Movement, and crusader against the causes of gangsterism. In a document that has been compared toThe Autobiography of Malcolm Xand Eldridge Cleaver’sSoul on Ice, Shakur makes palpable the despair and decay of America’s inner cities and gives eloquent voice to one aspect of the black ghetto experience today.

Editorial Reviews

Library Journal
``Monster'' Kody, today known as Sanyika Sakur, spent 16 years as a ``gangbanger'' in South Central Los Angeles. His account begins at age 11, when he was inducted into the ranks of the Crips, and ends (hundreds of bodies later) with Scott serving a seven-year prison term for beating a crack dealer. Throughout, he successfully conveys a sense of the siege mentality that prevails every minute of every day, due to the daily barrage of gang-on-gang violence. Names of derivative Crip gangs (e.g., Rollin' Sixties, Hoovers, Grape Street Watts Crips) and gang members (e.g., Li'l Hunchy, Tray Ball, Huckabuck) flit across the pages in a confusing manner, but Scott pushes the narrative forward with scarcely a glance backward, and, ultimately, names and incidents are not important. Unfortunately, Scott was in prison during the violence that followed last year's Rodney King incident and thus sheds little light on the peace treaty forged between the Bloods and Crips. Although unrepentant, Scott today is dedicated to ending gang violence. Recommended for most collections.-- Mark Annichiarico, ``Library Journal''
Kirkus Reviews
L‚on Bing's study of L.A. gangs, Do or Die (1991) featured on its cover an awesomely muscular African-American male, naked to the waist, wearing sunglasses and wielding an automatic weapon. That man was "Monster" Kody Scott, who here tells his electrifying life story: an angry, stunningly violent odyssey through gang warfare and prison to redemption. The acknowledgements page reveals Scott's continued wrath: "Bullet-proof love is extended to Muhammad Abdullah and the Islamic Liberation Army...Teflon bullets are sent to the sell- outs." Scott is still fighting, only now for the New Afrikan Independence Movement, dedicated to creating a separate black nation. But, then, the author has always been at war: Drafted at age 11 into a "set" of the "ghastly gang army" of the L.A. Crips—an army of "children gone wild in a concrete jungle"—he shot his first man, a rival Blood, that same year, and for the next 15 years led a life spent defending his set by word, fist, and bullet: "I liked to see the buckshot eat away their clothing, almost like piranha fish." Much of Scott's memoir is a horrifying chronicle of gang combat—shootings, betrayals, retaliations (Scott was shot six times in one ambush)—almost tedious in its unrelenting machismo and bloodshed, made palatable mostly by the author's deep knowledge of gang lore. Eventually, jail stints punctuate the street fighting; finally, in 1983, Scott, behind bars, meets a radical Muslim who teaches him that the real battle is with the white oppressors—a lesson that takes hold in the late 80's in Folsom Prison, where, amid outrageous depravity, Scott renounces "gangsterism" to embrace his new struggle. Today,Scott, 29, is back in prison, serving seven years for "a healthy beating" he gave to an unrepentant crack dealer. A savage document of the street that gives, and asks, no quarter. Anyone who wants to know why L.A. burned will find the chilling answer here. (First printing of 65,000; first serial rights to Esquire)

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781417683079
  • Publisher: Demco Media
  • Publication date: 6/28/2004
  • Format: Library Binding
  • Pages: 383
  • Sales rank: 826,047
  • Product dimensions: 5.30 (w) x 7.70 (h) x 1.20 (d)

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4.5
( 105 )

Rating Distribution

5 Star

(70)

4 Star

(17)

3 Star

(13)

2 Star

(3)

1 Star

(2)

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See All Sort by: Showing 1 – 20 of 66 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted July 3, 2002

    Trick Or Treat?

    Trick or Treat? I'd say trick, you remember those kids that came to the door trying to be bad in their costumes. This is what this book is. As a gang unit Police Sargeant I can tell you this book is mythological. The type of fairy tells used in gang recruiting. If this man's body count is true, somewhere around a combat Navy Seal Unit, we would have him arrested for P.C. 187. (Their is no statue of limitations on these crimes.) This is a good book for one reason only, it shows the young what not to be and how lost the young can be with out the right influences. The character's ghost writer fails to make any points and it has no take away or conclusions. This book glorifies gang violence for the sake of glorifying violence. A good book for the young to see what confusion rests in the minds of those with no mentors.

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted April 17, 2009

    Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member by Sanyika Shakur aka Monster Kody Scott

    Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member is about the events of the life of young man who is a Crip from Eight Tray Gangster.

    At the young age of eleven, Kody Scott joined the Los Angeles gang the Crips, to be more specific, Eight Tray Gangster. Slowly but surely, Kody transforms from an eleven year old boy, to a brutally powerful gang member who gets involved with drugs and feels nervous without a gun. He is thrown in jail and shot at much of his lifetime, only to come back with even more hatred to anyone, or anything, that threatened his set. He had the reputation to brutally murder others that sometimes repulsed even his fellow gang members. This earned him the name Monster. Later, he meets a Muslim priest named Muhammad who inspires him to change his ways. He learns about the oppressed and with the help of the CCO, Consolidated Crip Organization, furthered his studies of knowledge and heritage.

    Sanyika Shakur's book gives insight to the reality of the gang world and how it hypnotizes the minds of our youth.

    This is a must read for teens and young adults. Monster makes you really understand the lifestyles of the gang world and revolutionaries.

