Written in solitary confinement, Kody Scott (aka Sanyika Shakur)'s memoir Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member describes sixteen years as a gangbanger in Los Angeles. It was a best-seller that was published in ten languages, selling more than 300,000 copies in the United States alone. Twelve-year-old Kody Scott was initiated into the L.A. gang the Crips. He quickly matured into one of the most formidable Crip combat soldiers, earning the name Monster for committing acts of brutality and violence that repulsed even his fellow gang members. When the inevitable jail term confined him to a maximum-security cell, a complete political and personal transformation followed: from Monster to Sanyika Shakur, black nationalist, member of the New Afrikan Independence Movement, and crusader against the causes of gangsterism.
