Police Used A Drill Music Video to Arrest 20 Alleged Gang Members As Part of ‘Operation Drilly’
Aspiring rappers are said to be incriminating themselves on drill rap songs, and police are using the lyrics as evidence for indictments.
On Thursday, April 7, 20 people, including four teenagers, were charged with various violent crimes throughout the Bronx, Norwood Newsreports. The defendants are all alleged members of the G-Side/Drilly gang, a subset of the Bloods Sex Money Murder gang that allegedly carried out 32 offenses between Sept. 20, 2018, and March 15, 2022.
NYPD
The indictment includes charges of conspiracy, murder, manslaughter, attempted murder, criminal possession of a weapon, reckless endangerment, assault, attempted assault, and grand larceny. The crimes reportedly killed two people and left six injured.
According to reports, Lee Drilly, a teen rapper based out of New York City, was among the group of 20 alleged gang members taken into police custody and named in the 82-count indictment. In an investigation dubbed “Operation Drilly,” police used Drilly’s music as evidence of a series of killings, including the deaths of 20-year-old Delila Vasquez in 2021 and 24-year-old James Rivera in 2020.
18 guns recovered and 20 Alleged G-Side/Drilly Gang Members Indicted for 32 acts of violence including Murders, Non-fatal Shootings and Stabbings in Fordham/Bedford Park area. Listen to the announcement from DA Clark and the NYPD @NYPDnewspic.twitter.com/BBEAMeiwLL
— Bronx DA Darcel D. Clark (@BronxDAClark) April 7, 2022
During the arrests, authorities recovered 18 firearms, and three defendants were also charged for allegedly committing an act of violence on Rikers Island.
“These defendants allegedly engaged in dozens of acts of violence, including murder and attempted murder, over the last three years, with the most recent just a few weeks ago,” Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark said.
“The defendants allegedly committed multiple shootings, some in broad daylight, killing two people and injuring innocent bystanders.”
If convicted of the top count of first-degree conspiracy, four of the defendants face a minimum of 15 to 25 years to a maximum of life in prison. Three defendants were arraigned on Tuesday, April 5.
The arrests resemble that of rapper Bobby Shmurda who was released from prison in 2021 after serving seven years. The Brooklyn rapper’s 2014 arrest came at the height of his career following the release of his hit single “Hot Ni**a.”
In the song, Shmurda is said to have named a few of his co-defendants who were charged in connection with violent crimes.
City of Nashville to Make Juneteenth A Paid Holiday
In recognition of Juneteenth becoming an official holiday in Nashville, the city will offer it as a paid holiday to residents.
On Tuesday, the Metro Civil Service Commission (CSC) granted approval to recognize Juneteenth as a formal Metro holiday for all civil service status employees, WKRN reported.
Nashville Mayor John Cooper will join members of the CSC on Thursday to sign the directive.
Juneteenth celebrates the end of slavery in the United States. It was first celebrated in Texas on June 19, 1865, when slaves were made aware that they were declared free under the terms of the 1862 Emancipation Proclamation after the Civil War.
A proposal to make Juneteenth a statewide holiday was stalled by Tennessee’s GOP-controlled General Assembly in February, WKRN reported. Tennessee currently recognizes 11 state holidays that typically come at a cost to taxpayers due to state employee compensation.
If Juneteenth were to become a paid holiday statewide, it would cost Tennessee an estimated $474,000 per year. The bill was supported by House Democratic Minority Leader Karen Camper.
“I was really appreciative of him deciding it was important to not only observe the holiday but to make it an official day off and actually fund it in the budget,” Camper said after the bill was stalled in February.
The GOP-run House took the bill “off notice,” which stalled it for the remainder of the session.
Governor Bill Lee was hoping to see the legislation to make Juneteenth a holiday in Tennessee go through the full committee process.
“There’s a federal holiday there and in order to be consistent with that very important day in our country’s history we felt it important to have a state holiday as well,” Lee said.
President Joe Biden signed a bill making Juneteenth a federal holiday in 2021, CNBC reported.
“Great nations don’t ignore their most painful moments,” Biden said after signing the bill. “They embrace them.”
