Black Privilege: Opportunity Comes to Those Who Create It by Charlamagne Tha God

Image Credit: goodreads.com

Rating: 4 of 5 stars 

OK. I will admit it, I had never heard of Charlamagne Tha God until my sister started raving about him on The Breakfast Club, which is a nationally-syndicated radio morning show on New York's Power 105.1. And because one of the beautiful things about the internet is that it brings us all a little closer, I was able to check out the show using iHeart's radio app on my smart phone last year. After tuning in for a few months and in keeping with my quest to listen to more audiobooks, I snagged Black Privilege: Opportunity Comes to Those Who Create It. This non-fiction book was authored and read by Charlamagne.

I would definitely put this memoir in the motivational and inspirational category. Charlamagne is more than a radio personality. He is an intelligent, young man who has worked hard to carve out his space in the multimedia world. I love how he proves you can be cool and smart, humble and confident, yet perfectly flawed. In his book, he shares some personal (and very truthful sounding) stories. I found some of his analogies to be a bit crass, but I think they probably resonate with his core target audience. I find Charlamagne to be a multi-faceted and well-versed person, so I think everyone can take a little something away from his story. What touched me the most was his spiritual beliefs and love of family.

I think most celebrity memoirs have similar themes of survival and success. It's a part of the template to provide some inspiration to the masses based on their individual success. That is not a judgement or shortcoming, but rather an integral part of the genre. I think Charlamagne has captured this well with his debut. I will say this: Unlike some celebrities (read: Steve Harvey), I feel like Charlamagne really did write this book. It was definitely in his voice.

Recommendation: I would recommend this read to any young person looking for some rock solid, realistic motivation in his or her life. Having read Black Privilege, I feel like I know more about Charlamagne's life, and I have a deeper appreciation of his craft.

Until next time ... Read on!