Sanyika Shakur - Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member

Praise for Monster:

The story of one mans painful spiritual journey from violence toward transcendence... A book that sheds harsh new light on the violence that erupted... after the Rodney G. King verdict... The volume attests not only to Shakurs journalistic eye for observation, but also to his novelistic skills as a storyteller, an ear for street language that is as perfectly pitched as Richard Prices, a feeling for character and status potentially as rich as Tom Wolfes. This is a startling and galvanic book.

Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times Book Review

A first-person chronicle that exquisitely documents urban warfare in the streets of Los Angeles since 1975, providing ample glimpses of its reach into the claustrophobic prison system... Scott-Shakur pens this vicious treatise with relentless sincerity riddled occasionally by humorous anecdotes.... Scott-Shakur proves an impressively capable storyteller.

Wanda Coleman, Los Angeles Times Book Review

Is Shakur compelling? Yes... he voices the rage and desperation among bangers.

Roger Chesley, Detroit News and Free Press

Monster is an incredible, often brutal look at one mans rise from child to ghetto star killer to revolutionary black activist.... Shakur has an excellent dry wit and a fast-paced style.... The importance of Monster is that it explains the gang lifestyle; it shows us how much more there is to learn before we can begin to solve the problem. Jeff Charles, Houston Chronicle

This remarkably straight-ahead account of life as a member of an L.A. street gang lets those of us on the other side feel and know a bit of what street life is like.

Scott Walker, Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

The real force of the book comes from the angry electrifyingly violent, streetwise credibility that Scott gives his story. While it is no doubt depressing, it demonstrates the stern measures that must be taken to control our cities, and the monsters who terrorize them.... Anyone who wants to know why our urban areas are dangerous combat zones should read these stunning, sinister memoirs of Kody Monster Scott.

Louis B. Cei, Richmond Times-Dispatch

[An] electrifying life story: an angry, stunningly violent odyssey through gang warfare and prison to redemption.

Kirkus Reviews

[Monster] is a compelling and frightening, bizarre, yet insightful insiders look at the society that spawned gangs and the gangs violent retaliation within it. If that was [Sanyika Shakurs] goal with Monster, to reveal the vagaries of gang-banging and its deadly consequences, he clearly succeeds.

Tony Cox, Quarterly Black Review of Books

With an eye for detail and a straightforward writing style, Shakur depicts a myriad of brutal scenes with cool clarity.

Steve ONeil, Albuquerque Journal

[Shakur] makes us see what we do not want to see through writing that is fresh, forceful and poetic.

June Arney, Virginian Pilot and Ledger Star

The book succeeds as the story of a man struggling to make sense of a hostile environment, and Shakur must be credited for progressing from gang-banger to messenger.

Paul Tullis, Might Magazine

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN L.A. GANG MEMBER

SANYIKA SHAKUR, AKA MONSTER KODY SCOTT

Copyright 1993 by Kody Scott

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, or the facilitation thereof, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Any members of educational institutions wishing to photocopy part or all of the work for classroom use, or publishers who would like to obtain permission to include the work in an anthology, should send their inquiries to Grove/Atlantic, Inc., 841 Broadway, New York, NY 10003.

Printed in the United States of America
Published simultaneously in Canada

This is a work of nonfiction; the names of some persons
involved, however, have been changed.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication

Scott, Kody, 1964
Monster: the autobiography of an L.A. gang member/Kody Scott.
ISBN 10: 0-8021-4144-7
ISBN 13: 978-0-8021-4144-6

1. Scott, Kody, 1964. 2. Crips (Gang). 3. GangsCalifornia
Los AngelesBiography. I. Title.

HV6439.U7L774 1993 364.106092dc20 9314948

Designed by Laura Hough

Grove Press
an imprint of Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
841 Broadway
New York, NY 10003

Distributed by Publishers Group West

www.groveatlantic.com

09 10 11 12 13 15 14 13 12 11 10

To my dearest mother, Birdie M. Scott, who had the courage to push me out in a world of which we control so little.

To my children, Keonda, Justin, and Sanyika, who have been an endless light at the end of my tunnels, and my indomitable wife, Tamu Naima Shakur, for patiently waiting for my change.

WE CARRY ON

Acknowledgments are in order for those who have stood up against the tumultuous blaring of the pied pipers propaganda and who in spite of unpopularity have gone a separate way; those who have taught me the right way to resist.

Bullet-prooflove is extended to Muhammad Abdullah and the Islamic Liberation Army, the Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika, the Spear and Shield Collective, and all the forces involved in the New Afrikan independence movement to free the land.

Bullet-proof unity is extended to Ice Cube and Da Lench Mob, Public Enemy, X-Clan, Blackwatch, KRS-One, BDP, Paris, Operation from the Bottom, Digable Planets, Tupac Shakur, Ice-T, Kris Kross, and Bone from Athens Park Bloods.

Bullet-proof appreciation is extended to Bill Broyles and Karen Jensen-Germaine from ABC Productions for their invaluable help and inspiration with my project; Lon Bing for writing about us when it was unpopular to do so; Thomas Lee Wright for his incredible eye for detail and all-around friendship; and my agent, Lydia Wills, for her never-ending determination to go forward. Teflon bullets are sent to the sellouts.

Helicopters hover heavily above, often no higher than the tree-tops that dot the battlefield. Staccato vibrations of automatic gunfire crack throughout the night, drowned out only by explosions and sirens. People hustle quickly past, in a dangerous attempt to get anywhere the fighting happens to be heaviest. There is troop movement throughout the city, and in some areas the fighting is intense. The soldiers are engaged in a civil war. A war without terms. A war fought by any means necessary, with anything at their disposal. This conflict has lasted nine years longer than Vietnam. Though the setting is not jungle per se, its atmosphere is as dangerous and mysterious as any jungle in the world.

Neither side receives funding from any government, nor does either side claim any allegiance to any particular religion or socioeconomic system of government. There are no representatives from either faction in the United Nations, nor does either side recognize the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Recruitment, or conscription, begins at eleven years of age.

Squads of five usually make raids into neighboring territories for preemptive strikes or retaliatory hits on enemies and targets useful to the opposition. Although both armies are predominantly made up of males, there are many females involved in the fighting. These infrastructures were built initially on robberies and extortions. Today, however, they are maintained by proceeds from major narcotics deals and distribution throughout America. Each army has a distinct territorythe boundaries of some very large areas are broken by enemy cluster camps. Each army has a flag, to which total allegiance is pledged. Each army has its own language, customs, and philosophy, and each has its own GNP.