A bittersweet week

 

Last Friday, prominent rapper Young Dolph was gunned down at a local cookie shop in Memphis, Tennessee. The artist frequented the shop often and was there to pick up cookies for his mother. He was tragically shot to death by two gunmen waiting for him outside who have yet to be identified. The young rapper had been steadily rising in the industry, with his last three albums charting in the Billboard 200 top 10. His latest effort, released in March this year, was a collaborative LP with Key Glock, an artist signed to his label Paper Route Empire and a close friend. The next day, Glock and fellow Paper Route Empire rappers hosted a makeshift tribute to Young Dolph at the Rolling Loud LA festival, celebrating a musician gone way too soon.

Meanwhile, on that very same Saturday, fellow rapper and global superstar Megan Thee Stallion graduated college. A major standard-bearer for female empowerment in hip hop, with the likes of Cardi B and Lizzo, she grew massively in stature in recent years to become one of the major (female) forces in the industry. Her 2020 singles “WAP” (with Cardi B) and the “Savage” remix (with Beyonce) both topped the charts, while her debut album Good News (only) reached #2. And now, the powerhouse is also a college grad: at age 26, she managed to achieve one of the goals she’d set for herself and major in Health administration from HBCU* Texas Southern University. Congratulations to this — clever — artist…

Finally, we learned today that Adele had retained the top spot for the third week in a row. In a story that may not be all that surprising but will still instil a certain degree of positivity and optimism to anyone who reads it, the fourth album by British pop superstar Adele, 30, came out on top of the Billboard 200 charts for one more week, with a number of equivalent album units that we haven’t seen in years — three, to be exact, and a certain Drake (always him…). The blue-eyed soul singer confirms what many who listened to the album already know: not only has she been an outstanding artist from the get-go, but her artistry keeps getting better with age, growing in subtlety and breadth, increasing in reach and versatility.

In short, it’s not all good news, but it’s also not all bad news…

 

* Historically Black College and University