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Thursday, March 17, 2016
Women’s History Month
JADE BOYKINS / The Gramblinite
Art & Style
CONTACT: [email protected]
Derrick ‘The Great’
KASSANDRA MERRITT
The Gramblinite
Madame C.J.
Walker
(THEN)
Madame C. J. Walker
was a civil rights activist,
philanthropist, entrepreneur
and feminist. She was born
as Sarah Breedlove on Dec.
23, 1867.
Walker had a hard life
growing up and was forced
to move around and work Madame C.J. Walker
hard as an extremely poor
young girl. After her first then
traveled
around
husband died, Walker the South and Southeast
moved with her daughter promoting her products and
to St. Louis, Missouri, and giving lectures, including her
even though she was barely formula form pomade, her
literate, Walker always hair care line and how to use
wanted more for herself and hot combs properly.
her daughter.
The formula contained
It was when she was in a combination of scalp
her late 30s that she began preparation,
application
to deal with hair loss because of lotions, and use of iron
of the tremendous stress she combs that was known as
was constantly under. It was the “Walker System.”
said that Walker explained
Walker
immersed
to family and friends that herself in Harlem’s social
she prayed to God about and political culture. She
her hair and growing it back, founded
philanthropies
and that she had a dream that included educational
that gave her a formula for a scholarships and donations
new hair product that would to homes for the elderly, the
grow hair back quickly.
National Association for the
She experimented with Advancement of Colored
numerous methods until People, and the National
she eventually developed a Conference on Lynching,
formula that caused her hair among other organizations
to grow back very quickly. focused on improving the
She started to make that same lives of African-Americans.
exact formula for family and
Madame C.J. Walker
friends and started selling died of hypertension on
her formula around the May 25, 1919 at the age of
Southeast with the help of 51. Walker was sole owner
her second husband, Charles of her business, which was
J. Walker, a journalist who valued at more than $1
advertised his wife’s business. million. Today Madame C.J.
It was then that she Walker is widely credited as
decided to change her name the first African American
to Madame C.J. Walker for woman to become a selfbusiness purposes. Walker made millionaire.
“Always be me. Why
change?” is the reason rapper
Derrick Johnson decided not
to go a different route when
it comes to choosing his stage
name.
Johnson, who goes by Lil
Derrick or Lil Derrick The
Great as his rap name, is a
senior mass communication
major with four different
companies and five different mobile apps including
Grambling State’s official
school app.
Johnson, a 26-year-old
New Orleans native, has had
a music career for about 16
years.
Johnson said that another
rapper by the name of GSlim greatly influenced him in
his pursuit to become a music
artist.
“I see he had all the cars,
all the women, he had everything,” said the Westbank
native. “So when I was small
I just automatically knew I
wanted to be like this guy.”
Johnson began his own
group called Kill Tracks Entertainment in 2005.
According to Johnson,
out of all the members in his
group, he believed he was
the most passionate person
among them.
He began putting out
mixtapes in only his freshmen
year of high school.
He began charging his
studio for other artists to
record in.
Other friends of his, who
are also engineers, taught him
how to make beats, record,
mix and master songs.
“That was a trade I
basically picked up at a very
young age.”
Courtesy photo
Johnson claimed he was
one of the only people with a
studio back in his early years
of high school.
“Not many people had
studios back then, and if they
did, they didn’t know how to
work it,” said Johnson.
He eventually signed a
2 1/2 year contract with
a record deal with Project
Records.
“It was a process of how
I learned how to run my own
record label and just get an
insight of the business side
and how to run my own
shows and build my own fan
base,” said Johnson.
While performing at many
shows in New Orleans, it became a conflict with school.
He dropped out in his
senior year.
“The school thing wasn’t
for me at all,” said Johnson,
“but I wanted to try something different.”
Upon the ending of his
contract, Johnson admitted
that he began selling drugs.
This was a period in his
life where Johnson said that
he wanted to find himself.
“…at that time, I really
was hustling and selling marijuana and stuff so, I’ve got to
get out of New Orleans and
stop hustling and just rap.”
He decided to try high
school again in 2009 and
graduated in 2010.
While still pursuing a music career, he released another
mixtape called Rap or Trap,
which was based on his true
experiences with drugs and
his music career.
“Either you rap or trap,”
said Johnson. “Most of the
time I was doing both.”
Many of his friends
inspired him to continue and
stick with rapping. One of his
main supporters was a friend,
Ace Boogie. He lost his life
after a gunshot struck him in
front of their old high school.
“He was someone who
let me know all the time to
pursue rapping.”
Johnson said this inspired
him even more as an artist.
Johnson’s latest project,
“Catching Feelings,” is on
YouTube.
Natural is the way!
Ming Lee
(NOW)
Ming Lee was born in
Detroit, Michigan, on Sept.
29, 1992, and was mostly
reared by her father and
her adopted grandmother.
Starting out as a young girl
she always knew she wanted
the finer things in life.
Ming worked plenty of
odd jobs throughout high Ming Lee
school, and after she went
with her grandmother to a beginning of her fortune.
fami