Michael Bay: Sony Doubted ‘Bad Boys’ Because Black Actors ‘Don’t Sell Overseas’
If it were up to Sony, there may never have been Bad Boys or any sequels.
According to an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Michael Bay, who directed the Bad Boys movies starting Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, said studio heads at Sony didn’t feel that two Black actors would sell overseas.
The admission came about as Bay discussed his latest project, Ambulance, with EW. He was asked about the infamous “circling shot” that became his trademark. No one had reportedly done a shot like that before Bay used it for 1995’s Bad Boys.
“It gives a weird tension,” he admitted.
“I’ll tell you how that shot came up in Bad Boys. Sony didn’t believe in the movie, because two Black actors don’t sell overseas. They had no faith in it. I was watching James Cameron‘s True Lies and I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, this guy has so much money. I have only $9 million.’ And they shut me down, literally. They shut the power off. That’s how rude they were on this movie. Luckily I had 500 days of film set experience doing videos, commercials, working with some of the most famous athletes in the world, and that’s where you really truly know how to deal with a–holes.”
The Armageddon director was asked how he came up with the idea for shooting the scene in the way he did.
“So I remember we’re driving our van. The line producer, he didn’t like me. I don’t think he liked anybody. I said, ‘Stop the car! Stop the van.’ And he’s coming up to me, the line producer, saying, ‘What are you doing, Michael? We don’t have time for this,’ I’m like, ‘This is going to be the trailer shot.’ For some reason, I just came up with this shot as we’re driving. And I said, ‘Where’s the circle trolley? Get the circle trolley.’ And we made this round move and you guys rise up and it became a very famous shot. People try to imitate it, but it was a seminal moment. Bad Boys literally changed the game on Black actors. It’s the first movie that really traveled overseas.”
Hampton University Names Alumnus and Retired Three-Star General Darrell Williams as New President
U.S. Army retired Lieutenant General Darrell K. Williams, a 1983 graduate of Hampton University, will serve as the institution’s next president.
Williams, chosen president on Mar. 30 by the university’s Board of Trustees, brings four decades of proven success in leading complex military and commercial business enterprises, as well as nonprofit and academic leadership experience, Board of Trustees Chairman Wes Coleman said.
“Running a university is complex, as was made evident by the global pandemic. When President Harvey told us of his decision to retire, we knew we wanted to build upon what he has accomplished,” said Coleman.
“We embarked on a search for a proven strategic leader. The skills Lt. Gen. Williams is bringing to Hampton encompass what institutions of our size need. In a global world increasingly dependent on technology, this kind of strategic leadership expertise and knowledge can only help to move our institution forward over the coming decades.”
Williams will succeed President William R. Harvey, who retires on June 30 after leading Hampton for 44 years, according to a press release.
Williams said he is honored to be chosen as Hampton’s 13th president and is looking forward to “returning to serve.”
“I love Hampton and bring a wealth of strategic leadership experiences, including management of large global organizations, as well as the academic and nonprofit experience necessary to successfully lead the university,” Williams said.
“I am thrilled to have been selected as the next president. I will work tirelessly with students, faculty, staff, alumni, and the broader community to prepare our graduates for today and for the continuously evolving, technology-driven workforce of tomorrow.”
Williams, of Alexandria, Va., is a vice president and managing director of Leidos, a Fortune 250 technology company. He oversees the U.K. Ministry of Defence Logistics Commodities and Services Transformation (LCST) programme, providing global logistical support to U.K. military forces.
Williams attributes his business and leadership roles at Leidos with helping to prepare him for this next exciting chapter at Hampton.
Williams retired from the U.S. Army in 2020 after 37 years of service. His last leadership position was as the first African American and 19th director of the Department of Defense’s Defense Logistics Agency (DLA). He oversaw a global workforce of over 26,000 civilian and military professionals. Under his watch, the DLA annually provided over $40 billion in global logistical support to all U.S. military services, designated international partner and allied military services, and 42 U.S. government organizations and federal agencies. During the early stages of the pandemic, the DLA provided over $1 billion in COVID-19 relief to the DoD and other federal agencies.
