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Love & Basketball
Love & Basketball Michael Dequina http://aalbc.com/reviews/images/love.jpg Film Review Reviewed by Michael Dequina Love & Basketball (2000) Starring: Sanaa Lathan, Omar Epps Director: G...
Top Five
Top Five Kam Williams Top-Five-Movie-Poster.jpg Film Review Top Five In Theaters: Dec 12, 2014 Wide R (for strong sexual content, nudity, crude humor, language throughout and some drug use) Run...
God’s Graffiti: Inspiring Stories for Teens
God’s Graffiti: Inspiring Stories for Teens Kam Williams Book Review “I was raised in poverty, surrounded by drug dealers, gangs and community violence. My mother was addicted to crack cocai...
Ramblers: Loyola Chicago 1963 - The Team that Changed the Color of College Basketball
Ramblers: Loyola Chicago 1963 - The Team that Changed the Color of College Basketball Kam Williams Book Review “Was there a time when civil rights protesters could be attacked by a club-wield...
Decoded
Decoded Kam Williams Book Review "My life after childhood has two main stories: the story of the hustler and the story of the rapper, and the two overlap as much as they diverge. I was on the str...
PHD (Po Ho on Dope) to Ph.D.: How Education Saved My Life
PHD (Po Ho on Dope) to Ph.D.: How Education Saved My Life Anita Doreen Diggs Book Review PHD (Po Ho on Dope) to Ph.D.: How Education Saved My Life by Elaine Richardson begins in a poor and working c...
Transforming Pain to Power: Unlock Your Unlimited Potential
Transforming Pain to Power: Unlock Your Unlimited Potential Kam Williams Book Review “I grew up in Dayton, Ohio in a home scarred by addiction and incarceration. For most of my childhood&hell...
Jacob’s Ghetto
Jacob’s Ghetto Robert Fleming Book Review Usually commercial young adult novels steer clear of thorny issues, such as drug addiction, gang violence, racial profiling, or poverty. This one does not. T...
Diary of a Lost Girl (2)
Diary of a Lost Girl (2) Chris Stevenson Book Review “There are more pyramids in the Sudan than there are in Egypt, that’s a statistical fact… and today there are still 2-3 milli...
Driven from Within
Driven from Within Kam Williams Book Review ’That day I met Phil Knight for the first time. Neither of us could imagine what the next 20 years together would produce’ Nike was the perfec...
Dark Matter: Reading the Bones
Dark Matter: Reading the Bones Chris Hayden Book Review If It Ain’t Speculative and It Ain’t Fiction Need Black Folks Read Speculative Fiction? It distresses me when I can grant only q...
Phenomenally Me
Phenomenally Me Chris Hayden Book Review In a dark room with a blue light In the basement, music just right Nothing going down but the Mellow sounds of Mr. DJ’s turntables Going round" Boyz...
Good Hair
Good Hair Kam Williams images/img1C.jpg Film Review Chris Rock’s Lighthearted Look at Sisters’ ‘Dos Arrives on DVD Good Hair Click to order from Amazon Rated PG-1...
Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain
Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain Kam Williams kevin-hart-let-me-explain.jpg Film Review Hottest Stand-Up Comic Wows Sold-Out Garden in Concert Tour Finale Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain In Theaters: Jul 3, 20...
Brotherly Love
Brotherly Love Kam Williams brotherly-love.jpg Film Review Brotherly Love In Theaters: Apr 24, 2015 Limited Rated: R for violence, profanity and ethnic slurs Genre: Drama Written & Directed By...
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration Connie Bradley Book Review I finally finished the 620-page The Warmth of Other Suns by Pulitzer Prize winning author, Isabel W...
A Game of Character: A Family Journey from Chicago's Southside to the Ivy League and Beyond
A Game of Character: A Family Journey from Chicago's Southside to the Ivy League and Beyond Kam Williams Book Review "A fundamental teaching my parents always emphasized [was] that life happens to...
Standing Tall
Standing Tall Kam Williams Book Review ’As much as I love basketball’ it has always been a vehicle for me to instill values and self-respect in the girls I coach’ I am the last ...
Flesh: The Disappearance of Portia Barrington
Flesh: The Disappearance of Portia Barrington Robert Fleming Book Review As the author of over a dozen novels including the bestselling Little Girl Lost series, Keith Lee Johnson has created his ...
