THE PERFECT DAY TO BOSS UP

A new motivational book from the acclaimed rapper.

It’s no surprise that the creator of the hit 2006 song “Hustlin’ ” can sense an opportunity. The idea of rolling out a post-pandemic rule book for those looking to make good on their quarantine dreams is a good one, even if Ross doesn’t quite pull it off. There’s no doubt that the multiplatinum rapper knows how to put words together. By fashioning them into bite-sized chapters devoted to truisms like “Stack Your Paper” or “Bosses Stay Students,” he makes it difficult to poke holes in many of his straightforward arguments. He even delivers some intriguing nuggets—e.g., when he writes about his visit to Kanye West’s mysterious artistic headquarters, Atlanta’s Pinewood Studios, the sprawling property owned by Dan Cathy, the controversial CEO of Chick-fil-A, who has apparently befriended West. “This kept happening during my visit,” said Ross, explaining how West would act and speak erratically. “Kanye would have my attention and he’d be onto something, but then he would lose me.” Interestingly enough, the same can be said for Ross, who makes some moves of his own that are hard to follow. He begins the first chapter with a lovely meditation about buying a John Deere tractor and how mowing his own lawn during the pandemic allowed him to explore his property in a way that he hadn’t yet because he was too busy. Later, he reveals it was essentially product placement and a way of using the book to make another deal. “The way I promoted my John Deere tractor earlier in this book, you might assume they were sponsoring all the landscaping costs at The Promise Land,” he writes. “They’re not yet. But I look forward to doing business with them in the future.”

An up-and-down self-help manual that reads less like motivation for readers and more like an extension of the author’s brand.