From 2015 to 2017, Williams led the Army Combined Arms Support Command and the Fort Lee, Va., military installation. There, he was responsible for Army Logistics University and the Professional Military Education and training of thousands of Army logistics junior officer, warrant officer and non-commissioned officer students. Additionally, he led the installation’s strategic engagement with the Richmond, Petersburg, Hopewell, and Colonial Heights communities, and he assured the welfare and safety of the over 25,000 students, staff and faculty, families, and support organizations.
Early in his career he served as a leadership and logistics instructor at Fort Lee and was named as an Army instructor of the year, one of his many awards.
Williams, a native of West Palm Beach, Fla., earned his bachelor’s degree in 1983 at then-Hampton Institute. Williams also holds three graduate school degrees: a master’s in business administration from Pennsylvania State University; a master’s in military art and science from the Army Combined and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kan.; and a master’s in national security strategy (distinguished graduate) from the National War College, Fort McNair, Wash., D.C.
Selection process
Williams was chosen from almost 300 applicants. The Board of Trustees created a presidential search committee in January 2021, after Dr. Harvey announced his retirement. Storbeck Search of Diversified Search Group, a media, Pennsylvania-based firm, led the university’s initial selection process.
Based on a select set of competencies and through interviews, the applicants were narrowed to a pool of 15 and then three finalists. These three candidates were presented to the Board of Trustees. The board voted Williams as president at the end of March, and he accepted the position on Apr. 8.
Personal life
Williams met his wife, Myra Richardson Williams, while attending Hampton. She also graduated from the university in 1983 with a bachelor’s degree. The couple, married in 1987, will be the first president and first lady to both hold Hampton degrees.
While a student, Williams was Mister Freshman 1979, a three-year Reserve Officer Training (ROTC) scholarship cadet, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and senior class president. Myra Williams was a four-year member of the Hampton concert choir and a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
The couple has two grown children. Their daughter Jocelyn Williams Cooper and her husband, Gerron E. Cooper, reside in Springville, Va. Their son Colin E. Williams is a lawyer and works in New York City.
Florida Mother Strangles Her Two Children to Death, Tells Cops ‘I Don’t Want Them Anymore’
A Florida mother is in police custody after strangling her two young children to death and telling police that she “don’t want them anymore.”
Odette Joassaint, 41, was arrested on Tuesday night after police arrived at her Miami apartment in response to several hang-up calls to 911, WSVN reports. Police found a 3-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl “lying in bed in a prone position, with their arms, legs, and necks tied.”
Joassaint told the police, “Come get them. I don’t want them anymore,” in reference to two children that appeared to be unresponsive.
Joassaint confessed to killing Laural Belval, 5, and Jeffrey Belval, 3, Miami Herald reports. The mother tied the children’s arms, legs, and necks together and used a red ribbon to strangle them to death, she told detectives.
“Officers located to find out what was going on when they found a female that appeared to be irate or going through a crisis,” Miami Police Officer Michael Vega said.
“Officers looked inside the apartment, where the calls were coming from, and observed two minor children that appeared to be unresponsive. Fire rescue was called to the scene and they declared that both children were deceased.”
Miami Fire Rescue confirmed that someone called 911 several times Tuesday night between 8:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. A woman who identified herself as the children’s godmother said Joussaint was facing mental health issues and begged her to adopt the children.
The kids’ father, Frantzy Belval, is crushed and mourning the tragic loss of his two young children. He said they lived with Joassaint full time and would visit him once a week on Saturdays.
“They loved me so much,” Belval said. “Every week, I buy clothes for the kids.”
Belval said Joussaint was unstable and hadn’t worked for the last year. He said she begged him to let her move in with him.
“I told her, ‘You are crazy. You create too much problems,’” Belval said.
Joassaint now faces two counts of first-degree murder.
House GOP Kills Effort To Name Federal Courthouse In Tallahassee After Justice Joseph W. Hatchett
A bill to name a federal courthouse in Florida after JusticeJoseph W. Hatchett, the first Black man to serve on the state Supreme Court, was killed as Republicans pulled their support.
