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Jesus Boy
Jesus Boy Thumper Book Review I have a question for you: have you ever heard of anything; a food dish, a recipe, a car or a book, that by the description alone, you knew, KNEW it was going ...
Baby Boy
Baby Boy Marvin X moviebabyboy.jpg Film Review Baby Boy Written, Directed, Produced by John Singleton Click to Order via Amazon Rating: R Studio: Columbia Tri-Star Theatrical Release Date: June ...
Jamesy Boy
Jamesy Boy Kam Williams jamesy-boy.jpg Film Review Jamesy Boy In Theaters: Jan 17, 2014 Limited On DVD: Feb 24, 2014 Click to order via Amazon Unrated, 1 hr. 49 min. Drama, Kids & Family,...
Dear Star Baby
Dear Star Baby Judy Allen Dodson Book Review Dear Star Baby by Malcolm Newsome is a heartwarming, sensitive, and beautifully written picture book that addresses the delicate subject of grief and loss...
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) Kam Williams startrek-2013-blueray.jpg Film Review Read the comments now. Read our review after you see the film (there some spoilers). Kirk Matches Wits with Rogue Co...
From Ike to Mao and Beyond: My Journey from Mainstream America to Revolutionary Communist
From Ike to Mao and Beyond: My Journey from Mainstream America to Revolutionary Communist Herb Boyd Book Review Like many red-blooded American boys, Bob Avakian’s early years were consumed wi...
Love Don’t Come Easy
Love Don’t Come Easy Tiffany M. Davis Book Review Boy looks for girl. Boy finds girl. Boy loses girl. Boy looks for another girl. J.T. Smith puts a fresh spin on an old formula in his highly enterta...
Malcolm X: The Lost Tapes
Malcolm X: The Lost Tapes Kam Williams https://aalbc.com/reviews/images/Malcolm_X_The_Lost_Tapes.jpg Film Review Intriguing Documentary Features Found Footage of Late Civil Rights Icon Excellent ()...
Parable of the Sower
Parable of the Sower Tony Lindsay Book Review Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler’s sci-fi novel gives the reader an intimate look into the mind of a young philosopher. Lauren Oya Olamina is a...
Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson Kam Williams Book Review "As the ’Bad’ tour moved to St. Louis, a 13 year-old boy named Peter joined the entourage. This kid had been with us in New York and was now...
Will
Will Robert Fleming Book Review There are millions of success stories in America. This is one of them. Film superstar Will Smith’s memoir, Will, is almost a fantasy comprised of Yankee success,...
Zion and Zara Stories: The Big Bike Race
Zion and Zara Stories: The Big Bike Race Amanda Robinson Book Review Good children’s books are hard to come by. Many of them lack morals for children to learn from or educational content to gro...
The Porn Star Guide to Great Sex
The Porn Star Guide to Great Sex Kam Williams Book Review "When I first started in porn I knew how to give it to a woman, but what I didn’t know was how the woman wanted me to give it to her....
Shackling Water
Shackling Water Thumper Book Review I awoke and discovered myself in the middle of an improvisational jazz solo of great intensity, dexterity, color and depth. I knew not the melody, the song, the st...
Michelle Obama: Meet the First Lady
Michelle Obama: Meet the First Lady Kam Williams Book Review ’A tall 44 year-old African-American woman took her place at the podium and began her speech at the Democratic ...
Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama
Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama Kam Williams Book Review “Barack Obama’s speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention instantly catapulted him into the national spotlight and...
Star Trek (2009 #11)
Star Trek (2009 #11) Kam Williams star_t5.jpg Film Review Flagging Sci-Fi Franchise Resuscitated by Eye-Popping Prequel Star Trek ...
Kickin’ It Old School
Kickin’ It Old School Kam Williams kickin6.jpg Film Review Patient Emerges from 20-Year Coma to Breakdance Again in Bad Taste Comedy Kickin’ It Old School Rated PG-13 for profanity, ethn...
He Talk Like a White Boy
He Talk Like a White Boy Kam Williams Book Review "I have grown tired of hearing people badmouth America. I love my country and claim it as my own because I believe America is good. And...
