MONSTER

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

Monster is a novel written by a former L.A. gang member known as Monster Kody Scott that reveals his life as a gang member participant for about sixteen years. He shares his life stories of living in South Central L.A. from “the gun, street, fence, and wall” (xiv).

Growing up in South Central Los Angeles, at age eleven, Scott was initiated to the L.A. gang, the Crips. He received his name Monster Kody Scott by his brutality and violence beating of a man. Throughout his life, “gangbanging” was his career. His motto was that “Bangin’ ain’t no part-time thang, it’s full time, it’s a career. It’s bein’ down when ain’t nobody else down with you. It’s geettin’caught and not tellin’. Killin’ and not caring, and dyin’ without fear. It’s love for your set and hate for the enemy” (12). His “homeboys” became his family and was more important than anyone else. Over the years, he landed in Juvenile Hall, Camps, and prison, but once released, he soon returned to the life of a gang member. He has witnessed many deaths, bloodsheds, and has been brutally beaten and survived by six rounds of gunshots. Until he was locked up at Youth Training School, a maximum-security youth prison, he was introduced to Muslim services and begins to redirect his life away from “gangbanging.” He changed his name from Kody Scott to Sanyika Shakur. He educated himself and became an active member of the New Afrikan Independence movement as well as being part of the Consolidated Crip Organization (CCO) to unite all Crips into one. After an early released from prison, he shifted his life from a gang member to a civilized citizen. At the age of twenty-six, he settle with his wife, Tamu, and lives with his three children.

Interview of Sanyika Shakur on BET

References:

Top Image: http://www.mainlybooks.co.nz/-img-0802141447.jpg

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cudU68Cyptw

Sanyika Shakur, Monster Kody Scott. (1993). Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member. New York: Grove Press.