According to the New York Times, the bill was sponsored by the state’s two Republican senators and supported by its 27 House members. It was set to become law with broad bipartisan support, however, at the last minute, Republicans pulled their support with no explanation, leaving many upset and others wondering what happened.
Rep. Vern Buchanan (R), who co-sponsored the bill, couldn’t explain why he voted against his bill, answering “I don’t know,” when he was pressed by reporters.
According to multiple reports, the effort to kill the bill was led by right-wing, first-term Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA), who mounted a last-minute effort by persuading his colleagues that Judge Hatchett was undeserving of the honor. Just before the House vote was taken, Clyde began circulating an Associated Press article from 1999 about an appeals court decision written by Hatchett striking down a public school policy allowing student-approved prayers at graduation ceremonies in Florida.
Hatchett’s decision overruled a lower court decision saying the policy violated constitutional protections of freedom of religion. Clyde told reporters he didn’t agree with Hatchett’s decision.
“I don’t agree with that. That’s it. I just let the Republicans know that information on the House floor. I have no idea if they knew that or not,” Clyde said.
Clyde has made other controversial statements during his short time in office, calling the Jan. 6 Capitol Riot a tourist visit and voting against a resolution to give Capitol police officers who responded that day a Congressional Gold Medal. Clyde also voted against the Emmett Till Antilynching Act and making Juneteenth a federal holiday.
Other Republicans quickly followed Clyde as the bill failed by a vote of 283 to 187, with 89 percent of Republicans opposing the bill.
Before Clyde’s discovery, several Republicans praised Hatchett’s career and life, including Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, one of the bill’s sponsors. Rubio said the judge and Army veteran, who died last year, “lived an inspiring life of service.”
Sen. Rick Scott (R-L), who co-sponsored the bill, praised the life of Hatchett after the bill passed the Senate last December.
“I want to thank my colleagues for unanimously passing my bill with Senator Rubio to honor the life and legacy of Judge Joseph Woodrow Hatchett by affixing his name to the federal courthouse in Tallahassee,” Scott said.
Hatchett, a Florida A&M and Harvard Law School alumnus, could not stay at the hotel where he took the bar exam in 1959 due to Jim Crow laws. During his legal career, Hatchett served as a competing attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and served in the U.S. Marine Corps as a lieutenant colonel and judge advocate.
President Jimmy Carter nominated Hatchett to the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in 1979, making him the first Black man to serve on a circuit covering the deep South. He was also the first African American to serve on the Florida Supreme Court, and the first successfully retained on the Florida Supreme Court in a statewide election.
Never Give Up: Texas College Student Who Was Stripped of Her HS Valedictorian Status Is Set To Graduate In May
In 2018, Destiny Brannon proudly assumed the valedictorian role at her Texas high school, only to be told that miscalculations dropped her third in rank. The disqualification sparked outrage and prompted ample support and donations, helping her get to where she is today—one step closer to college graduation with almost no debt.
“Everything ended out working perfectly,” Brannon told WFAA from Austin. “I just feel very blessed and overwhelmed.”
In 2018, Brannon was a graduating senior at DeSoto High School, where she was recognized as a valedictorian and received an honorary plaque. She even delivered a class speech at the commencement ceremony, hopeful that her first-year tuition at the University of Texas at Austin would be waived.
It wasn’t until she attended the university’s freshman orientation that the young scholar was informed the district had miscalculated the class end-of-the-year transcripts and her revised scores landed her in third place.
However, Brannon’s mother believes that the school district intentionally changed the ranking in retaliation to Brannon’s controversial graduation speech that criticized the school’s “subpar teachers” and the district’s support of the “idea that sports are somehow more important than education.”
In a statement at the time, DeSoto ISD said that it “regrets that it failed to ensure that systems were in place to prevent this from occurring, but has since worked diligently to ensure that those at fault have been held accountable and that there is a system and process in place to verify student academic ranking as based on grades, grade point average and course weighting,” as perThe Philadelphia Tribune.
Brannon felt embarrassed by the mistake. But she was more worried about her ineligibility status for the state’s scholarship assistance that would have helped ease her freshman year costs at the university, which were then $25,134, WFAA reported. Brannon’s family, unfortunately, was unable to help with the costs, so they took action.
