Urban Reviews - Your Source for the Best in AA Fiction!

Here is a link to a Roundtable featuring Urban Fiction author Relentless Aaron, Malaika Adero (senior editor for Atria Books), and author Nick Chiles who recently had a story on Urban Fiction in the New York Times titled "Their Eyes Were Reading Smut." http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5225091 I personally thought this was an interesting disscusion. After listening to this, I was even more confused about Nick Chiles opinion. On NPR, he said that he didn't have a problem with street lit when according to the NY Times article it is evident that he DOES. He claims that he has a problem with walking into the African American Fiction section and the first thing he sees is street lit. He also said on NPR that he didn't have a problem with street lit being in the same section as other African American Lit. That is not what I got from the NY Times article. I mean in the article he even named actual titles of the books that he called smut! He had such a sca...

Being a music enthusiast since I was a child, it's a no brainer that I've put in my time as a sales clerk, assistant manager, and manager for some music stores in my young adult years. I worked for 3 years at Vibes Music (which was under National Record Mart) on Marquette University's campus in Milwaukee, WI. That store closed in May 2001 due to being an 'underperforming' store for the chain. Ironically, it wasn't just our store because The NRM chain would fold totally by the end of 2001! Luckily, I found myself another job with Tapeworld which would soon convert to FYE in the summer of 2001. But alas, the ever-changing music market and tough competition from big box retailers caused the Milwaukee location to close in January 2003. So the only major music entity that existed in the city from that point on was Sam Goody. They had a store in the Grand Avenue Mall where FYE was located and was it's only competitor. They also had stores at Bayshore Mall, Mayfair...

R.I.P. JAY DEE (aka J Dilla) ~Super Producer/Solo Artist/Former Slum Village member~ (1974-2006) Show him some love here or at Okayplayer.com You will be truly missed. If you have Winamp, copy and paste this online tribute of 300 Jay Dee songs . Keep him in your hearts and your decks forever. Charles http://www.urban-reviews.com info@urban-reviews.com

Here is the latest installment of IS IT ME? ...this time dealing with Hip-Hop and R&B stars on tonight's GRAMMY show. Leave your comments if you agree or disagree with my comments. (this is just meant to be funny, y'all..don't get all bent out of shape if I talk about your favorite person in this post...that includes you too, Radiah!) [wife is a huge fan of Mariah Carey] IS IT ME???... or should Ciara have kept this beautiful white dress on rather than that 'street corner wear' she had the nerve to appear onstage with? IS IT ME??? ...or are you appalled that the Black Eyed Peas won for best 'RAP' anything? IS IT ME???... or is this picture of Common and Taraji P. Henson enough proof that he's gotten Erykah Badu out of his system? IS IT ME???... or were more disturbed by the 'possible' breathing tube that was strapped to the mic than Sly's out-of-this-world mohawk? IS IT ME???... or did Kanye West's outfit in this pic make him loo...

This is a section that I used to have in the 1990's when I had my own website of music reviews and had some special features. It's kind of like 20 Questions in Vibe, but better (at least that's what I believe!) So, here is my current list 'Is It Me?' questions....and if you have some, feel free to comment by clicking the small link in the bottom right of this post. I will post them in the next posting of the 'Is It Me?' section! 1. IS IT ME? ...or does Charlie Wilson have the biggest teeth you ever saw in your life (they're even bigger than Ron Isley's!) 2. IS IT ME? ...or does the relationship with Beyonce and Jay-Z need to go to the next level? 3. IS IT ME? ...or are you surprised that they gave Queen Latifah a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame before Will Smith? 4. IS IT ME? ...or did Lou Rawls always look like a jive turkey when you saw him? 5. IS IT ME? ...or do you wish movie soundtracks were as good as they were in the early 90s (i.e. Menace ...

Wow....I can't believe we are in 2006, and 2005 is a just a memory. (Memorieeeeeeeees...I've had a fewwwwwwww!!!!!!) ~Sorry about that~ Anyways, Here is my list of best albums for 2005. I decided not to put them in any particular order so I would not put one album ahead of another one by mistake! BEST OF 2005 - HIP-HOP Common - Be Beanie Sigel - B. Coming Slim Thug - Already Platinum Paul Wall - The People's Champ Little Brother - The Minstrel Show Kanye West - Late Registration Slum Village - Slum Village Talib Kweli - Right About Now Cuban Link - Chain Reaction Bun B - Trill Miri Ben Ari - The Hip-Hop Violinist Lil Kim - Naked Truth David Banner - Certified Ludacris presents - Disturbing The Peace Big Boi presents - Got Purp, Vol 1 BEST OF 2005 - R&B John Legend - Get Lifted Raheem Devaughn - Love Experience Lyfe - 268-192 Eric Benet - Hurricane Kindred - In This Life Together 112 - Pleasure and Pain Mary J Blige - The Breakthrough Jamie Foxx - Unpredictable Anthony H...

In past year, I have read and heard a lot of opinions in regards to the African-American book industry. The main topic seems to have been the popularity of Urban-Street Fiction or "Hood" books. Some like it, some don't. Here's my take on it. As you've seen on my previous 2005 book list, I read a variety of books including urban fiction. I think that the urban fiction that I've read is wonderful. The books are entertaining and fast-paced. Now there are some that have numerous errors in it, but there are some errors that I've found in other genres of books so sometimes that happens. As long as it doesn't distract me from reading the book then I'm fine. I think the problem that people are having with it is that a lot of teens are reading these books and they feel that this isn't "good reading" or they're not reading the "classics". Well, at least they're reading something (I know I'm going to get hate email for this...