Trouble & Triumph

Book excerpt: Grammy Award-winning hip-hop artist, producer, and actor T.I. proved himself a powerful storyteller as well with the publication of his debut novel Power & Beauty. Now he follows up with his second riveting street-lit epic, Trouble & Triumph. T.I.’s explosive sequel picks up the story of Paul “Power” Clay and Tanya “Beauty” Long, as Power takes over his mentor-turned-arch-enemy’s street empire, looking to turn it legit, while Beauty rises ever-higher in a glamorous world of fashion and celebrity. An authentic voice of the street, in the vein of Sistah Souljah and other successful authors of contemporary African-American commercial fiction, T.I. is a rap music legend who has lived at every strata of society, and whose hard life experience adds truth and fire to Trouble & Triumph.