Soul Food Junkies
Soul Food Junkies Kam Williams Soul-Food-Junkies-poster.jpg Film Review Soul Food Junkies - Premiering January 2013 on Independent Lens Soul Food Junkies 64 minutes In this PBS ...
Wounded
Wounded Carol Taylor Book Review As the headliner at a strip club, Samantha Miller is using her beautiful face and sexy body to get ahead, and hopefully make enough money to leave stripping behind ...
D.C. Unmasked & Undressed: A Memoir
D.C. Unmasked & Undressed: A Memoir Kam Williams Book Review "D.C. Unmasked & Undressed is a memoir. The story of my life includes events, characters and insights related to my miserable child...
Moonlight
Moonlight Kam Williams https://aalbc.com/reviews/images/moonlight.jpg Film Review Excellent (4 of 4 stars) Rated R for sexuality, drug use, pervasive profanity, ethnic slurs and graphic violence ...
Soul Recovery: 12 Keys to Healing Addiction
Soul Recovery: 12 Keys to Healing Addiction Kam Williams Book Review “This is a book about recovery—my recovery—from addiction to drugs, specifically cocaine. But… my addic...
Zane’s Z-Rated: Chocolate Flava 3
Zane’s Z-Rated: Chocolate Flava 3 Robert Fleming Book Review Some years ago, Zane shocked the square world in the black literary community with her series of raunchy, raw erotic tales delivered onl...
Everything In Its Place
Everything In Its Place Thumper Book Review Everything In It’s Place is the first novel that I read by Evelyn Palfrey. When I finished the novel, I remembered a conversation I had with the lat...
Cosbyology
Cosbyology Akilah Monifa Book Review Many people regard Bill Cosby as the penultimate father figure of the 80s, replacing Robert Young of "Father Knows Best." Cosby is probably best known...
Gabriel’s Story
Gabriel’s Story Thumper Book Review Right now I’m scanning my slightly used memory attempting to determine the last time a debut novel moved me as much as Gabriel’s Story, the debu...
If You Can See It
If You Can See It Kam Williams Book Review “People want to know how a youngster from poverty, who failed his way through public school, got caught up in the 80’s crack epidemic, got i...
The New Paradigm for Financial Markets
The New Paradigm for Financial Markets Kam Williams Book Review ’We are in the midst of a financial crisis the likes of which has not been seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s&rsquo...
The Great Debators
The Great Debators Kam Williams kimber13.jpg Film Review The Great Debaters Rated PG-13 for profanity, ethnic slurs, mature themes, brief sexuality, violence and distur...
I Think I Love My Wife
I Think I Love My Wife Kam Williams i_thin2.jpg Film Review Man’s Marriage Vows Tested by Temptress in Remake of French Morality Play I Think I Love My Wife Theatrical Release Mar 16, 2...
Perfect Stranger
Perfect Stranger Kam Williams perfec8.jpg Film Review Reporter Goes Undercover to Crack Murder Case in Convoluted Crime Yawner Perfect Stranger Release Date:13 April 2007 (USA) Rated R for pr...
Why We Laugh
Why We Laugh Kam Williams images/whywelaugh.jpg Film Review Reverential Documentary Pays Homage to Black Pioneers of Comedy Why We Laugh Click to order via Amazon Unrated Running time:...
Say It Loud! Great Speeches on Civil Rights and African-American Identity
Say It Loud! Great Speeches on Civil Rights and African-American Identity Kam Williams Book Review "This is the second anthology of great speeches by African-Americans meant for the eye and ea...
Stomp the Yard
Stomp the Yard Kam Williams stomp_6.jpg Film Review Black Greek Goes Gaga Over Curvy Coed in Coincidence-Driven Melodrama Stomp the Yard Rated PG-13 for sexuality, profanity, ethnic slurs and...
The Pursuit of Happyness
The Pursuit of Happyness Kam Williams pursui29.jpg Film Review Down on His Luck Vet Goes from Broke and Homeless to Successful Stockbroker in Inspirational Bio-Pic The Pursuit of Happynes...
When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir
When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir Kam Williams Book Review ’We have joined the rest of the country in protesting in order to get Trayvon Martin’s killer charged....
American Violet
American Violet Kam Williams americ2.jpg Film Review Dramatization Revisits Infamous Case of Racial Profiling and Malicious Prosecution in Texas American Violet Rat...
Hot Johnny (And the Women Who Loved Him)
Hot Johnny (And the Women Who Loved Him) Thumper Book Review “That’s mighty pretty, precious“ The question, "Damn Thumper is using a term of endearment in the heading of a r...
