I don't have access to a course on the subject and when I look for videos on a crash course they're always super controversial and nobody in the comments seem to agree with the accuracy of what they're saying. I know its not really the ideal question for historians so I apologize (it is my first day in this subreddit after all) but I would greatly appreciate it if anyone could point me to a book they read or documentary they saw because at this point I don't even know where to start and honestly the level of hostile controversy around it has discouraged me from even trying to learn about it. Anyways thank you in advance!
There's a rather old answer of mine here, and a lot of the recommendations hold up still. Shillington's History of Africa is now in 3rd edition (2012), and although it's textbooky it isn't crazy expensive or inaccessibly obtuse. Parker and Rathbone's African History: A Very Short Introduction may also be of interest, though it's getting old (2007). That said, I disagree with Kevin and Parker/Rathbone on various things, but that's the nature of the academic field. I think I also wrote out some recommendations more recently and /u/Commustar has been energetically amending the Books and Resources List with that in mind.
(I linked the books and resources list because if OP in on mobile he or she may not see it.)
A great place to start would be our Books and Resources List!
Some great books on West/Central Africa are those by John Thornton such as, Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World; 1400-1800, and Warfare in Atlantic Africa.
He does an amazing job at giving an economic overview and military breakdown of "Atlantic" Africa in a way that is precise yet not overly academic for a newcomer.
If you are willing to delve into the academic, books on Archaeology are always a good place to go for information on African Kingdoms as they end up telling a large portion of the story that we can't find out about many polities.
Books on by Robert and Susan Mcintosh such as The Search for Tekrur lay bare ancient facts about West Africa that would be inaccessible from the historical record alone.
This is all assuming that Sub-Saharan Africa is what you are interested in. When it comes to Egyptian history, I believe that a great all around overview is given by Barry Kemp in his Anatomy of a Civilization. Another good one is the Oxford History of Ancient Egypt by Ian Shaw.
There are plenty more, and if you would like to know about any subject in particular, feel free to ask!
What aspects of African History are you interested in?