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Street Players
In this, his fourth novel, Goines tests the tensile strength of a ghetto spawn who clawed his way to the top and fights like hell to stay there. He's known as "Earl the Black Pearl," and he's left the homeboys behind—way behind. He's cool, sharp as an ice crystal, and it seems that no one can touch him. Until someone even higher up puts the heat on and his friends begin dropping like flies—of lead poisoning. That's when Earl fights back...and all hell breaks loose!
256 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1973
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About the author
Donald Goines
30 books761 followersDonald Goines was born in Detroit to a relatively comfortable family - his parents owned a local dry cleaner, and he did not have problems with the law or drugs. Goines attended Catholic elementary school and was expected to go into his family's laundry business. Instead Goines enlisted in the US Air Force, and to get in he had to lie about his age. From 1952 to 1955 he served in the armed forces. During this period he got hooked on heroin. When he returned to Detroit from Japan, he was a heroin addict.
The next 15 years from 1955 Goines spent pimping, robbing, stealing, bootlegging, and running numbers, or doing time. His seven prison sentences totaled 6.5 years. While in jail in the 1960s he first attempted to write Westerns without much success - he loved cowboy movies. A few years later, serving a different sentence at a different prison, he was introduced to the work of Iceberg Slim (Robert Beck). This time Goines wrote his semi-autobiographical novel Whoreson, which appeared in 1972. It was a story about the son of a prostitute who becomes a Detroit ghetto pimp. Also Beck's first book, Pimp: The Story of My Life (1967), was autobiographical. Goines was released in 1970, after which he wrote 16 novels with Holloway House, Iceberg Slim's publisher. Hoping to get rid of surroundings - he was back on smack - he moved with his family to the Los Angeles ghetto of Watts.
All of Goines's books were paperback originals. They sold well but did not receive much critical attention. After two years, he decided to return to Detroit. Goines's death was as harsh as his novels - he and his wife were shot to death on the night of October 21, 1974. According to some sources Goines's death had something to do with a failed drugs deal. The identity of the killers remained unknown, but there were reports of "two white men". Posthumously appeared Inner City Hoodlum (1975), which Goines had finished before his death. The story, set in Los Angeles, was about smack, money, and murder.
The first film version of Goines's books, Crime Partners (2001), was directed by J. Jesses Smith. Never Die Alone (1974), about the life of a drug dealer, was filmed by Ernest R. Dickerson, starring DMX. The violent gangsta movie was labelled as "junk masquerading as art."
During his career as a writer, Goines worked to a strict timetable, writing in the morning, devoting the rest of the day to heroin. His pace was furious, sometimes he produced a book in a month. The stories were usually set in the black inner city, in Los Angeles, New York or Detroit, which then was becoming known as 'motor city'. In Black Gangster (1972) the title character builds a "liberation" movement to cover his planned criminal activities. After this work Goines started to view the social and political turmoil of the ghetto as a battlefield between races.
Under the pseudonym Al C. Clark, Goines created a serial hero, Kenyatta, who was named after the 'father of Kenya', Jomo Kenyatta. The four-book series, beginning with Crime Partners (1974), was published by Holloway House. Kenyatta is the leader of a militant organization which aims at cleaning American ghettos of drugs and prostitution. All white policemen, who patrol the black neighborhoods, also are his enemies. Cry Revenge! (1974) tells of Curtis Carson, who is tall, black, and used to giving orders. He becomes the nightmare of the Chicanos, who have crushed his brother. Death List (1974) brings together Kenyatta, the powerful ganglord, Edward Benson, an intelligent black detective, and Ryan, his chisel-faced white partner, in a war against a secret list of drug pushers. In the fourth book, Kenyatta's Last Hit (1975), the hero is killed in a shootout.
The next 15 years from 1955 Goines spent pimping, robbing, stealing, bootlegging, and running numbers, or doing time. His seven prison sentences totaled 6.5 years. While in jail in the 1960s he first attempted to write Westerns without much success - he loved cowboy movies. A few years later, serving a different sentence at a different prison, he was introduced to the work of Iceberg Slim (Robert Beck). This time Goines wrote his semi-autobiographical novel Whoreson, which appeared in 1972. It was a story about the son of a prostitute who becomes a Detroit ghetto pimp. Also Beck's first book, Pimp: The Story of My Life (1967), was autobiographical. Goines was released in 1970, after which he wrote 16 novels with Holloway House, Iceberg Slim's publisher. Hoping to get rid of surroundings - he was back on smack - he moved with his family to the Los Angeles ghetto of Watts.
All of Goines's books were paperback originals. They sold well but did not receive much critical attention. After two years, he decided to return to Detroit. Goines's death was as harsh as his novels - he and his wife were shot to death on the night of October 21, 1974. According to some sources Goines's death had something to do with a failed drugs deal. The identity of the killers remained unknown, but there were reports of "two white men". Posthumously appeared Inner City Hoodlum (1975), which Goines had finished before his death. The story, set in Los Angeles, was about smack, money, and murder.