A GoFundMe was created to raise money to help pay for tuition at UT. While her goal was $25,000, Brannon ultimately received doubled the donations with over $40,000, and one donor blessed the pot with $10,000.
“I made sure to thank everyone who donated,” Brannon said. “I just felt so blessed and overwhelmed.”
Brannon’s blessings continued to pour in when UT acknowledged her story. They paid for all of her undergrad books and housing for four years.
Now four years later, Brannon is anticipating her graduation in May. She will be attending nursing school in Dallas at Baylor.
“I hope that one day I’m able to give back in some large capacity, as everyone gave to me.”
She Got The Fever: WNBA Drafts Ameshya Williams-Holliday As Its First HBCU Pick In 20 Years
Monday night’s 2022 WNBA draft was a historical moment for many schools, including Jackson State University.
Ameshya Williams-Holliday, a Jackson State University (JSU) senior, was the first HBCU pick in 20 years when she was selected 25th in the third round by the Indiana Fever, making this achievement monumental, CNN reported.
“It’s an honor, a dream come true, and a blessing to be able to be a part of history and to be able to open doors for our HBCU community,” Williams-Holliday said in a statement to the news outlet.
“Being a trailblazer feels amazing, but there is so much more to accomplish.”
Upon hearing the news late Monday, the new Indiana Fever draft pick was excited to share the celebratory news with her family and friends in Gulfport, Mississippi.
“I’m grateful, I’m thankful, and I just want to thank everybody that helped me through this journey and kept pushing me to keep going and never give up,” Williams-Holliday said.
I JUST WANT TO THANK GOD. IT SEEM SO UNREAL🥺. BUT I DID IT YALL ‼️💯#IGOTTHEFEVER🔥
#6
Among her historic draft pick, Williams-Holliday reigns as a three-time Southwestern Atlantic Conference defensive player of the year and the 2021-22 season’s player of the year.
“I’m very grateful for this opportunity to continue my career on the next level and, most importantly, to continue to be a great example for my son Jace and my younger siblings and for the kids in my community,” she said. “I want every HBCU athlete to never lose hope and to know anything is possible.”
Since the WNBA’s founding in 1996, only five players from HBCUs have been drafted. Two players hailed from Howard University: Denique Graves in 1997 and Karen Wilkins in 1998.
In 2002, three players were selected: Andrea Gardner from Howard University, Amba Kongolo from North Carolina Central University, and Jacklyn Winfield from Southern University and A&M College.
With only 36 draft slots annually, approximately 13% of draft-eligible players are from the Power Five conferences, according to 2020 NCAA stats.
“I think if I was at a Power 5 school, it would be a different story of me being drafted or trying to get my foot in (the WNBA),” Williams-Holliday said in an interview last week with ESPN’s Andscape.
“People think (HBCUs) can’t compete with other top institutions (or) a Power 5 school, but that’s not true,” she said. “I think we deserve to be on the same level. I do think if I was still at Mississippi State, I would be a first-round draft pick.”
Man Being Investigated For Brooklyn Subway Shooting Posted Videos Discussing Mass Shooting, Violence
Frank James has been upgraded to a suspect in the Brooklyn subway shooting after authorities discovered YouTube videos of James discussing violence and mass shootings.
Authorities named James after discovering that he rented a U-Haul van whose keys were found at the 36th Street subway station in Brooklyn where the incident occurred.
CNN reports the New York Police Department (NYPD) is currently investigating whether James is the shooter or has any connection to the shooter.
NYPD Crimestoppers used a screenshot from one of the YouTube videos for a flier shared on television and the internet. In another video, James posted a City of New York ID card. James also posted a video the day before the shooting, talking about someone who engaged in violence and ended up in jail. In the video, James said he could identify with the man but did not want to end up in jail.
“I’ve been through a lot of s**t, where I can say I wanted to kill people. I wanted to watch people die right in front of my f**king face immediately. But I thought about the fact that, hey man, I don’t want to go to no f**king prison,” James, 62, said in the video.
James’s videos on YouTube included references to violence, broad societal and racial groups he appeared to hate, abuse in churches, racism in the workplace, and used misogynistic and racist language. James also criticized New York City MayorEric Adams for his treatment of homeless people, pushing them off the subways and destroying homeless encampments.