Better Than Alright: Finding Peace
Better Than Alright: Finding Peace Kam Williams Book Review “I can’t believe someone found my journey interesting enough to want to put it in a book…Being on display as an artist...
Drone Child
Drone Child Denolyn Carroll Book Review Where does one begin to speak of atrocities so heinous that the telling itself is hauntingly vicious? David H. Rothman jumps right in. Drone Child opens with a...
New Harmony: A Mother’s Story of Love and Loss
New Harmony: A Mother’s Story of Love and Loss Robert Fleming Book Review A complete reading of this debut novel by Leon E. Pettiway, a professor emeritus at Indiana University and an ordained Buddhi...
The Fall of Rome
The Fall of Rome Thumper Book Review The Fall of Rome is the first adult novel by Coretta Scott King winner Martha Southgate. Southgate through the narrative of three people told a story that strip...
Chike and the River
Chike and the River Kam Williams Book Review Book Review by Kam Williams "Chike was now 11 years-old, and he had never left his village. Then one day his mother told him that he would be going to ...
A House Is Not a Home
A House Is Not a Home Thumper Book Review The song says it’s hard to say goodbye’humph, not when the guests have overstayed their welcome it Ain't. At that time, saying goodbye is th...
Dakota Grand: A Novel
Dakota Grand: A Novel Brian Egeston Book Review There are codes within creeds and creeds within cliques. Perhaps this is the most subliminal, if not unintentional, message in Kenji Jasper’s lat...
White Boy/Black Girl
White Boy/Black Girl Eryka Parker Book Review The recently published White Boy/Black Girl: What Our Differences Can Teach Us, One Honest Conversation at a Time by Adaeze and Chad Brinkman is a though...
Killing Willis: From Different Strokes to the Mean Streets To the Life I Always Wanted
Killing Willis: From Different Strokes to the Mean Streets To the Life I Always Wanted Kam Williams Book Review "AlI I ever wanted as a kid was to be a famous TV star… My dream came true whe...
Finding Heaven in the Dark
Finding Heaven in the Dark Carol Taylor Book Review Part memoir, part self-help, part-spiritual realization, Finding Heaven In The Dark is William Ingram’s moving account of his journey to spir...
The Best Man
The Best Man Michael Dequina thebestman.jpg Film Review Read the 2025 novel based adapted from the film. THE BEST MAN Buy or Rent from Amazon In Theaters: Oct 22, 1999 Wide On DVD: Feb...
Silent Conspiracy
Silent Conspiracy Thumper Book Review Damn, that was good! I have to stand up and applaud! I’ve just finished what I consider one of the best mysteries that I’ve read all year. With the ...
The Five-Year Engagement
The Five-Year Engagement Kam Williams 5yearengagement.jpg Film Review Wedding Delays Strain Relationship in Raunchy Romantic Comedy The Five-Year Engagement [2012] In Theaters: Apr 27, 201...
Soulacoaster: The Diary of Me
Soulacoaster: The Diary of Me Jesse Washington Book Review Let’s get this out of the way up front: R. Kelly’s autobiography does not discuss what really happened with the sex tape th...
True You: A Journey to Finding and Loving Yourself
True You: A Journey to Finding and Loving Yourself Kam Williams Book Review "Writing my first book was an adventure [which] comes from my heart with love… This is not an autobiography. It&rs...
Breastlessness
Breastlessness Jayne Cubbage Book Review Breastlessness by Nicole Bryant is both memoir and breast cancer resource guide. In the first half of the book, Bryant shares her own experience with the di...
The Skull Cage Key
The Skull Cage Key Thumper Book Review The Skull Cage Key, the science fiction debut thriller by Michel Marriott; takes place in 2041 Harlem, centering on the murders of rich, white people....
Thieves’ Paradise
Thieves’ Paradise Thumper Book Review Every summer I look forward to a new Eric Jerome Dickey novel. This year Dickey delivers one that I absolutely love! Thieves’ Paradise is a tight, smart, q...
The Emperor of Ocean Park
The Emperor of Ocean Park Thumper Book Review Conservative Pundit’s Mystery Novel Only Partly Successful Stephen L. Carter makes his debut as a fiction writer with The Emperor of Ocean Par...
