So Fly

by Giselle Zado Wasfie

Sophie's To-Do Find an apartment, find a new job (preferably not at a glossy, girly magazine), check out that open mic night in Brooklyn, and (last but definitely not least) figure out what to do about that cute rapper named Furious. . . After graduating from the University of Michigan, Sophie knows that she wants to move to New York and become a music journalist. After finally landing a job at BeatMaker magazine, finding the perfect little apartment, and meeting two potential boyfriends, Sophie begins to think that she has it made. Of course, in the hectic entertainment industry nothing is ever quite as it seems. After a series of sometimes funny and sometimes heartbreaking missteps, Sophie must learn to stand up for herself and concentrate on her first true hip-hop. Funny, fresh, and real, So Fly takes readers inside the sometimes exciting, sometimes gritty, always entertaining world of the music industry. Debut novelist Giselle Zado Wasfie has given readers an engaging new take on that first year out of school, when you struggle between paying the rent or going out on the town.

Genres: Fiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2005

About the author

Giselle Zado Wasfie was raised in Flint, Michigan--not exactly the entertainment
capital of the Midwest, but she entertained a big-city move after graduating from the University
of Michigan, Ann Arbor with creative-writing aspirations (despite being rejected from the school’s fiction program!).

Without a single publishing contact in her black book to help realize those magazine editor dreams, Giselle (perhaps naïvely) moved to Manhattan to pursue her goals when the slightest window
cracked open: She was accepted to New York University’s well-respected Summer Publishing Institute. Networking led to Giselle’s first internship, at US Weekly Magazine, and then to her big break
at Glamour, where she was an editorial assistant to the Books Editor.

Giselle began working on her first novel in secret, while moonlighting as a music correspondent for Sonicnet.Com. She soon left the women’s magazine world to try her hand as Features Editor of the
“best hip-hop website,” according to Rolling Stone and pioneer in the online world, Sohh.Com. This was a mind-blowing experience—rubbing shoulders with artists like Jay-Z, Nelly, Slick Rick, Ja Rule, Mos Def, Gang Starr and many, many more. The thrill of meeting such names, coupled with her immersion
in a new music world, gave her inspiration and insight into her burgeoning storyline as she went in search of how to get her novel published.

Turning out chapters in her tiny, $1000/month room on 7th Street and
Avenue A in Alphabet City, Giselle secured an agent for the book and moved
to Santa Monica, California as a publishing industry freelancer. At that time she also attended the University of California, Los Angeles’ Professional Program in Screenwriting. The dirty energy of New York’s gritty landscape transformed into a sleepy, breezy and beachy existence on the West Coast.

Flash forward three years to 2005 when St. Martin’s Press published her debut novel, So Fly, while Giselle--on the move again--pursued her master’s degree in International Journalism at CITY University in London, England. In the fall of 2005, Giselle was hired at underground music bible URB, and was promoted to Senior Editor/Online Editor at the national monthly magazine. She was assigned to write cover stories
on Lauryn Hill and OutKast and interview a wide range of ground-breaking artists, from Björk to Beirut and The Coup to José González.

Her freelance stories have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, VIBE, Vice, Black Book, Teen People, The Source, HX, CosmoGirl, MTV.Com. Giselle recently partnered with hip-hop legend Chuck D of Public Enemy to pitch and produce a TV series based on So Fly and she is also working on a new novel.

Reviews

[Demetria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wasfie is a much better writer than this book would lead one to believe. I could see glimpses of her talent in the way she begins to describe the main character's relationships with romantic interests. However, the book pretty much crumbles underneath the weight of hip hop cliches. Hip hop is a major part of this book, but Wasfie is clearly going for a wider audience than just the hip hop community because she interrupts the narrative flow on several occasions to explain pretty common hip hop phrases and cultural references. These interuptions get annoying and on top of that, Wasfie does not explore the main character's romantic encounters enough. There's a lot there and the story line is actually pretty interesting, but Wasfie needs to push it a little further.

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Giselle Wasfie paints a fantastic picture of a young woman struggling to succeed in the colliding worlds of music and business. Clearly the author knows the industry, as it feels like more like pages from an autobiography. One of the book's strongest component is the effective interlacing of musical and lyrical references, spanning from hip-hip and rap to classic rock. As someone with a diverse musical taste, it was fantastic to read.

[Lucy]

A young woman, college graduate moves to New York and becomes a music journalist with an entertainment in hip-hop. She experiences relationships with two rappers, then she realizes the pain and struggle being in love with someone in the world of music. After learning from the sometimes funny, exciting, entertaining and always heartbreaking she learns to stand up for herself and concentrates on her love for hip hop career. If you're a hip hop lover you will enjoy this book!!!

[Cherie Lampley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I sometimes go back to reading this book when there is nothing else around. I love the story.