NYC subway shooter in a drunk rant he posted on YouTube almost a month ago talking about how white people and black people should have no contact with each other and that white people are angry that black people are no longer slaves pic.twitter.com/JmUOQS5JBk
The shooting occurred early Tuesday morning in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Sunset Park. A man donned a gas mask on an N Train, released a smoke canister, and began shooting as the train approached 36th Street. When the train pulled into the station and the doors opened, passengers hurried off the train in a panic.
At least 10 people were shot, while 13 others sustained injuries in the panic. None of the victims who were shot or injured sustained life-threatening injuries, and authorities noted many of the victims who were shot suffered injuries to their legs and lower body. Police also found undetonated explosive devices at the scene. According to NBC News, a $50,000 reward is being offered for information leading to James. Authorities added that James has addresses in Wisconsin and Philadelphia.
National Recording Registry Inducts Music from Alicia Keys, Ricky Martin, Journey and More in 2022
Alicia Keys’ debut album “Songs in A Minor,” Ricky Martin’s “Livin’ La Vida Loca” and Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin” are some of the unforgettable sounds of the nation’s history and culture joining the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress.
The 2022 class includes important inductions of hip-hop and Latin music, including recordings by Linda Ronstadt, A Tribe Called Quest, Wu-Tang Clan and Buena Vista Social Club.
Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden today named 25 recordings as audio treasures worthy of preservation for all time based on their cultural, historical or aesthetic importance in the nation’s recorded sound heritage, according to a press release.
“The National Recording Registry reflects the diverse music and voices that have shaped our nation’s history and culture through recorded sound,” Hayden said.
“The national library is proud to help preserve these recordings, and we welcome the public’s input. We received about 1,000 public nominations this year for recordings to add to the registry.”
The recordings selected for the National Recording Registry bring the number of titles on the registry to 600, representing a small portion of the national library’s vast recorded sound collection of nearly 4 million items.
The latest selections named to the registry span from 1921 to 2010. They range from rock, pop, R&B, hip-hop, and country to Latin, Motown, jazz, and recordings of history as it happened. In addition to the musical selections, the new class includes the famous speeches of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, WNYC’s broadcasts on 9/11 and a podcast interview with comedian Robin Williams.
Keys described her album, “Songs in A Minor,” as a story and one of her favorite albums as she recalled writing songs like “Troubles,” “Rock wit U,” “A Woman’s Worth” and “Fallin’” in her teens and recording them in her one-bedroom Harlem apartment.
“I’m so honored and grateful that ‘Songs in A Minor,’ the entire album, gets to be recognized as such a powerful body of work that is just going to be timeless,” Keys said of her album’s induction into the registry.
Steve Perry, the lead singer of Journey, grew up in a small California farming town, the son of Portuguese immigrants. He said he was stunned for his parents and grandparents to have “Don’t Stop Believin’” enshrined as one of the nation’s signature recordings and that it’s “one of those ‘only in America’ kind of things.”
“That song, over the years, has become something that has a life of its own,” Perry said.
“It’s about the people who’ve embraced it and found the lyrics to be something they can relate to and hold onto and sing.”
Video interviews featuring Keys, Perry, Marc Maron and Desmond Child, as well as images and audio clips, are available for download at newsroom.loc.gov.
NPR’s “1A” will host several features in the series, “The Sounds of America,” on this year’s selections for the National Recording Registry, including interviews with Hayden and several featured artists in the weeks ahead. Follow the conversation about the registry on Twitter and Instagram and #NatRecRegistry.
Listen to many of the recordings on your favorite streaming service. The Digital Media Association, a member of the National Recording Preservation Board, has compiled a list of some streaming services with National Recording Registry playlists here: dima.org/national-recording-registry-2022-inductees/.
Defining Sounds of Hip-Hop
Several recordings joining the registry were influential in helping to deepen and grow the genres of rap, hip-hop, and R&B in American culture.
A Tribe Called Quest’s 1991 album, “The Low End Theory” was the group’s second studio release and came to be seen as a definitive fusion of jazz and rap with its distinctive sound.