Becoming by Michelle Obama
Becoming by Michelle Obama Amanda Robinson Book Review Being a Black woman in America right now comes with a great deal of scrutiny. We are praised for our diversity, yet simultaneously cast aside fo...
Duende
Duende Robert Fleming Book Review Poet Quincy Troupe’s literary magic has elevated him to the forefront of modern American writers. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, he, the son of a catcher in the ...
Post Black: How a New Generation Is Redefining African-American Identity
Post Black: How a New Generation Is Redefining African-American Identity Kam Williams Book Review "In this book, I will not detail every pathological condition that ever existed in African-American...
Mixed: My Life in Black and White
Mixed: My Life in Black and White Kam Williams Book Review ’Soon, two black security guards were buzzed through the doors toward me. My mouth stayed on full blast. ’Oh, sure, y’...
The Denzel Principle: Why Black Women Can’t Find Good Black Men
The Denzel Principle: Why Black Women Can’t Find Good Black Men Kam Williams Book Review "What do black women want? The truth? They are looking for Denzel Washington. They have been so thoroughly b...
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol Kam Williams mimovieposter.jpg Film Review Cruise and Company Go Undercover for Dangerous Assignment in Russia Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol Rated ...
Straight Outta Compton
Straight Outta Compton Kam Williams straight-outta-compton.jpg Film Review Straight Outta Compton (2015) In Theaters: Aug 14, 2015 WideRuntime: 2 hr. 27 min. Rating: violence, drug use, pervasiv...
Bushwick Homecomings
Bushwick Homecomings Kam Williams bushwi45.jpg Film Review College Grad Returns to Roots to Reminisce and to Find ’Hood Undergoing Urban Renewal Bushwick Homecomings Unrated ...
Sucka 4 Luv
Sucka 4 Luv Kam Williams sucka-4-luv.jpg Film Review Sucka 4 Luv (2014) Click to Buy or Rent This Film Unrated Running time: 84 minutes Distributor: Pierre Films Romance Film Review...
Threesome
Threesome Tiffany M. Davis Book Review I must say, this book was not what I expected. The title brings to mind images of a steamy m’nage a trois, either male/female/male or the more commonly po...
Black Folk Could Fly
Black Folk Could Fly Robert Fleming Book Review Some of our literary greats fly under the radar. The unexpected death of the late great author Randall Kenan in 2020 at age 57 brought him well-deserve...
Ordinary Girls: A Memoir
Ordinary Girls: A Memoir Brenda M. Greene Book Review Jaquira Diaz, in her memoir Ordinary Girls, crafts a story that illustrates the intersection of race, ethnicity, sexuality, and poverty on the li...
Rush
Rush Kam Williams rush.jpg Film Review High-Octane Formula 1 Drama Recounts Death-Defying Racing Rivalry Rush In Theaters: Sep 27, 2013 Wide Rated R for profanity, nudity, sexuality, smoking, d...
The Hip Hop Project
The Hip Hop Project Kam Williams the_hi36.jpg Film Review Once Homeless Orphan Relies on Rap to Reach Troubled NYC Teens The Hip Hop Project Rated PG-13 for profanity and ...
Dead Presidents
Dead Presidents Ted Prigge images/dead.h42.jpg Film Review DEAD PRESIDENTS (1995) (out of a possible ) Directors: Allen and Albert Hughes Writer: Michael Henry Brown (based on a...
Before I Forget
Before I Forget Thumper Book Review *giggling* I’m going to love writing this review. A little while ago, I read and finished a wonderful debut novel, Before I Forget by Leonard Pitt...
Harlem Godfather
Harlem Godfather Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Bumpy’s Widow Tells Her Story Harlem Godfather: The Rap on my Husband, Ellsworth ’Bumpy’ Johnson has been a long time coming on the h...
The Life of Olaudah Equiano
The Life of Olaudah Equiano Thumper Book Review In a continuing effort to broaden my horizon and go outside of my comfort zone, I decided to read The Life of Olaudah Equiano by Olaudah Equiano, eve...
High Price: A Neuroscientist’s Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You Kn
High Price: A Neuroscientist’s Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You Kn Kam Williams Book Review “As a youth, Carl Hart didn’t realize the value of school; he studied ...
Trespass: Portraits of Unhoused Life, Love, and Understanding
Trespass: Portraits of Unhoused Life, Love, and Understanding Clarence V. Reynolds Book Review Have you ever come upon or passed a homeless/unhoused person and experienced an emotion that tugged at y...
