The 901: Remembering Gangsta Boo, Sam Phillips and more

Good morning, Memphis, where the temperature can swing by 70 degrees in just a few days — the type of swing that might make Elvis' pelvis jealous. And where the music plays on, even when the people mourn.

'We love and miss you Lola!'

Admirers and artists around the world and in Memphis in particular continued to pay their respects this week to Lola Chantrelle Mitchell, professionally known as "Gangsta Boo," the 43-year-old rapper who was found dead at a friend's home on Raines Road on New Year's Day. (According to police, the cause and circumstances of the death remain under investigation.)

Spitting lyrics with the staccato cadence of a teletype machine delivering news bulletins (it was Chuck D, remember, who back in the early days of hip-hop described rap as "CNN for Black people"), Mitchell's popularity and influence apparently exceeded even her impressive record sales, as a solo artist and associate of Three 6 Mafia.

"Boo is one of the first to represent female rappers in a major way and still is respected by the new female rappers today like GloRilla and Gloss," Memphis hip-hop veteran Al Kapone told The Commercial Appeal's Micaela Watts, whose news story reporting Mitchell's death was visited by thousands upon thousands upon thousands of readers.

"Gangsta Boo is one of the reasons Memphis rap is global today," Kapone continued. As The Commercial Appeal's Bob Mehr noted, Mitchell — who was raised in Whitehaven — was "deeply respected among hip-hop heads and by her fellow artists" and she collaborated on records by such esteemed hip-hop artists as Eminem, OutKast, Lil Jon and Gucci Mane, among many others.

As evidence, tributes to Gangsta Boo proliferated on social media throughout the week, with the duo of Killer Mike and El-P — collectively known as Run the Jewels — tweeting this video paean Thursday:

'Open' records?

Angele Latham of The Tennessean demonstrated this week that newspaper journalism continues to play a crucial role as a "watchdog" of public interest with a story exposing Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee's arguably excessive use of the "deliberative process privilege" exemption to deny public access to documents and other records that otherwise would be open to all under state law.

According to Latham, Lee has cited the exemption more than 60 times since 2019, "to deny requests from local journalists, residents, and state representatives," in what "experts say is a blow to transparency and public accountability."

“This broad interpretation is not a good thing because it basically lets them take a magic wand, and whatever they don't want to release they just use this phrase over it: ‘deliberative process,'" Deborah Fisher, executive director of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, told Latham. "There’s no limit to what they can keep secret.”

Creeping COVID

Although most people appear to have packed away their masks with their summer shorts and skirts, COVID-19 cases are "creeping up" in the Memphis area during the new year, according to The Commercial Appeal's Corinne Kennedy.

Kennedy reported that flu and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) cases appear to be on the decline, according to health officials, which means Memphis possibly could avoid the "tripledemic" that has been plaguing (so to speak) much of the country this winter.

However, the third element of that triple threat, COVID-19, has been on the rise locally as well as nationally.

Nationally, COVID-19 numbers have been rising in the United States. According to the CDC, there were more than 487,000 new cases reported across the country the week of Christmas. The U.S. was also averaging about 5,000 new daily hospitalizations related to the virus. Writes Kennedy: "In the most recent Shelby County Health Department update, which spans Dec. 25-31, there were 1,183 new cases reported. Cases have been rising slowly but steadily since May. Test positivity rates also spiked in December..."

In addition, "Nationally, COVID-19 numbers have been rising... According to the CDC, there were more than 487,000 new cases reported across the country the week of Christmas. The U.S. was also averaging about 5,000 new daily hospitalizations related to the virus."

Sam's centenary

A significant anniversary occurred Thursday, without much fanfare: Jan. 6, 2023, marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of Sam Phillips, dubbed "The Man Who Invented Rock 'n' Roll" in the subtitle of the biography written by biographer Peter Guralnick, in recognition of Phillips' world-changing work in Memphis, where in the 1950s he recorded music by Howlin' Wolf, Rufus Thomas, Billy Lee Riley, B.B. King, Carl Perkins, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ike Turner and, of course, Elvis Presley.

Memphis music history:Iconic Stax recording console finds new home at Sam Phillips studio

Born in Florence, Alabama (hometown of that other Memphis music master, W.C. Handy), Phillips at his Sun Studio "created the most crucial, uplifting, and powerful records ever made," Bob Dylan wrote in his memoir, "Chronicles." Also some of the most radical, idiosyncratic and strangest. Here's a favorite of mine, from 1951, released by Chess Records but cut at the Phillips' studio by Harmonica Frank, who seems as influenced by Sylvester the Cat as by Jimmie Rodgers:

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: The 901: Gangsta Boo latest; COVID-19 cases up in Memphis