"If he had $10, he'd put $7 aside and try to do what he can with the $3 til he could make some more money."
Slim Thug wrote a book. No kidding. NO KIDDING.
Now, if initially that sounds as inviting as "Slim Thug built a suspension bridge" or "Slim Thug will be performing your gallbladder surgery," I don't imagine anyone will fault your hesitance.
But know this: It is good* (fun good, not War And Peace good). And it is entertaining. More importantly though, it is insightful.
How To Survive In a Recession is an e-book. Including the opening sections, it is 47 pages long. Were it in a traditional paragraph format, that might've proved troublesome (or, at the least, potentially unnatural). Instead, it is broken up into sections the same as a CD is broken into songs, a template Slim Thug has little problem navigating.
A synopsis of each chunk:
1. Financial Advice: A countdown of the 25 basic financial rules that Slim Thug lives by. There are genuine bits of insight into money culture too ("Never break $100 for anything less than a $20"; "Before spending, understand the tax system," things like that), as well as confirmation of traditional money saving techniques ("Eliminate unnecessary bills," so on).
The best parts of the book are the parts where ST is allowed to just talk (his author voice is honest and funny and engaging), and that's predominantly what happens here. He does well to address widespread failure of financial living without sounding condescending.
2. Thug Knows: An anecdotal account of maintaining a relationship with a woman other than your wife who has your child.
3. The Rap Game: A review of his timeline of successes in the music industry, as well as a general template for replicating it. (The one thing he doesn't mention: You'll have to possess at least of the portion of the talent that he does. Sorry, shitty rappers.)
Neatest part: While talking about traveling to different cities in Texas to spread his music, he writes "Everywhere we went, we grabbed a phone book and looked up the local area record stores. We would go in and request that our music be sold on consignment. 'Hey man, when you sell these, just call us for more and we will get you some more.'"
4. Basic 5: Five General Rules for behaving in a professional manner. Best part: When he talks about how he ended up on a Hllary Duff remix.
5. I'm Cheap: Where he talks about ways to save money, and how that's different than being selfish. Most interesting part; He explains how, rather than getting reimbursed by record labels for traveling expenses, he'd negotiate to get the money upfront so he could adjust his spending accordingly and save a portion of it. It's little bits like this that really reveal how heady and naturally cunning he is.