The Great Deluge
The Great Deluge Kam Williams Book Review ’One person not seen on the streets, at the Superdome, or on a rescue boat of any kind was Mayor Nagin. Since the storm had approached the Crescent C...
HIV/AIDS: The Facts and The Fiction
HIV/AIDS: The Facts and The Fiction Kam Williams Book Review “Unfortunately, a series of interlocking misconceptions have distorted scientific and public perceptions of HIV and the AIDS epide...
Blessed Experiences: Genuinely Southern
Blessed Experiences: Genuinely Southern Kam Williams Book Review “From his humble beginnings in Sumter, South Carolina to his prominence on the Washington, D.C. political scene as the third...
The God Who Begat a Jackal
The God Who Begat a Jackal Thumper Book Review The great author of American letters, Albert Murray, wrote in his recently published book From The Briarpatch, ’The goal of the serious storytelle...
A Great Day in Harlem
A Great Day in Harlem Kam Williams a_grea34.jpg Film Review DVD Documentary on the Anatomy of Historic Jazz Photo A Great Day in Harlem Click to order via Amazon Plot Synopsis: Art Kane, now...
Yoga
Yoga Kam Williams Book Review “This book is for you, the everyday person, the person who works, has a family (or not) and wants to stay stress-free, happy, fulfilled and healthy. This book ...
Rush Hour 3
Rush Hour 3 Kam Williams rush_h2.jpg Film Review Chan and Tucker Teamed-Up Again to Chase Chinese Crooks around Paris Rush Hour 3 Click to order via Amazon Rated PG-13 for profa...
21 Jump Street
21 Jump Street Kam Williams 21jumpstreet.jpg Film Review Polar Opposite Partners Infiltrate H.S. in Unlikely-Buddies Comedy 21 Jump Street [2012] In Theaters: Mar 16, 2012 Wide R, 1 hr. 49 min. A...
Crash
Crash Kam Williams crash.70.jpg Film Review Crash Director & Writer: Paul Haggis Studio: Lions Gate Films Cast: Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Jennifer Esposito, William Fic...
Fast & Furious 6
Fast & Furious 6 Kam Williams fast-and-furious-still.jpg Film Review Farfetched Sequel Features Comedy and Cartoon Physics Fast & Furious 6 In Theaters: May 24, 2013 Wide PG-13 for sexuali...
Hoodlum
Hoodlum Michael Dequina images/hoodlu40.jpg Film Review HOODLUM (1997) A film review by Timothy Voon http://us.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Tim+Voon Copyright 1998 Timothy Voon (out of a p...
I Want You to Shut the F#ck Up: How the Audacity of Dopes Is Ruining America
I Want You to Shut the F#ck Up: How the Audacity of Dopes Is Ruining America Kam Williams Book Review “The American Dream is in dire need of a wake-up call… If only Uncle Sam could see...
God Don’t Like Ugly
God Don’t Like Ugly Thumper Book Review "I was hoping when I started God don't Like Ugly that it wasn't the typical girl-coming-of-age story. Alongside you-go-girl books, girl-coming-of...
Step Out on Nothing
Step Out on Nothing Kam Williams Book Review ’We all have those defining moments in our lives. Moments of great joy. Moments of unspeakable sadness and fear. We usually thi...
Dona Julia
Dona Julia Rondall Brasher Book Review Do’a Julia and Other Selected Poems" by Alberto O. Cappas is written with tremendous amount of pride. It is a book that comes from the heart of a man...
The Lion’s Brood
The Lion’s Brood Thumper Book Review I am weak when it comes to reading books on subjects off the normally beaten path of bestselling African-American novels. My ears perked up when I received a re...
Awaken
Awaken Melissa Brown Levine Book Review Awaken is a powerful story about heritage and restoration. Author Timothy George takes an innovative approach in this African-focused tale by combining m...
I’m African and Proud
I’m African and Proud Kam Williams Book Review ’I’ve taught in New Jersey schools for 32 years, 21 as a kindergarten teacher. I’ve seen so many children of African descent who ha...
Once Upon a Lie
Once Upon a Lie Carol Taylor Book Review Once Upon a Lie is timely and timeless story of an unlikely friendship, doomed love, and tragedy, that asks the questions: Can we escape our circumstances and...
Safe from the Neighbors by Steve Yarbrough
Safe from the Neighbors by Steve Yarbrough Thumper Book Review Reviewed by Thumper I came across Steve Yarbrough’s latest novel, Safe from the Neighbors, when I started my annual search on t...
