The hip-hop world is reeling from the loss of another up-and-coming rapper from Memphis, Tennessee.
Big Scarr has reportedly passed away. He just wrapped up a major year & was preparing to tour with Key Glock and perform at Rolling Loud LA next year. The worst part is that he died right before the holidays.
A member of the 2022 XXL Freshman Class, showcasing rap artists on the rise, Scarr moved toward mainstream success in 2021 with the release of the hit single "SoIcyBoyz," Featuring labelmates Pooh Shiesty, who is also his cousin, and Foogiano.
A mixtape by Scarr, "Big Grim Reaper," was released in April of 2021. It sold 22,000 copies in its first week and peaked at No. 25 on the Billboard 200, and earned him his first charting project.
Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. — often referred to as "The First Couple of Pop and Soul"— are back in the studio making new music.
After making their return to the Billboard charts for the first time in nearly 40 years In 2021 with "Blackbird Lennon-McCartney Icons," which was released on former supermodel and entrepreneur Kathy Ireland's label EE1 BMG, the husband and wife duo are reteaming with its producer Nic Mendoza for an album the label says will be unique.
"This new music will be two records unlike any others," said kathy ireland Worldwide creative director Jon Carrasco and president Stephen Roseberry.
They added, "What we're hearing is exciting everyone," and said that the release of the new music would coincide with the couple getting their second star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Receiving the star, which will make them the only Black artists to have two on the walk, is just the latest in a long line of accomplishments for McCoo and Davis, who begin their careers as the lead singers of iconic vocal pop group The 5th Dimension.
Founded as the Versatiles in 1965, the group had 20 top 40 hits on the Billboard charts. Its "Medley: Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In (The Flesh Failures)" from the group's 1969 album "Age of Aquarius" held No. 1 for six weeks on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart in the spring of that year. The group amassed 14 gold and platinum recordings during its time together.
Following their departure from the group in 1975, they began to record as a duo. Their debut album, "I Hope We Get to Love in Time," produced a chart-topping single in "You Don't Have to Be a Star (to Be in My Show)." It won them the 1976 Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.
They have continued to sing, act and perform in several mediums since then. Davis (84) had a successful gospel music carer and McCoo (79) was the emcee for television's Solid Gold for much of the '80s.
Recently they appeared in "A Waltons Thanksgiving" on the CW together and they will appear in the sequel, "The Waltons' Homecoming", airing on the Hallmark Channel on December 26. They also appeared in Questlove's Oscar-winning film "Summer of Soul," earlier this year.
"Marilyn and Billy continue to break new barriers and amaze with their bionic voices and talent," Ireland said. "It is a great privilege to represent Marilyn and Billy, the only artists who have sustained marriage, recording and television careers in the 1960s, 70s, 80, 90s, 2010s, and 2020s."
Since dropping in 2022 "Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers," the fifth studio album by rap wunderkind Kendrick Lamar, has proved to be one of his most successful.
A critical darling, it has been nominated for eight Grammy Awards including Album of the Year, Best Rap Album, Song of the Year and Record of the Year. It was also the first hip-hop album of 2022 to reach one billion streams on Spotify.
Now, on the heels of the tour for the album — which has been praised as one of the best of his career and was called "the greatest hip-hop show of all time" by The Guardian — Lamar is releasing new visuals for his songs that seem just as well crafted.
The latest is a video accompaniment for the hit "Count Me Out." Co-directed by Lamar along with frequent collaborator Dave Free, the setup finds the rapper in therapy with Helen Mirren and juxtaposes real-life events with the metaphorical symbolism of the song.
Mirren, the Academy Award-winning actress who stars in the upcoming “1923” series opposite Harrison Ford, elevates the premise with her presence alone, while Lamar proves adept at emoting as well visually as he does aurally with the right direction.
