Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Brown is a character in the Disney+ Original Series The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder and the titular protagonist of its Spin-Off Jungle Safari Kareem. He is the incredibly tall boyfriend of Penny Proud, who always seems to know exactly what to say, and is also an Animal Rescuer in Africa who rescues wild animals from being sold to the black markets.
Background[]
Personality[]
- "Kareem's a nice boy, Oscar. I can see why she likes him."
- ―Trudy on Kareem's selflessness
Kareem is perhaps the nicest person ever. He is always polite to those around him and is slow to anger, if he ever does that is. At times, it is shown that he is wise beyond his years and is smarter than he looks. He might also be self-conscious about himself and his abilities, as he pretended to be bad at basketball so that he would not have to join Oscar's team; possibly to avoid being stereotyped. While he was tempted by LaCienega Boulevardez, he is devoted to Penny and shows no interest in any other girl. As a matter of fact, when Penny returned from her family trip, Kareem was quick to tell her that he was not up to anything behind her back, looking desperate when telling her.
In his own series, Kareem is shown to have now the skills of playing basketball and being a animal lover.
Physical appearances[]
Kareem is an incredibly tall African-American boy (about six-feet) with curly hair. He wears a grey hoodie, which he always has up, and a black t-shirt over it with a forte symbol. He wears blue denim jeans and yellow boots.
In his own series, he now wears an African explorer uniform.
Appearances[]
The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder[]
Kareem made his first appearance in "It All Started with an Orange Basketball" as he and Penny were studying and watching a movie simultaneously. Despite being tall and having natural athletic ability, he chooses not to play the sport of basketball and instead plays the cello for the Willie T. Ribbs Middle School band. LaCienega Boulevardez attempted to seduce Kareem when she saw Penny was too busy playing on her father's Proud Snax basketball team; however, his heart stayed with Penny. Kareem is also the first of Penny's love interests that LaCienega deliberately tried to steal away from despite establishing a track record of following girl code and instead consistently supporting her love interests throughout the original series. Despite the failed attempt, Kareem remains cordial towards LaCienega and the two often share a good laugh when Penny is not around. After Penny quits playing basketball for her father, she reconciles with Kareem and they restored their relationship outsmarting LaCienega and Maya who tried to steal Kareem from Penny.
Kareem also appears in "When You Wish Upon a Roker" on a date with Penny where they are watching a play by Lamorne Morris.
Jungle Safari Kareem[]
Kareem now becomes the main character of his own series and now voiced by Donald Glover, and is more known as Kareem Brown, rather than by his full name. He first appears in the pilot film, Jungle Safari Kareem: Animal Kingdom, getting himself ready for the basketball game during his last day at school.
In one television special where the Proud Family comes to Africa, visiting Kareem and meet his own family for the first time, Oscar Proud finally realized that Kareem wasn't so bad after all, and finally allows Penny to keep dating him, and even accept him as a family.
In one special episode, Kareem meets the Black Panther and King of Wakanda, T'Challa who offers him to help protect Wakanda from evil threats, like the ones who wanna steal his throne and take over his kingdom.
Relationships[]
Family[]
- Alcindor Brown - Kareem's father. They've always had a very close and good father-and-son relationship. Alcindor decided to name his son after the famous Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, cause he was his favorite author and was also named after him.
- Kalisha Brown - Kareem's mother.
- Akuna Umeadi Brown - Kareem's older and paternal half-brother. Never met each other for being from different homes or grew up together. When the two of them met each other for the first time, Kareem deeply respected his elder half-brother, while Akuna showed no interest in having a brother and only treated him as a backup instead. However, the duo finally begin to become closer, and Akuna would finally accept Kareem as his brother where they would rescue wild animals and protect the places of Africa.
- James Earl Jones Brown - Kareem's paternal grandfather. Loves his grandpa, even when he is always giving him advices to feel better and do the right thing and make others feel better.
Other relationships[]
- Penny Proud - Kareem's girlfriend.
- Oscar Proud
- Trudy Proud
- Suga Mama
- BeBe & CeCe Proud
- Darrius Saint Vil - Kareem's best friend.
- LaCienega Boulevardez
Trivia[]
- Kareem's name is a reference to the NBA legend, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who is known for his height.
- On his shirt, there's a Forté symbol which is used as a dynamic directive in sheet music in its abbreviated form, {f} to indicate raising the volume of the music. It can also refer to someone's strong point or ability at certain talents.
- He seems to be a combination of Penny's former love interests Omar Phillips and the pastor's son Tory as he has similar hair color and wears similar color clothing to that of Omar while having a similar charm and disposition as well as body structure (tall and slim) to Tory.
- His name is a reference to basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, particularly his height.
- It is possible that Kareem is a hidden polymath, someone who is talented at multiple things.