I’ma I’ma (Fruit) Hustla

This book made me feel like I was hearing Pusha-T reimagine Warren Buffett’s letters. 

If you need a late-summer beach read, or just love a good (re: insane) biography, don’t leave The Fish That Ate The Whale in your to-read list or audible queue for as long as I did. 

I tore through this book. I love a self-made person. I love an opportunistic hustler. I love a story that makes you say, “they did what? And then this? And then that too?!”

A quote to set the mental stage for how a Russian Jew moved to America, started an empire from another business’ waste, turned over governments, and founded new states:

There are times when certain cards sit unclaimed in the common pile, when certain properties become available that will never be available again. A good businessman feels these moments like a fall in the barometric pressure. A great businessman is dumb enough to act on them even when he cannot afford to.

Rich Cohen’s telling of the life of Samuel Zemurray is otherworldly. You will never look at a banana the same way again. And if you’re coming down off Better Call Saul and need another “what exactly are the ethics here” character study, look no further. Brilliant. 

Ps. 

OK, I know Cassidy via Jay-Z is “I’m A Hustla.” But, King Push putting “Numbers On the Boards” is up there with the best of this theme.