African Urban

In Black on the Block, Mary Pattillo - a Newsweek Woman of the 21st Century - uses the historic rise, alarming fall, and equally dramatic renewal of Chicago’s North Kenwood-Oakland neighborhood to explore the politics of race and class in contemporary urban America.

Nestled between Little St. Simons Island and Jekyll Island, Salix Pointe is not a place that many people know of. Part of the Golden Isles of Georgia, all the weeping willows that grow there have led the surrounding town’s folk to call it the Island of Death. Elisa and Tasmin may not want to put too much stock into the folklore of Salix Pointe, but there is a reason that the universe has brought the two women together.

The Blackbank family came up in the raw, unforgiving streets of Cincinnati, where the hustle was survival and the streets had no love. They knew the game inside and out until they decided to flip the script. No more fast money, no more illegal moves. They cleaned up, went legit, and built a real estate empire from the ground up. But the streets don’t forget. Old enemies, jealous of their rise, lurked in the shadows, waiting for a chance to pull them back into the chaos. And in this world, loose ends don’t tie themselves sometimes, they gotta be cut.

Naeema "Queen" Cole takes care of herself. From the death of her parents when she was just eleven years old to when she found herself pregnant and alone at sixteen, Naeema has had to make her own way in the world. She gave up her son for adoption and became an apprentice at a barber shop, making just enough money to pay the bills and get high. She tried being a wife, but ultimately found that she and Tank, now her ex-husband, are better friends and occasional lovers than partners.

Danita and Stephen have been together for five years. Things are great between them until an unexpected discovery sends Danita into a tailspin. With her trust shattered and temptation at her new job, she must decide whether to work things out or move on. As the boundaries of life and fidelity are tested, can their relationship survive through the worst? Or will they not realize what they have until it’s gone?

Chris Grainger is a man on a mission. He has allowed his lady, Angel, to take care of the both of them long enough and drastically decides to make a change. When he uses money from their joint savings to finance his dream, unexpected trials stop his progress. His chance meetings with an old-school ex-bartender, a brainiac computer whiz kid, and a tough young punk could offer Chris much-needed help or unforeseen harm. With limited options, Chris is forced to take risks that could make or break his future.

After being shot and nearly killed, Celess imagined she’d put her habit of courting danger behind her. But a chance meeting with fellow daredevil Sienna quickly changes Celess’s plans. She jumps back into the fire of risky enterprise, putting her life on the line in pursuit of big bucks and high-style living, but Celess can’t help but wonder how much longer she can elude the dire consequences. Picking up where Never Enough left off, Celess is thrust back into the sex trade, guided by her friend Sienna.

The head of US public relations at Kobayashi Motors, the largest automaker in Japan, is Cadence St. James that is, until she's forced to take on the dangerous new role of corporate whistleblower. Cadence's twin sister, Cushmeer Kincaid, is a human rights statistician who suffers from a fear of public speaking. When Kobayashi cars start spontaneously accelerating and the death toll rises, Toshio Nakamura, a company executive, heads due north to Minneapolis, Minnesota and pulls Cushmeer into the treacherous fray.

Knowledge Toussaint was exposed to a fast life of grittiness. Being forced to maneuver through a life based on survival at the tender age of ten, he depended on a mother whose life was driven by addiction. All it took were two bullets to change Knowledge's life forever. When he was forced to leave his mother behind, he was taken in by one of the most prestigious hit men in Miami, Booney. As Booney leads Knowledge through an underworld of darkness, he also shines light by teaching him how to play the game of life called 'Chess.'

Who shot Kendreeis? That's what everyone is trying to figure out. The brothers' minds are racing with thoughts of who the potential assassin could be. That is until a mind-blowing family secret is revealed, leaving them to have to adjust to an otherwise uncomfortable situation. To make matters worse, their relationships are put to the ultimate test, when secret indulgences, lies, infidelity, and neglect rear their ugly heads. Will they last, or will some of the brothers realize they're not dealing with good girls at all?

