Houston Track Star Cameron Burrell Death Ruled Suicide

Cameron Burrell was one of the fastest men in the world, but he couldn’t outrace his personal demons.

Friday the Harris County Institute of Forensic Science confirmed in its report that the former University of Houston sprinter’s death at the age of 26 has been ruled a suicide. It was a sad final chapter to an extraordinary life that was filled with promise, potential and prestige from beginning to end.

Photo Courtesy University of Houston 

“On Monday evening, our family’s hearts were broken with the passing of our son, Cameron, who took his own life,” said Cameron’s father Leroy Burrell in a statement following the revelation. “While much of the world knows Cameron from his accomplishments in competition, he was so much more as a son, a father, a brother and as a man. We love him, and we will miss him forever.”

Cameron followed his father, a gold medalist in the Barcelona Olympics in the 4x100 along with his wife Michelle who was part of the winning women’s 4x100 team, to the University of Houston where the elder Burrell had run in college and has coached for 23 years. 

Under his guidance and that of his godfather, nine-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis, Cameron broke his dad’s school record, set five years before his birth, in the 100 meters by .01 seconds with a time of 9.93 in 2017. He was a three-time All-American at 60 and 100 meters and was twice named All-American as a member of the 4x100 relay team. 

Burrell was also a member of the United States 4x100-meter relay team, helping it earn gold at the World Junior Championships in 2012 and capture silver at the 2019 World Relays. At the 2018 Athletics World Cup he anchored the U.S. relay team to gold. With such a prestigious resume it was hard for his family, friends and supporters to come to terms with his cause of death.

“We may never know why Cameron made such a decision,” Leroy continued, urging people who may be struggling in their lives to reach out for help. “You are not alone, and you are surrounded by more people who love and care for you than you may think in a dark moment.”

Cameron’s aunt Dawn Burrell, who represented the United States in the long jump at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, seconded the emotion adding a passionate plea on Instagram calling in part for people to, “Please check on your strong family members that you view as kings. They might be struggling internally more than you realize.”

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In addition to his parents, Burrell is survived by his brothers, Joshua and Jaden Burrell. For those having struggles with their mental health, The National Suicide Prevention Hotline is available 24 hours at 1-800-273-8255 or you can online chat through the Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The American Suicide Prevention Hotline is also available at 888-333-2377.

  

DaBaby Bounced From Spotify Streaming Throne by Lil Nax X

Maybe it’s the Satan Shoes.

To be fair, however, if it only took a little blood and undying devotion to Christianity’s supreme
embodiment of evil to be a successful musician — there would probably be a lot more of them.

Photo Credit Instagram (@LilNasX)

Still, whatever it is the 22-year-old rapper is sippin’ on that’s got him thinking he is Superman, he should refill his bottle; because between his talent, an uncanny ability to navigate the ever-changing tides of Internet stardom without ever going under and that x-factor (Is it the shoes?) — in the parlance of DJ Khaled, “All he does is win!”

His latest victory came Tuesday, when the rapper surpassed DaBaby as the most streamed rapper on Spotify, thanks to his newest viral release “Industry Baby” notching over 100 million streams on the platform.

🚨 | Lil Nas X reached 52 MILLION monthly listeners and surpassed DaBaby to become Spotify's most listened to male rapper. pic.twitter.com/obsbHBd22E

— Lil Nas X Stats 👶🏾 (@lilnasxstats) August 10, 2021

“Wow this is insane,” Nas X tweeted of the achievement. This is the most I’ve ever had in my career. Thank u to everybody listening.” 

While the win was the latest in a long line for Nas X, who has persevered and dominated in an industry many thought would limit him because of his revelation and ultimate embrace of his sexuality as a gay man — including of course his country rap powerhouse single “Old Town Road” which in 2019 became the longest-running (19 weeks) number-one song since the Billboard Hot 100 chart debuted in 1958, the news was another blow to DaBaby’s recently spiraling career following homophobic comments he made July 25 at his Rolling Loud concert appearance:

If you didn't show up today with HIV/AIDS, or any of them deadly sexually transmitted diseases that'll make you die in two to three weeks, then put your cell phone light in the air,” he said during his performance. “Fellas, if you ain’t suck a n-gga dick in the parking lot, put your cell phone lights in the air. Keep it f*cking real.

The rapper also brought out Megan Thee Stallion’s alleged shooter Tory Lanez to perform some of her songs during the set, which may have violated Megan’s restraining order against her assailant. 

In addition to drawing a scathing rebuke from Elton John, Dua Lipa, whom he collaborated on with on their smash hit “Levitation,” disavowed him, and festivals including Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, Day N Vegas, iHeartRadio Music Festival and more dropped him from their lineup.

DaBaby later apologized for the incident through an Instagram post writing:

Social media moves so fast that people want to demolish you before you even have the opportunity to grow, educate, and learn from your mistakes. As a man who has had to make his own way from very difficult circumstances, having people I know publicly working against me—knowing that what I needed was education on these topics and guidance—has been challenging. I appreciate the many people who came to me with kindness, who reached out to me privately to offer wisdom, education, and resources. That’s what I needed and it was received.

I want to apologize to the LGBTQ+ community for the hurtful and triggering comments I made. Again, I apologize for my misinformed comments about HIV/AIDS and I know education on this is important. Love to all. God Bless.

- DaBaby

It’s hard to judge how sincere the post was since it was later removed by DaBaby.

While DaBaby’s future may be in doubt, Nas X is just getting an inkling of an idea of where his career might take him beyond music, and one of those places is your television.

“I definitely want to get into acting, but I feel I have to give it my all, and I want to focus on music for right now. I want my first movie to be amazing,” Nas X told Variety, after revealing to the magazine that he was going to do the hit HBO drama “Euphoria” before deciding he didn’t want to take time away from finishing his album, adding in a tweet on Wednesday, “BTW this was not me saying I’m too good for Euphoria, that’s literally one of my favorite shows right now."

btw this was not me saying im too good for euphoria, that’s literally one of my favorite shows right now. https://t.co/JSVyQRgQzQ

— nope 👶🏾 (@LilNasX) August 11, 2021

New Deal Paves Way for Release of Hip Hop Icons De La Soul's Music to Streaming

 

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De La Soul is finally going digital.

After years of infighting between the hip hop trio and their label Tommy Boy, the group revealed Tuesday during an Instagram live session that its whole catalogue will be made available for streaming this year.

"We have finally come down to a deal between ourselves and Reservoir Media to release our music in 2021," group member Dave "Trugoy" Jolicoeur said. "Our catalog will be released this year, we are working diligently with the good folks at Reservoir, and we sat down with them and got it done pretty quickly actually."

Made up of Jolicoeur, Kelvin "Posdnuos" Mercer and Vincent "Maseo" Mason, De Las Soul were pioneers of alternative rap and prominent members of the so-called Native Tongues collective, along with A Tribe Called Quest, The Jungle Brothers and others known for the positive Afrocentric lyrics, eclectic samples and jazz influenced beats. A 2006 collaboration with the Gorillaz on the single “Feel Good Inc.” earned it a Grammy.

De La Soul (Photo Courtesy Instagram: @wearedelasoul)

Reservoir acquired Tommy Boy — founded by Tom Silverman in New York in 1981 and instrumental in launching the careers of Afrika Bambaataa, Queen Latifah, Digital Underground and Naughty By Nature amongst others — in June for a deal valued at $100 million dollars.

The purchase proved fortunate for De La Soul, to an impasse in negotiations with Tommy Boy over streaming rights in 2019 after the label acquired the rights to its back catalogue from Warner Records. 

Up till then the latter’s reluctance to clear samples and renegotiate contracts, according to Posdnuos, had kept it from being made available to stream. Tommy Boy planned to remedy that, but the deal was unpalatable to De La Soul.

“I don’t know what [Tommy Boy’s] deals were with clearing samples, but back then a lot was probably done on a handshake, especially when you’re an independent [record label],” said De La Soul’s DJ Maseo during an appearance on SiriusXM’s Sway in the Morning at the time. He added, "Now it’s 2019…but there are still some infractions around the catalog, things we’re sure aren’t cleared, that might have new potential issues. Also, what’s on the table [contractually] for De La Soul is unfavorable, especially based on the infractions that have taken place, the bills that exist over time. And we have continued to pay the price, and that’s one of our big concerns.”

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The pressure from De La Soul, its fans and celebrity supporters were enough to quash the effort, which was planned to coincide with the 30th anniversary of their debut “3 Feet High & Rising.”