“We are honored to have our work added to the prestigious National Recording Registry amongst so many other astounding works,” said rapper Q-Tip.
“We are humbled and grateful for this acknowledgement. Thank you so, so much.”
Wu-Tang Clan’s 1993 album “Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)” would shape the sound of hardcore rap and reasserted the creative capacity of the East Coast rap scene. The group’s individual artists would go on to produce affiliated projects that deepened the group’s influence for decades in hip-hop.
By 2001, the young singer-songwriter Alicia Keys released her debut album, “Songs in A Minor” and achieved new independence with record producer Clive Davis in the process. Keys had written and recorded much of the album under a previous record deal, but the label rejected it. Keys described her influences on the album as a “fusion of my classical training, meshed with what I grew up listening to,” which included the jazz from her mother’s record collection, along with the classic R&B and hip-hop that was prevalent in her New York City neighborhood. Keys’ fusion of influences would produce a sound all her own.
“But what is it about (the album) that I think resonates with everybody for so long?” Keys said.
“I just think it was so pure…people hadn’t quite seen a woman in Timberlands and cornrows and really straight 100% off of the streets of New York performing classical music and mixing it with soul music and R&B…and people could find themselves in it. And I love that.”
Latin Music Reaches New Audiences
The 2022 class also adds a number of defining Latin sounds to the nation’s audio history from legendary artists.
While Linda Ronstadt is best known for her work in country, rock and pop music, she often referenced her Mexican-American roots. In 1987, she paid full tribute to her heritage with her album “Canciones de Mi Padre,” recorded with four distinguished mariachi bands. The album quickly went double platinum, won a Grammy, and is the biggest-selling non-English recording in American recording history. It would also introduce mariachi music to countless new listeners.
“Canciones de Mi Padre is an album I’ve always wanted to make because of my Mexican heritage,” Ronstadt said.
“I love the musical traditions that came with it. I always thought they were world-class songs. And I thought they were songs that the music could transcend the language barrier.”
While she was learning the music and lyrics, Ronstadt said she never worked so hard in her life. By the time she opened a show for the album in San Antonio, it all paid off.
“I looked out to the faces of the audience; it was packed,” Ronstadt said.
“There were three generations of families there. They all sang along with the songs. They knew them all. It was really fun.”
When guitarist Ry Cooder and producer Nick Gold assembled an all-star ensemble of 20 Cuban musicians in 1996, the “Buena Vista Social Club” was reborn to record some of the key Cuban musical styles of son, danzon, and bolero. The album’s surprising popularity helped fuel a resurgence of Cuban and Latin music, propelled the band to concert dates in Amsterdam and New York’s Carnegie Hall, and led to a popular film by director Wim Wenders.
Soon after, a young Puerto Rican named Ricky Martin would become the “original Latin Crossover King,” paving the way for the globalization of Latin pop with his first major U.S. release, “Livin’ La Vida Loca,” a worldwide smash hit in 1999. Written by Draco Rosa and Desmond Child, the song went No. 1 in 20 countries and was certified platinum in the U.S., the UK and Australia. It remained at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for five consecutive weeks and would help define Martin’s career. Later, it was named the ASCAP Song of the Year, the BMI Latin Awards Song of the Year and would win four Grammys.
“I believe that the energy of a movement is what dominates in that song about Latinos, the empowerment of Latinos,” Rosa, the song’s co-writer said in Spanish.
“Life is full of great suffering, and ‘La Vida Loca’ is the total opposite. Let’s live it up, right?!”
History as it Happens
The recordings added to the registry also include sounds of history as it happened. New to the registry this year are the complete presidential speeches of President Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1933 to 1945, which ranged from events such as the attack on Pearl Harbor to the campaign against polio. His speeches became defining political and social texts of their day.
Public radio station WNYC’s broadcasts from Sept. 11, 2001, also join the recording registry this year. The NPR station from New York City broadcast the chaotic first details of the attack on the World Trade Center from its studios just blocks away, and the station would struggle to keep its signal live because its transmitters were atop one of the towers. Remarkably, the WNYC staff remained on the air throughout the day.