They say if you don't have trust, you don't have a marriage. In the fifth and final installment of Good Girls Love Thugs: Nic and Kendrick, the couple learns just how important trusting one another is. When an incident occurs, putting Kendrick in the middle of a scandal, Nic has to figure out whether she should trust her man or move on to greener pastures. Kendrick loves his wife more than anything, but sometimes love just isn't enough; especially when there is another man who is willing to stick by Nic through thick and thin.

From slim thick to curvy and voluptuous, Lyric Larson's a force behind the pen that she pushes as an author. But behind closed doors, she battles with insecurities which are always triggered by her unfaithful husband. While she's grinding and staying loyal to her marriage, her husband Chadd not only slides into bed with another woman but also gets himself mixed up with a mob. The consequences of his actions will fall back on Lyric, but oblivious to what's going on, she has no clue.

Life Through the Eyes of a Woman is a compilation of stories about women walking through the storms of life. These women deal with the abuse, neglect, and loss that come with poor relationships, but also the love, security, and passion that should accompany healthy relationships. Yet, no matter what these women are put through, they always find it within themselves to come out on the other side stronger than before.

When things in her life start to happen unexpectedly, Terri is hellbent on solving a mystery she thought was put to rest years ago. She is willing to commit every act of sin to satisfy her hidden desires and remain the pastor's right-hand empress. But when Richard is tempted to fall back on his old tricks, Evangelist Terri may have to take a few steps back.

No one can deny that Imani and Marquis have chemistry. They always have, and, if Imani had any say it in, they always would. Even though Marquis might not admit it to her, Imani didn’t need him to tell her how he felt. She could tell by the way he danced with her. They were drawn to each other like magnets, and nothing either of them did could change that. Dancing with Marquis made Imani feel like she had finally found someone who understood her, body and soul. She had to have him, but will she be able to convince him that they really are soulmates?

Taye had it all. He had traded the ghetto of Bankhead for the glistening streets of opportunity in LA. From there, he had made his fortune, met his gorgeous wife, and started his very own family. He was living the dream and should have been content, but something still felt like it was missing. It isn’t until running into his old flame, Ayana, that Taye realizes what he’s been craving: passion. Ayana is like a cool drink of water on a hot summer afternoon.

In this finale, emotions are high as the crew evaluates the importance of love and family. Each individual character has a different demon that they're battling with life itself, and they realize that the only way to move forward is to face them. As the past haunts Reagan, she finds herself in a life-or-death situation. Stuck in a compromising situation that could risk the love Blaq has grown for her scares her more than anything, but she soon finds out that the worst thing she could’ve done was keep secrets from him because what happens in the dark always comes to the light.

They say that good girls like bad boys, and this was especially true for Pearl Stone, a child born of privilege to a drug baron and reputed killer known in the streets as Big Stone. Although the flashy, fast-paced nature of the streets calls to Pearl, she's been brought up to look but not touch. Yet when a young hustler named Diamonds crawls up from the swamps of Louisiana and sets up shop in New York City, everything Pearl was taught flies out the window.

Picking up where the suspenseful Payback with Ya Life left off, we’re plunged back into the hip-hop drama, where the men are hot and dangerous, the women know their shoes from their Choos, and they will stop at nothing to get what they want. In a game of power and intrigue where the stakes are high and the rewards are dazzling, the losers are gonna discover there’s always a price to pay.

Someone wants every member of the consortium dead, and they'll stop at nothing to make that happen. Meanwhile, Shan has transferred back into Redbone and has taken it to a whole new level. Nick suspects Shan is still in love with Briggen, even though she is with him. Janay has a new lease on life, but her ties to Crystal are always a challenge. Everyone is gunning for Dark, and with The List in the hands of Cisco's wife, Joy, Dark's chances of taking over Detroit are threatened more than ever before.