MY URBAN HYPER-RELIGIOUS

Two sounds shaped his childhood: the hymns of the Sabbath and the beat of the Bronx.

Edward Young grew up in a world where the Sabbath was an atmosphere, not just a day. From Friday sundown to Saturday sundown, the TV went quiet, secular music was suspect, and faith set the rules. Outside the door, the Bronx was alive with boom boxes, park jams, cassette tapes and a new culture called hip-hop. It sounded like permission.

My Urban Hyper-Religious Upbringing During the Rise of Hip-Hop is a memoir about growing up between those two worlds. It is honest, funny and tender, and it never settles for easy answers. Young takes you from Hunts Point to Parkchester, from the church pews to the first beat that changed everything. His Walkman years, his early DJ dreams, 1985, the family changes that shook his home and his years at Oakwood College are all here.

Along the way, you'll meet the mothers, aunts, elders and friends who shaped him. You'll also meet a young Malik Taylor, long before the world knew him as Phife Dawg of A Tribe Called Quest.

This is not a story about throwing faith away, and it doesn't glorify rebellion. It is an honest look at what the church gave him (discipline, community, reverence, music) and what it cost him (pressure, fear, unanswered questions). It is also about what hip-hop gave him: language, confidence, creativity and belonging.