"A memoir from Ta-Nehisi Coates, in which he details the challenges on the streets and within one's family, especially the eternal struggle for peace between a father and son and the important role family plays in such circumstances"--

Every Sunday after church, CJ and his grandma ride the bus across town. But today, CJ wonders why they don't own a car like his friend Colby. Why doesn't he have an iPod like the boys on the bus? How come they always have to get off in the dirty part of town? Each question is met with an encouraging answer from grandma, who helps him see the beauty -- and fun -- in their routine and the world around them.

While Ta'Shara fights for her life, Lucifer works a dangerous truce, Cleo aims to destroy the man controlling her, and police captain Hydeya Hawkins tries to survive her department's dirtiest secrets.

Meet the Pierce family. Desmond Pierce, a hard-working man from the South is determined to give his and wife and daughters a good life in Compton, California. Pearla Pierce is a sexy and seductive mother who plays wifey and devoted mother only when her husband is home. Then there's Carmen, a promiscuous seventeen-year-old on a self-destructive path and jealous of her younger sister. Cashmere, a thirteen-year-old, struggles to hold her family together...

"Tiffany is trapped in a life she never wanted for herself. The man she fell in love with turned out to be a lazy, good-for-nothing womanizer. Night after night Tiffany comes home to Blake's physical, mental, and verbal abuse. She's tried leaving in the past, but somehow he always finds her. Each time, she comes back and convinces herself things will get better. Then one day Blake beats her for the last time. Tiffany decides death is the only way...

Los Angeles Times gang reporter Michael Lyons has just left his favorite downtown saloon when he is shot and wounded on the sidewalk two blocks from City Hall.  After the initial shock, fellow reporters put together a betting pool. The bet? "Who Shot Mike?" There are a lot of contenders. When the LAPD's investigation stalls, the Times runs editorials critical of the police. Then, when detectives uncover an audio tape of Lyons talking to a gang

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After losing her mother and the abandonment of her father, Promise has two goals: graduate from high school and be loved. Her pursuit of these goals will lead to life-altering events.

Life couldn't get better for the Crescent Crew. With an exclusive Mexican pipeline, they've got the Southern drug trade on lock. Former founder Qwess is leveraging rap superstardom to break the music industry's commercial stranglehold. And former leader Reece is fresh off a five-year prison bid-and out to forever secure the Crew's dominance. But as Reece is working a brutal vendetta, a Crew mutiny will drag him back into all-out street war. Now, between...

Jewel used to be content with being a ride or die chick, playing Bonnie while the men in her life played Clyde. But now she realizes that it was her connections and street smarts that helped her man, Calico, rise to the top, and Jewel wants to be the one in control. She's tired of taking orders from men.
She's willing to do anything to be queen of the streets, but when a deal she makes with the enemy comes back to haunt her, her dream is turned...

Red" and "Bulletproof" Bobby form a deadly combination making money and holding down their territory. But when Bobby meets a girl that captures his heart, it causes a rift between him and his cousin. Tammy is saving money to attend college, and she's been very careful not to get pregnant and screw up her chances of furthering her education. But then Tammy's mother brings home a man who doesn't seem quite right. Also, Tammy is desperately trying to...