Just keeping it 100 - I was never the biggest Boosie Badazz fan. At all. Of course there was his classic 2006 ‘Wipe Me Down’ anthem and somehow, someway you just figured he lasted all these years because of staying viral. Whether it was the cucumber challenge or just airing out his thoughts on certain celebrities’ kids - Boosie’s never been one to bite his tongue which makes his new Cross The Tracks: A Memoir an even bigger must-read than ever.

To be honest? This review should have officially dropped or been published on Tuesday, September 20 in celebration of the book’s actual release. Granted, there was a social media post made to celebrate but what delayed me in getting this to the masses is becoming so sucked into the must-read into the hardly 235-plus page memoir.

It’s captivating. It provides so much context into the person Boosie Badazz really is. It gives you context behind his relationships with his first love through the other relationships he’s had. More than anything, you finally have the raw, uncut look at who Torence Ivy Hatch really is.

The chapters on his come-up as a kid and understanding the relationship Boosie’s mom and dad had to how he dealt with having to do time behind bars, you’re lured in.

I’ll admit - at this point, reading feels so old-fashioned if it’s not in bite-size manner. We’ve grown accustomed to video content being seconds rather than minutes and text being run-on sentences over paragraphs.

Boosie also acknowledges this and gives you the best of both worlds. Chapters are not necessarily short but they’re brief enough to give you enough content and almost masterfully makes you want to sneak in one more chapter rather than feeling gassed after one full-fledged one.

There’s tales of survival. There’s tales of Baton Rouge lifestyle. There’s an up-close look into the mind of Boosie. During some of the most publicized cases he’s gone through in life, we never knew what was going on in his mind until now.

This is the absolute most raw, real and enjoyable memoir I have read in recent memory. You almost feel like a documentary or full-fledged video Q&A would have sealed the deal but just a few pages into the book you realize each word holds so much weight.

There’s something beautiful and welcoming to ‘hearing’ Boosie’s voice through these words. Moments where he describes his first and potential only true love Nita as ‘just that damn fine, her caramel-complexioned skin tone had me at attention every time I pictured her face.’

You just can’t get that in a tweet, video interview or anything in-between. Boosie even describing his love for his mom and her admiration for iconic singer Bootsy Collins completely blows your mind away with how his rap alias was born.

This is such an amazing and fun read, it just sticks with you in your mind. Which leads me to believe much like a home cooked meal dealing with the preparation and the feeling of accomplishment once you’ve consumed your hand-crafted delight - the same is true with Cross The Tracks: A Memoir.

As you turn each page, your mind gets filled with vivid images from Boosie’s words and descriptions. There’s a clear division from all the video content we consume on a daily - if not hourly - basis and the text which finds a home in your mind.

Whether you have been riding with Boosie Badazz since day one or you’ve felt a certain type of way about him - maybe both - his new book gives you all the context, right or wrong, to understand his state of mind and why he makes decisions the way he does.

Must-read.

Well done, Boosie.

Cross The Tracks: A Memoir is now available to pick up and own.