    This book is an eye opener to the dramatic events happing in the streets which we have thus tried to shy away from as a society. By reading this book, we can further understand the reality of gang life and what fuels the young minds joining the gang world, trying to become an "O.G." I truly hope that this book will teach those wishing to join the gang life the dangers and consequences of their actions. Maybe one day we will see rival gang members finally getting along.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 30, 2011

    MUST READ! AGAIN AND AGAIN!

    I highly reccomend this book for true crime buffs or otherwise. I first read thi book in high school. I have repeatedly picked it up to reread it.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 21, 2011

    Awesome book!

    One of my all time favorite books!

    0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted October 1, 2011

    Great book

    Couldn't put it down!

    0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted January 20, 2011

    5 stars

    I found this book to be quite realistic. I also reach for it when writing. If you are someone who needs to understand gangs and gang members I would recommend this book - as it is written "from the inside."

    0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 30, 2010

    excellent

    This book is one of the best I have ever read. Graphic and descriptive it will keep you entertained and astonished. POWERFUL!

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  • Posted December 27, 2010

    This book changed my life.

    An outstanding tale of overcoming the odds you're dealt and the 'monster' within.

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  • Posted April 17, 2010

    Great book, offers insight to youngsters that are in gangs or want to join gangs and shows them the "real" life of a hardcore gangbanger. This book should turn kids away from the gangbanging lifestyle.

    I read the book as a senior in high school. As I read the book, it kept me reading unlike alot of books that one reads in high school. I was never bored, or wanted to stop reading. There were points where I couldn't read fast enough. I thought the book showed exactly the nitty-gritty about being in that lifestyle. I have had a past of crime and violence and drugs and he really hit the nail on the head with this book. With intense writing, it seemed sometimes like I was right there with him dodging bullets. It is very unfortunate how easy and how gangs recruit nowadays, and also how the young kids fall right into it. Like I said earlier I've had alot of experience with the jail system and court system. I can relate to Shakur on one thing, the not having a father and your "boys" are doing it and you want to be a part of something and have people always have your back,(so he thinks). I thought this book was a perfect example of a typical street gangbanger that moved up the ranks and jus became another statistic. Thanks for your time.
    jayfreeze

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 24, 2006

    condemption brings redemption

    I enjoyed this book 'Monster' by Sanyika Shakur aka Monster Kody Scott. He tells his story to help others from becoming a monster like him. This book isn't a manual to become a gang banger but to steer them away from it. He was so descriptive about his surroundings, that it felt like I was there with him. This book should inspire any teen not become a gang member and teaches them that there is a cause and a effect for each descision that we make. I highly recommend it.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 30, 2006

    Really Interesting

    The book Monster was very interesting and thrilling. Most likely I will read it again and maybe find something I missed the first time. I totally recommend this book to other people if one likes reading about gangs and what they do. Just to let people know there is a whole lot of killing and foul language and, last but not least enjoy the book.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 15, 2005

    real grimmy, but real heart felt

    I was 17 when I first read the book, & like a lot of black inner city youths, I too was involved in the gang life. Being born & raised in Chicago's south side is not a very easy way for a young (black) male to get ahead in life. Before you know it I was fighting, selling drugs,& everything else that comes along with gang life. Before you know it I was in juvenile hall, to foster homes, to eventually prison, all before the age of 18. So I could really relate to everything that Monster was going through. Till this day it is one of the most hair-raising, stories ever told by a gang member. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to live a day in the shoes of a gang member.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 15, 2004

    RIGHTEOUS

    this autobiography is great and is jam packed with gang violence which everyone loves!!!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 24, 2004

    pure power

    I read Monster endless times, him and Crazy De remind me of my old days,even though yall lives were much more gruesome, but I love Sanyika's book and that is the most inspirational book I've ever read. I would like to meet him one day, he's the real deal,and raw to the core.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 19, 2004

    What Is The Point?

    A true example of the confusion that reigns in the mind of those with no positive mentors. The Ghost writer sounds confused as she tries to sort out some rhyme or reason for this murderous mayhem. Scott claims the body count of a Navy Seal unit. If his claims are true, he will be going back to prison for the balence of his life. The self hate of black genocide is disturbing and then he claims black nationalism? The only hope for our black families in America is a revival of faith and Fathers taking responsibilty for their sons. Codie's Father, an L.A. Ram, did not as most gangsters fathers don't. Cody turned to his neighboorhood gangs name and it's identity. This was because his father did not give him his identity in his family last name along with love, disipline and guidance to go with it. L.A. is not unique, they were shooting in Oakland, San Fransico, New York in the 70's before Scott was born. For young people who think this is something to look up to, they need a tour of a prison.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted September 6, 2004

    A treal read

    I first read this novel before gangs got popular in my community.I had no ideal this way of life would become so evolving.This is a gritty novel that tell it like it is.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted July 19, 2004

    A gang reviewer,

    This book is true to the core about the crips(I should know,my friend's brother is a crip),this man has truely changed his life and given people something to think about.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted May 10, 2004

    AWESOME

    I bought this book on Saturday and finished today... Two days. I could not put it down. I, personally am not a gang member, but I've always thought about what it would be like. After reading this, there is no way in hell I'd want to go near a gang. His words were strong and I could feel like I was part of it. Sanyika Shakur had a life that was hard, but he changed and that is an incredible change. GREAT READ!!!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted June 26, 2003

    Street Life

    I thought the book was real, it showed whats goin on in the inner city, making folks who are unaware of the trials and tribulations of young blacks in american ghettos, i hope it opened some eyes to whats really goin on for tha brothas- I myself know for a fact that these events truly happen, I've seen things wit my own eyes- WAKE UP AMERICA!!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 19, 2003

    The best book I've ever read

    It was very truthful and honestly Shocking for me to read.

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