The first film version of Goines's books, Crime Partners (2001), was directed by J. Jesses Smith. Never Die Alone (1974), about the life of a drug dealer, was filmed by Ernest R. Dickerson, starring DMX. The violent gangsta movie was labelled as "junk masquerading as art."
During his career as a writer, Goines worked to a strict timetable, writing in the morning, devoting the rest of the day to heroin. His pace was furious, sometimes he produced a book in a month. The stories were usually set in the black inner city, in Los Angeles, New York or Detroit, which then was becoming known as 'motor city'. In Black Gangster (1972) the title character builds a "liberation" movement to cover his planned criminal activities. After this work Goines started to view the social and political turmoil of the ghetto as a battlefield between races.
Under the pseudonym Al C. Clark, Goines created a serial hero, Kenyatta, who was named after the 'father of Kenya', Jomo Kenyatta. The four-book series, beginning with Crime Partners (1974), was published by Holloway House. Kenyatta is the leader of a militant organization which aims at cleaning American ghettos of drugs and prostitution. All white policemen, who patrol the black neighborhoods, also are his enemies. Cry Revenge! (1974) tells of Curtis Carson, who is tall, black, and used to giving orders. He becomes the nightmare of the Chicanos, who have crushed his brother. Death List (1974) brings together Kenyatta, the powerful ganglord, Edward Benson, an intelligent black detective, and Ryan, his chisel-faced white partner, in a war against a secret list of drug pushers. In the fourth book, Kenyatta's Last Hit (1975), the hero is killed in a shootout.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
July 6, 2017
Donald goines always take me on an adventure and I always explore baby!!
June 3, 2017
This is the second Goines novel I've read, and this is probably the weaker of the two. It definitely is more directly under the influence of Iceberg Slim, telling the story of Earl the Pearl, a pimp whose story definitely has similarities to Slim's, with the emphasis in the early sections of retaining control over your stable and the like. There are recognizable signposts, like the need to not lose your temper (Earl isn't so good at this, and it dooms a couple characters in this book). The novel, really, traces the full arc of Earl's career, in kind of a surprising way, from early potential legal trouble to the end of his career, and all the steps in between. Maybe that's why its overall shape isn't totally satisfying-- there are ideas that get developed through plot, but then, the story just lurches in another direction. But it's still pretty compelling stuff.
It's not as ruthless or unadorned as the other book, which was one of the Kenyatta books. Those, for all their fierceness, are probably greater accomplishments than this one, which feels self-conscious of what it's try to do, to write the story of the Silas Lapham of the pimp game.
It's not as ruthless or unadorned as the other book, which was one of the Kenyatta books. Those, for all their fierceness, are probably greater accomplishments than this one, which feels self-conscious of what it's try to do, to write the story of the Silas Lapham of the pimp game.
November 17, 2019
Reads like a movie happening in your mind. Goes from scene to scene with hesitation. Very captivating writing style!
February 22, 2022
Street Players isn’t quite top tier Goines (I’d rank it higher than Daddy Cool but not as good as Dopefiend or Black Gangster), but it is reliably entertaining with a very satisfying ending. It’s another rise and fall story (a structure that I’m starting to see is common in Goines’ work), this time about a pimp named Earl the Black Pearl. As a character piece, it’s really compelling; Earl is unrepentant in his vocation, but his highs and lows are emotional as well as financial (well, the two are intrinsically linked for him, but still…). Goines captures how tenuous even the most confident player’s status is, and a couple cruel blows from fate (one involving a very surprising appearance from a serial killer) really highlight it. Whatever you’re looking for in Goines, you’ll get some of it here: gritty realism, urban intrigue, melodrama, gore, revenge, and sex (though, as is often the case with Goines, very little of it would be considered sexy). One moment that stands out to me is when Earl goes into a crowded dope house to complete a drug deal (not his usual forte) and he’s shocked by the horror all around him; it does a good job of contrasting the perceived elegance of a pimp’s lifestyle to that of a dealer. The rest of the book makes it clear that a pimp’s path is littered with just as many casualties.
October 3, 2025
My fourth Donald Goines novel I believe and he knows how to write a story that percolates the imagination. Although this was an easy read and I went through this rather quickly it’s hard to put this close to the titans of Dopefiend and Whoreson. The ending really got me hot as well. Earl is my dawg though, I suspect him of having a Curtis Mayfield fro with pork chop sideburns wearing a suit that resembles a red velvet cake as he is trying to see where the night takes him. And oh Vickie my heart…
June 18, 2020
very good book, of course, not as violent as the last one I read from him.
March 6, 2021
Il m'a moins marqué que les autres mais reste une bonne lecture
May 17, 2021
Pacing was bad, fun story, violent
March 29, 2024
I usually like Donald Goines books but this one seemed particularly misogynistic—it kind of kept me from enjoying the story.
October 22, 2024
It kept my attention, but he overused “honey” and “bitch” so many times.
November 9, 2025
A Gripping BINGEABLE read! So many jaw dropping twist. Solid 4.75 instead of 5 because of a few spelling mistakes. Literally left me shaking my head!
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews