Am I Black Enough For You?

Billy Paul is most widely known as the singer of “Me and Mrs. Jones”, a song that sat atop the U.S. charts for three weeks in 1972 and went on to win a Grammy. The single that followed was “Am I Black Enough for You?” which, while possibly impeding Paul’s career to some degree, won him the respect and admiration of many a culturally engaged performer to come. Director Göran Olsson creates a portrait of Paul out of recent performances, archive footage, photographs, and interviews. Besides extensive conversations with Paul and his wife Blanche Williams, we hear the reflections of songwriter Kenny Gamble, Questlove from The Roots, and the rapper Schooly D. The film meanders through memories, songs, and images past and present, finally leaving us with a broad perspective on a man who has managed after hard times to reconcile life with performance.