{"id":34735,"date":"2022-08-12T23:57:08","date_gmt":"2022-08-12T23:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/?p=34735"},"modified":"2022-08-12T23:57:08","modified_gmt":"2022-08-12T23:57:08","slug":"longtime-memphis-rapper-princess-loko-died-in-obscurity-will-a-beyonce-feature-grant-her-the-renaissance-shes-overdue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/12\/longtime-memphis-rapper-princess-loko-died-in-obscurity-will-a-beyonce-feature-grant-her-the-renaissance-shes-overdue\/","title":{"rendered":"Longtime Memphis rapper Princess Loko died in obscurity. Will a Beyonc\u00e9 feature grant her the ‘Renaissance’ she’s overdue?"},"content":{"rendered":"

[ad_1]<\/p>\n

\n

This\u00a0profile of Princess Loko<\/a>\u00a0was originally published by Scalawag Magazine.\u00a0For more reporting that explores the intersection of popular\u00a0culture and justice,\u00a0sign up for Scalawag\u2019s pop justice newsletter<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

In May 2020, a woman named Andrea Summers, a mother of three, died in Memphis just two months before her 41st birthday. Local media didn\u2019t cover it; most public reactions came from social media posts, YouTube comments, and\u00a0a GoFundMe page created for her funeral expenses<\/a>. But more people should have paid attention: Andrea Summers is a local legend, known to many people by her rap name, Princess Loko. If you listened to the first track on Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s latest album, \u201cRenaissance,\u201d then you know her now too\u2014\u201cI\u2019m That Girl\u201d<\/a>\u00a0opens with and then underlays a sample of Princess Loko\u2019s verse on the 1995 Tommy Wright III track\u00a0\u201cStill Pimpin.’\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Loko\u2019s rap career spanned a 20-year period, from her first verses in the early \u201990s to a slew of guest features in the mid-2010s. Many of her most famous lines came out before she could buy a beer\u2014her first appearance was when she was 14 years old\u2014spread exclusively through cassette tapes and CDs sold through car stereo shops or mail orders. She put out two solo projects, 2006\u2019s \u201cIt\u2019s All On Me\u201d\u00a0<\/em>and 2012\u2019s \u201cLong Ovadue,<\/em>\u201c\u00a0<\/em>and recorded a tape called \u201cGame Recognize Game\u201d\u00a0<\/em>in 2001, which was never widely released.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As far as I can tell, pretty much every artist she worked with was from Memphis, like her. Many of them came from the same southwest section of the city where she grew up. And her start, her initial success, and her legacy are intertwined with the career of Tommy Wright III\u2014the innovative Memphis rapper, producer, and head of Street Smart Records whose eccentric sound and DIY approach have inspired major Southern rappers like Gucci Mane and Denzel Curry\u2014and earned him a cult following that\u2019s allowed him to claim legend status long after his time in the music business fell apart. Loko was Wright\u2019s\u00a0\u201cchildhood friend,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0he tells fans on Twitter,\u00a0\u201cthe first girl that I produced,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0and a key member of his rap group Ten Wanted Men.<\/p>\n

\n

Her raps documented law enforcement surveillance, nosy neighbors, haters waiting to undercut her success, and the gaze of no-good men who want to use intimate relationships to exert power over her.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Princess Loko\u2019s music with Street Smart Records fits neatly into some major trends coming out of Memphis rap in the \u201990s: fast-paced triplet flows, booming 808 drums, dense bursts of hi-hats, and moody, bleak lyricism. But a couple of things make this early work stand out to me, one of them being that the Street Smart sound is\u00a0weird<\/em>\u2014even among other experimental contemporaries like Three 6 Mafia, who famously sampled horror movie soundtracks and \u201970s soul records. Loko\u2019s style was often off-kilter and forward-thinking, but shared the grimy sensibility of her Memphis rap peers. Her career also foreshadowed some of the styles that define my favorite Southern hip-hop now, running through crime stories and hyping herself up with technical prowess and a unique aesthetic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/i-amphtml-sizer>