National R&B Hall of Fame Being Built in Mississippi

A digital rendering provided by A2H Engineers, Architects, of the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame.

State Often Called 'Birthplace of American Music' to House R&B Hall of Fame

The National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame recently announced that it has secured a deal to build a
world-class complex to house the institution dedicated to honoring the careers of R&B icons.

Marks, a Mississippi Delta town with a population of fewer than 2,000 people, is where the NRBHF headquarters' will be built. A groundbreaking ceremony for the hall will kick off the city's annual Mules & Blues Fest on Sept. 30. Planners hope to finish the project in two or three years.

"There is no other hall of fame in the world that is primarily focused and dedicated to the history of R&B music on a national scale," LaMont Robinson, CEO of the NRBHF, said in an Aug. 18, press release. "My vision to build a hall of fame to honor R&B and its contributions to civil rights, America, and the entire world is something that I don't take lightly."

Robinson added that one of the reasons Marks was chosen for the site was its connection to civil rights history.

"R&B goes hand and hand with the Civil Rights Movement, and one of the reasons for choosing Marks is the role that it played in Dr. Martin Luther King's 'Poor People's Campaign," he said.

In 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. began his Poor People's Campaign, which demanded economic justice for poor Americans of all backgrounds, in the town. Less than a week before his assassination, while delivering what would be his final Sunday sermon on March 31, 1968, King described what he had seen in Marks in a powerful speech.

"I was in Marks, Mississippi the other day, which is in Quitman County, the poorest county in the United States. And I tell you I saw hundreds of black boys and black girls walking the streets with no shoes to wear," King, speaking at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., said. "I saw their mothers and fathers ... They raised a little money here and there; trying to get a little food to feed the children; trying to teach them a little something."

The effort, which was partially bankrolled by a GoFundMe campaign, the city also donated five (of a possible 30) acres of land to the project, and it has benefited from a $500,000 state grant, is the culmination of a 50-year effort to build a hall of fame dedicated to R&B musicians.

Founded by Robinson in 2010, the NRBHF has inducted over 200 since 2013.

R&B diva Dionne Warwick, a 2019 inductee, praised the news that Robinson's vision is finally coming into focus.

"First, let me say that I am honored to be included amongst the incredibly talented artists that hold the distinction of being inducted into the National Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame," she said. "It goes without saying, that the importance of this hall of fame being established gives recognition to the bodies of music that we as artists have been able to share with many who have and continue to support our careers."

Fetty Wap to Spend a Minimum of Five Years in Prison After Pleading Guilty to Federal Drug Charges

Rapper Fetty Wap, seen here in a 2019 mugshot, has 

plead guilty to drug trafficking. 

Rapper Fetty Wap will spend at least five years in prison after pleading guilty in federal court Monday to conspiracy to possess and distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine.

The charge carries a mandatory five-year prison sentence, but the 31-year-old "Trap Queen" artist could face up to 40 years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines.

Wap — whose real name is Willie Junior Maxwell II — and five co-defendants were accused of conspiring to possess and distribute more than 220 pounds of heroin, fentanyl and crack cocaine between June 2019 and June 2020.

Prosecutors allege the defendants used the U.S. Postal Service and cars with hidden compartments to move drugs from the West Coast to Long Island, where they were stored for distribution to dealers on Long Island and in New Jersey.

The plea comes two weeks after the artist, who had been released on a $500,000 bond following his arrest in October, was returned to jail for threatening to kill someone and brandishing a gun during a FaceTime call in December.

A sentencing date has yet to be set by the court, but an attorney for the rapper has requested the process be expedited.

Wap's 2015 eponymous debut album thrust him to the forefront of the music world. The album reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart and featured four Billboard Hot 100 top 40 singles, including the diamond-certified "Trap Queen" which peaked at No. 2. and earned the musician two Grammy nominations.

'Goodbye Horses' Singer Q Lazzarus Has Reportedly Died

Q Lazzarus AKA Diane Luckey

Q Lazzarus is dead and this time there will be no coming back.

Diane Luckey — the woman behind the enigmatic figure that once captured the imagination of the music world — has passed away at 59.

According to an obituary released by New Jersey's Jackson Funeral Home, the Garden State native died on July 19, following a short illness.

Born in Neptune, New Jersey, on Dec. 12, 1962, she leaves behind "Goodbye Horses," a single that became a cult hit after its use as a soundtrack to a pivotal moment in 1991's "The Silence of the Lambs."

Her disappearance following the success of the song, made possible only by a fateful cab ride with the movie's director, Jonathan Demme, was one of music's greatest mysteries until the efforts of persistent journalists Kelsey Chapstick and Thomas Gorton, got her to come out of her self-imposed exile in 2018 and set the record straight.

“Hi, sorry to bother you. I just wanted people to know I am still alive, I have no interest in singing anymore. I am a bus driver in Staten Island (I have been for YEARS), I see hundreds of passengers everyday so I am hardly hiding (or dead!)," she wrote to Chapstick in a direct message on Twitter. "I have given Thomas Gorton (Dazed) my fone number and address just to confirm I am ‘real’, sorry if this is a boring end to the story, I am going to come off twitter soon as I find it odd, please take note of this message incase anyone else is interested. THANK YOU."

The duo did not take Luckey at her word. Lazzarus had been famously private and was never billed by her real name during her career. Following their investigation, however, the two were convinced of the woman's sincerity, even though Luckey, nor her family, cooperated with them further.

It was a wild reveal. During her time away from music fan theories had run rampant as to the reason. The fact that she never collected royalties that were due to her for her song deepened the mystery. Even the songs writer, and Luckey's former bandmate in Q Lazzarus and the Resurrection, William Garvey, speculated she had died before he passed away in 2009.

Her obituary filled in some of the gaps in her story. It reveals Luckey moved to New York City at the age of 18 and "immediately started working at Sigma Sounds Studio as a backup singer and writing jingles for commercials. Shortly thereafter, she started writing songs, recording music, and headlining concerts under the name Q Lazzarus."

It was during this time in the 1980s that she connected with Demme during one of the many side gigs she used to support her music career. She picked up the director while working as a cabbie and played him her demo. The director was immediately infatuated with the music and used the song “Candle Goes Away” in his 1986 film "Something Wild."

When Luckey’s signature song, "Goodbye Horses", was released in 1988, it was included in Demme's film "Married to the Mob." It did not become a cult hit, though, until its inclusion in 1991's Oscar winner for best picture, "The Silence of the Lambs."

After appearing in Demme’s next film, 1993’s Philadelphia, as a musician covering the Talking Heads’ “Heaven,” Luckey disappeared from public view.

During that time the multi-talented instrumentalist moved to London and toured before moving on to other pursuits, including a long journey through South America and six months spent on a fishing boat in Alaska, according to her obituary:

She also performed at and hosted many parties at large clubs and arenas in London and collaborated with her friend Danny Z on house music tracks when back in the United States.

At the time of her death, Diane was finishing work on a feature documentary about her life and music with filmmaker and friend, Eva Aridjis. 

The film is scheduled to be released in 2023, along with an album of songs spanning her entire musical career.