Everything I Know About Zombies
Everything I Know About Zombies Carol Taylor Book Review “When the apocalypse came, nine-year-old Letitia Johnson tried. She grabbed her little sister and her classmates and locked them ...
Holly
Holly Thumper Book Review French is brilliant. French’s follow up to the equally magnificent Billy. One of the few books that I have to disagree with it’s publishers’ summary of t...
Friends 2 Lovers
Friends 2 Lovers Emanuel Carpenter Book Review Who doesn’t remember their first love? And what about the girl next door? Or how about the boy you cared for in school only to end up in the fri...
Kevin and His Dad
Kevin and His Dad Kam Williams Book Review ’What could be better for a young boy than to spend a whole day with his father! With mom away on a Saturday, that’s exa...
To the Mountaintop: My Journey through the Civil Rights Movement
To the Mountaintop: My Journey through the Civil Rights Movement Kam Williams Book Review “On January 20, 2009, 1.8 million people crowded onto the cold, hard grounds of the nation’s cap...
Baggage Claim
Baggage Claim Kam Williams baggage-claim.jpg Film Review Baggage Claim In Theaters: Sep 27, 2013 Limited Rated PG-13 for profanity and sexuality Running time: 96 minutes Comedy Directed By: Dav...
What Becomes of the Brokenhearted
What Becomes of the Brokenhearted Rondall Brasher Book Review Before I begin this review I would like to "kick", not "thank" Thumper for handing me a stack of books, and putting a...
Child
Child Kam Williams Book Review “In this wise and funny memoir, Ylonda Gault Caviness describes her journey to the realization that all the parenting advice she was obsessively devouring, as...
Billionaire Baby
Billionaire Baby Kam Williams Book Review A lot of parents say they want their child to become a star, but not many of them are realistically prepared for what will be required of them- their tim...
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. ...
2 Guns
2 Guns Kam Williams 2-guns.jpg Film Review Washington and Wahlberg Co-Star in Implausible Crime Caper 2 Guns In Theaters: Aug 2, 2013 Wide Rated R for profanity, brief nudity and pervasive ...
Amistad
Amistad Michael Dequina images/amista36.jpg Film Review Amistad Rated R for some scenes of strong brutal violence and some related nudity. Starring: Morgan Freeman …...
College Road Trip
College Road Trip Kam Williams raven-27.jpg Film Review Raven-Symone’ and Martin Lawrence Co-Star in Coming-of-Age Comedy College Road Trip Rated G Running time: 83 minutes Studio:...
Q: The Autobio of Quincy Jones
Q: The Autobio of Quincy Jones Paige Turner Book Review The new book, Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones reads almost like a fable or a fairy tale. The young Quincy Jones, with his twinkly eyes, wa...
Going Down South
Going Down South Thumper Book Review When I started reading books many, many years ago, I came to the conclusion that there is no drama like family drama. A few years ago when African-Ameri...
Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha Kam Williams confes4.jpg Film Review Melvin Van Peebles Stars in Semi-Autobiographical Vanity Pic Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFoot...
Homie Spumoni
Homie Spumoni Kam Williams homie_59.jpg Film Review Italian Kid Learns He’s Really Black in Cross-Cultural Comedy Homie Spumoni Click to order via Amazon Rated R ...
Crown Heights
Crown Heights Kam Williams ../reviews/images/crown-heights.jpg Film Review Courtroom Docudrama Recounts Real-Life Miscarriage of Justice Excellent (★★★★) Rated R for lan...
The Icarus Girl
The Icarus Girl Paige Turner Book Review Jessamy Harrison is an eight year-old, Afro-British girl, who writes haiku, reads Shakespeare, and just skipped a grade in school. Jess’ parents...
When Frogs Grow Feet: The Un-Aborted Are Alive and Well
When Frogs Grow Feet: The Un-Aborted Are Alive and Well Robert Fleming Book Review While When Frogs Grow Feet’s blurb links its juicy contents to Henry Miller’s classic wanton tale, Tro...
Is NO Not Clear Enough For You?
Is NO Not Clear Enough For You? Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Ageless Fiction What I expected to be a Young Adult novel turns out to be a good read for women of all ages. Is NO Not Clear...
Allah Is Not Obliged
Allah Is Not Obliged Thumper Book Review ’The full, final and completely complete title of my bullshit story is: Allah is not obliged to be fair about all the things he does here on...
Cinder
Cinder Thumper Book Review Cinder, the latest novel by Albert French, is a sequel to French’s 1993 debut novel, Billy. Although it had been a long time since I read Billy, the novel...
When It All Falls Down
When It All Falls Down Ahmad Wright Book Review Remember when Colin Kaepernick knelt during the national anthem in 2016? When HBO’s Insecure, created and produced by Issa Rae in 2016, was must-...
Fever in the Blood
Fever in the Blood Thumper Book Review I must say that I write this review from a somewhat prejudicial position. I am a fan of Robert Fleming. I loved the two anthologies he edited, Intimacy and ...
Raising the Bar
Raising the Bar Kam Williams Book Review “Gabrielle Douglas is the first African-American and first woman of color from any nation to win an Olympic gold medal in the individual gymnastics ...
Four
Four Kam Williams four.jpg Film Review Lust Leads to Ill-Advised Liaisons in Day-in-the-Life Drama Four September 13, 2013 (Limited) Rated R for sexuality, profanity and brief drug use Running tim...
Insignificant Others: Erotic Novellas
Insignificant Others: Erotic Novellas Anita Doreen Diggs Book Review Award winning authors, Pynk and Carol Taylor have written two original tales for Insignificant Others. Fans will love both sto...
Cooked
Cooked Kam Williams Book Review ’My father left when I was one or two years old. It was just my mother, my sister, Cali Slim, and me living in South Central. I only saw my dad on holidays ...
Boys into Men
Boys into Men Paige Turner Book Review BOYS INTO MEN: RAISING OUR AFRICAN AMERICAN TEENAGE SONS By Paige Turner An old Parliament Funkadelic album was entitled America Eats Its Young. While this se...
Beasts of No Nation
Beasts of No Nation Robert Fleming Book Review As John A. Williams, that black titan of letters, often says ’there can never be enough political novels written by our community,’ the num...
Life of Pi
Life of Pi Kam Williams life-of-pi-movie-poster.jpg Film Review Pastel Seascape Serves as Exquisite Backdrop for Spiritual Tale of Survival Life of Pi (2012) In Theaters: Nov 21, 2012 Wide Rat...
Mixed Me!
Mixed Me! Kam Williams Book Review Mom and Dad say I’m a blend of dark and light:“We mixed you perfectly, and got you just right.” Mike has awesome hair. He has LOTS of energy!...
Neglected but Undefeated: The Life Of A Boy Who Never Knew A Mother’s Love
Neglected but Undefeated: The Life Of A Boy Who Never Knew A Mother’s Love Carol Taylor Book Review Born in 1987, Jonathan Anthony Burkett has lived a young life that reads like fiction: vicious be...
Every Bitter Thing Sweet
Every Bitter Thing Sweet Tiffany M. Davis Book Review Every Bitter Thing Sweet picks up where A Thirst For Rain ends. While this is the story of Odile and Rory, Ms. Carrington continues her portrayal...
Relationships
Relationships Tiffany M. Davis Book Review Leonard Jenkins II’s first book, Relationships (Volume I): Lessons Before Dying, is a tale of love (finding it, losing it, keeping it) set against an ...
The Day You Begin
The Day You Begin Neoma Nwasike Book Review Have you ever felt like an outsider, or like you just did not belong? In this big world, with so many different faces, it can sometimes feel overwhelming a...
Baldwin: A Love Story
Baldwin: A Love Story Robert Fleming Book Review Long before I met James Baldwin’s friend Vertamae Grosvenor, I was a preteen Black boy who had read the writer’s bold novel Go Tell It on ...
Leaving Atlanta
Leaving Atlanta Thumper Book Review Tayari Jones enters the literary scene with Leaving Atlanta, a novel that takes place in 1979 Atlanta, Georgia during what came to be known as the Atlanta Child ...
Red Hook Summer
Red Hook Summer Kam Williams red-hook-summer.jpg Film Review Latest Spike Lee Joint Deserves to Get the Hook Red Hook Summer (2012) In Theaters: Aug 10, 2012 Limited R, 2 hr. 1 min. Drama Directed ...