Samson
Samson Idrissa Uqdah Book Review A Man's Strength Is Determined By His Faith Christian author Jacquelin Thomas has crafted a new novel with a contemporary twist on the love story of the Bibl...
I Called Him Morgan
I Called Him Morgan Kam Williams https://aalbc.com/authors/images/i-called-him-morgan.jpg Film Review Reverential Retrospective Revisits Abbreviated Life of Legendary Jazz Great Excellent (4 star...
Buddy Guy: When I Left Home — My Story
Buddy Guy: When I Left Home — My Story Robert Fleming Book Review When I Left Home, the memoir of legendary blue guitarist Buddy Guy, with support from noted writer David Ritz, traces the musician ...
Penitentiary Tales: A Love Story
Penitentiary Tales: A Love Story Robert Fleming Book Review When I was growing up, I heard about boys and girls, men and women from my Hood going to The Big House. One of the girls I dated had an inm...
Fearless Jones
Fearless Jones Thumper Book Review After 5 years, Walter Mosley has returned to the mystery scene with a new pair of crime solvers for his novel Fearless Jones. It’s as if Mosley had never said...
Southland
Southland Thumper Book Review In the beginning of my throes into books that I missed the first time around and cleaning out my library, one of my discoveries was the second novel by Nina ...
32 Ways to Be a Champion in Business
32 Ways to Be a Champion in Business Kam Williams Book Review "While I spent 14 years in the NBA playing basketball, I always had bigger dreams of building a business empire. ...
Where Did Our Love Go: Love and Relationships in the African-American Community
Where Did Our Love Go: Love and Relationships in the African-American Community Kam Williams Book Review “SBF. Single Black Female. Walk through any major city in the U.S. on a Friday or Sa...
Black Boys, I See You
Black Boys, I See You Kirkus Book Review STARRED REVIEW Written from a place of love and deeply attuned to the emotional needs of Black boys. A kid lit giant extends a mighty message of love. ...
The Mighty Macs
The Mighty Macs Kam Williams images/mm2_photo.jpg Film Review Coach Inspires Team to Overachieve in Touching Tale of Female Empowerment The Mighty Macs Unrated Running time: 98 Minu...
A Man Who Is Not a Man
A Man Who Is Not a Man Kadija Sesay Book Review Male circumcision as an entry into manhood takes place in many traditions including African ones. Mgqolozana tells this story of a young Xhosa man, Fum...
Once Is Never Enough
Once Is Never Enough Idrissa Uqdah Book Review If Loving You Is Wrong, I don't Want To Be Right The old rythmn and blues tune, If Loving You Is Wrong, I don't Want To Be Right aptly desc...
Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story
Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story Kam Williams gifted2.jpg Film Review Bio-Pic about Brilliant Black Brain Surgeon Set to Air on TNT Cuba Gooding Jr. (L) and Dr. Ben Carson ...
One Blood
One Blood Alvin Romer Book Review No matter the genre, a good story should grab and not turn you loose until you’ve consumed all the elements of great narrative and expository writing. ...
Get On Up: The James Brown Story
Get On Up: The James Brown Story Kam Williams get-on-up-movie-poster-2.jpg Film Review Chadwick Channels James Brown in Nostalgic Jukebox Musical Get on Up: The James Brown Story In Theaters: Au...
City Son: Andrew W. Cooper’s Impact on Modern-Day Brooklyn
City Son: Andrew W. Cooper’s Impact on Modern-Day Brooklyn Robert Fleming Book Review So many African-American newspapers and publications have vanished from view, but their impact remains on the...
Whippins
Whippins Thumper Book Review It’s times like these that I wish I were an editor. Whippins, Switches & Peach Cobbler, the first by Brian Egeston, is a novel that doesn’t quite make up ...
An Uncaged Eagle -- True Freedom
An Uncaged Eagle -- True Freedom Kam Williams Book Review "This autobiography tells the story of my life while highlighting some of the tremendous people who helped me overcome adversities I fa...
Tangled Dreams
Tangled Dreams Kirkus Book Review A fantastic example of ancestry-driven fiction. In Friedman’s novel, a cultural anthropology professor at a crossroads receives a grant that draws her back into h...
Reach: 40 Black Men Speak on Living
Reach: 40 Black Men Speak on Living Kam Williams Book Review “I’m aware that, for black men today, racism is still an obstacle that causes tremendous anger and suffering… Whether...