Abdurraqib begins his book by addressing the reader directly as “you” and invoking the idea of “our enemies.” How does this rhetorical strategy shape the reader’s sense of belonging or complicity in the narrative, and what does it suggest about the political stakes of his storytelling?

By addressing the reader as “you” and invoking “our enemies,” Abdurraqib immediately collapses distance between narrator and audience, creating a sense of shared space and solidarity. The reader is not a detached observer but implicated in the community he constructs, bound together by both intimacy and opposition. This rhetorical move highlights the political stakes of storytelling: defining who belongs and who threatens that belonging. It insists that the narrative is not just personal memoir but also collective history, framed in terms of conflict, survival, and resistance. In doing so, Abdurraqib insists reading is an act of participation, not neutrality.

The Fab Five become a central reference point for Abdurraqib’s reflections on identity, reputation, and representation. How does their reception - admired locally but feared nationally - illuminate the tension between Black self-expression and mainstream cultural narratives?