When Minorities Lead in America: A Black Theologian’s Political Journey
When Minorities Lead in America: A Black Theologian’s Political Journey Alexis E. Jackson Book Review A worthwhile read, When Minorities Lead in America by Dr. Herman J. Fountain Jr. is one man&rsquo...
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 ...
Some of My Best Friends: A White Woman’s Journey into Racial Profiling
Some of My Best Friends: A White Woman’s Journey into Racial Profiling Kam Williams Book Review “This project grew out of my realization that I was negatively profiling young African-American...
Stepping into Womanhood: A Black Woman’s Poetic Journey
Stepping into Womanhood: A Black Woman’s Poetic Journey Sister Shiree Sarana Book Review After reading sistah Traci Brooks’ book, Stepping into Womanhood: A Black Woman’s Poetic Journey,...
Barack Obama: The Man and His Journey
Barack Obama: The Man and His Journey Kam Williams barack3.jpg Film Review Obama Bio-Pic Recounts Rise to the Presidency Barack Obama: The Man and His Journey Click to order v...
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...
Reversal of Trends: A Black Man’s Journey across the Mason-Dixon Line
Reversal of Trends: A Black Man’s Journey across the Mason-Dixon Line Robert Fleming Book Review Often, memoirs can be self-indulgent, unimaginative, and a cheesy promotion of self. That’s not ...
Journey to the Woman I've Come to Love: Affirmations from Women Who Have Fallen in Love with The
Journey to the Woman I've Come to Love: Affirmations from Women Who Have Fallen in Love with The Kam Williams Book Review “About 10 years ago, I was hanging out with some old high school c...
New Year’s Eve
New Year’s Eve Kam Williams images/newyearseve_movieposter.jpg Film Review New Yorkers Search for Love in Serendipitous Romantic Comedy New Year’s Eve [2011] Rated PG-13 for profanity and...
Breaking Free
Breaking Free Kam Williams Book Review ’For most of my life, from childhood onward, I had a form of mental illness that enabled me to be simultaneously a fierce competitor&...
Out of Bounds
Out of Bounds Kam Williams Book Review ’There was this constant worry in the back of my head about being found out for liking men. I'd venture to say that the stigma ...
Life: Four Quarters Plus Overtime
Life: Four Quarters Plus Overtime Robert Fleming Book Review Life: Four Quarters Plus Overtime, is truly wisdom from the ages. In this self-help guide. Floyd Griffin Jr., a man of many notable experi...
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...
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...
Spirit Seeker: John Coltrane’s Musical Journey
Spirit Seeker: John Coltrane’s Musical Journey Kam Williams Book Review “Music and religion were the twin forces that shaped John Coltrane’s early years. Both of his grandfathers were Me...
Sulwe
Sulwe Shafika Burke Book Review Do our young black girls have enough willpower to face whatever life throws at them? Do they look at themselves and see beauty, or the lack of? Have we successfully co...
The Talented Ripkins by Ladee Hubbard
The Talented Ripkins by Ladee Hubbard Brenda M. Greene Book Review Drawing from W.E.B. DuBois’s concept of the Talented Tenth, Hubbard’s debut award-winning The Talented Ribkins follows t...
Granddaddy
Granddaddy Carol Taylor Book Review Granddaddy is a poignant literary novel, told mostly in a stream of conscious narrative, that traces a family’s emotional journey through their memories of t...
Married But Still Looking
Married But Still Looking Kim Rose Book Review This pensive musing from a rap legend neatly summarize the challenge faced by Genesis Styles, an almost 30-year-old, ex-NBA 12th man aspirant and semi-d...
Cry Me a River
Cry Me a River Thumper Book Review I have said it before, and most likely, I will say it again, but there is no drama like family drama. With Ernest Hill’s Cry Me a River, I got exactly that&...
A Flag for Juneteenth
A Flag for Juneteenth Mel Hopkins Book Review Choose Freedom In A Flag for Juneteenth, Kim Taylor weaves a tale of freedom and how to achieve it even when your world is in tatters. And while this...
Jelani’s Key
Jelani’s Key Mel Hopkins Book Review Pain into Promise An immeasurable loss leads to a journey of cultural enlightenment, friendship, and self-discovery for 11-year-old protagonists Jelani and Bak...