PLUG MAGAZINE- MAY 2020

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FRED THE GODSON
Nimble New York Rapper, Dies at 41
The Bronx musician was a forceful presence on mixtapes, filling his rhymes with clever punch lines.
This obituary is part of a series about
people who have died in the coronavirus
pandemic. Read about others
here.
Fred the Godson, who for more than a decade
was a respected figure in New York hip-hop,
an understated master of wordplay with a signature
flow, died on Thursday in the Bronx. He
was 41.
His death, at Montefiore Medical Center, where
he had been hospitalized since early April, was
confirmed by his publicist, Matthew Conaway,
who said the cause was complications of the
coronavirus.
Back when mixtapes were still the coin of the
realm in New York rap circles, Fred the Godson
was a reliable, forceful presence. He had
a husky voice, but it was nimble, too — all the
better for the kind of wordplay-heavy punchline-filled
bars that thrived in those settings.
Double entendres, homophones, homonyms,
assonance — he always found a way to bend
a rhyme.
Take his 2012 freestyle on Funkmaster Flex’s
Hot 97 radio show, a regular showcase for
high-finesse wordsmiths, in which his verse
evolves line by line, one subtle tweak at a time:
• They see me on the block with the Lincoln
parked
• They know I’m selling rock like Linkin Park
• Far as flow, they click on my link and watch
• You see me with the big Cuban link and
watch
“ He was really committed to the wittiness and
the bar work — he stood on that,” said Justin
Harrell, a rapper who records as 38 Spesh
and who was among Fred the Godson’s closest
friends. Mr. Harrell recalled that Fred
wrote all his rhymes with a silver Uni-ball pen
on unlined yellow paper in a wholly illegible
scribble. After he would record in the booth,
he’d leave the paper behind, unworried about
anyone filching his rhymes. “He knew no one
would be able to read it,” Mr. Harrell said.
“
Frederick Thomas was born on Feb. 22,
1979, and grew up in the Bronx, where
hip-hop began. (Big Bronx was one of his
nicknames.) He emerged in New York rap
in the 2000s as a potent freestyler, spilling
reference-dense lines over beats from
other rappers’ songs, a New York tradition.
He quickly released a pair of impressive
mixtapes — “Armageddon” in 2010 and
“City of God,” part of DJ Drama’s Gangsta
Grillz series, in 2011. He was named a
member of XXL magazine’s 2011 Freshman
class, an annual collection of hip-hop
up-and-comers.
In the decade since, Fred the Godson had
steadily released strong music and performed
regularly, becoming an avatar of
a hip-hop style that wasn’t always at the
genre’s center. He collaborated widely,
with Pusha T, Jadakiss, Cam’ron, Raekwon
and many others.
Mostly he favored hard-boiled subject
matter, sometimes tragic and sometimes
leavened with triumph, as on “Toast to
That,” his 2011 collaboration with Jadakiss.
But he also touched on matters of
the heart, most memorably that same
year on the savage and wry payback tale
“Monique’s Room”: “We sent a vid to your
Facebook/I wish I seen how your face
looked.”
Fred the Godson’s survivors include his
wife, LeeAnn Jemmott, and two daughters.
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WHEN WILL WE BE GOING TO
CONCERTS AND SPORTING
EVENTS AGAIN?
HERE’S WHAT EXPERTS ARE SAYING
Only a vaccine, ubiquitous testing or vastly improved
treatment will accelerate the pace of
large gatherings without strict social distancing,
said Dr. Dhruv Khullar, a physician at New
York-Presbyterian Hospital and an assistant
professor at the Weill Cornell Department of
Healthcare Policy and Research. Even going
back to school or large weddings could be
problematic, he said. Most health experts predict
a vaccine won’t be ready until 2021 at the
earliest.
“I think people at home see cases are leveling
off, it’s easy to say let’s open beaches, let’s open
schools, let’s open stadiums,” said Khullar.
Hundreds of billions of dollars are spent each
year on large events like conferences, sports
and concerts. Like so many other industries,
Covid-19 quarantines have devastated eventbased
businesses. The major sports leagues
— the National Basketball Association, Major
League Baseball and National Hockey League
— have put games on hold indefinitely.
“Our revenue in essence has dropped to zero,”
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said on a conference
call last month. “That’s having a huge
financial impact on the team business and the
arena business.”
But while sports leagues are coming up with
plans to play games without fans and some
government officials consider opening up venues
for concerts, an unfortunate realism is settling
in among public health experts and busi-
The coronavirus has
devastated economies
around the
world and disrupted
life in ways that were
unimaginable just
a few months ago.
The world will never
be the same. But at
some point, industries
will start coming back online and people
will start going out again.
We asked public health and industry experts for
their thoughts on what the world will look like
when the Covid-19 pandemic finally recedes.
In the latest installment of our series ”The Next
Normal,″ we look at when we might be able to
attend big events with crowds, like sporting
events and concerts
ness leaders: Large gatherings without strict social distancing shouldn’t come back until at least
2021.
Big events: ‘Not very high’ on list of concerns
Large group events will likely be one of the last things to return to normal, said Peter Bach, director
of the Center for Health Policy and Outcomes. Concerts, sports, conferences and festivals may be
entertaining, but they’re not essential to life. They’re also among the riskiest events because so
many cheering people are tightly packed into arenas, making social distancing and wearing masks
implausible, he said.
“ It’s certainly not very high on my list of concerns as far as a return to normalcy, as much
as I like a good Elton John concert,” said Bach. “Having gone to those events, I don’t know
you’d keep people from exposing the virus to one another, and I don’t know how you could
contact-trace there without a lot of intrusion. ”
“The reality is in the hospital we see the real devastating
effects of moving too quickly and not
adhering to social distancing practices. The one
thing I would emphasize is we’re not out of the
woods. We’re not in a place where we can open
up back yet. I hope we get there soon but if we
rush this thing, we’ll be back where we were a
month ago, and that would be a real shame.”
Employment data suggests the entertainment, arts and recreation industry is anticipating a prolonged slowdown. New job openings are down 53%
from prequarantine levels, the biggest drop of any of the 21 industries tracked by CareerBuilder, the employment website. Job openings are typically
a leading indicator illustrating executives don’t expect their industry will have an immediate economic recovery, said Michelle Armer, chief people
officer at CareerBuilder.
White House advisor and public health expert Venues across the country are taking different South Korea’s Korean Baseball Organization
Dr. Anthony Fauci told The New York Times last approaches to coronavirus. The Metropolitan began its season this week without a crowd:
week that bringing fans to an arena may simply Opera and Carnegie Hall have canceled their Umpires and other baseball-related employees
be too complicated to attempt this year
2019–2020 seasons but are selling tickets for must wear masks and gloves at all times, everyone
2020-2021. Professional sports leagues are actively
gets their temperature checked when en-
considering plans to play games without tering and leaving the stadium, and the league
fans. Both Major League Baseball and the National
has outlawed spitting and high-fives, according
Basketball Association are investigating to The Washington Post.
ways to return to action, though neither league’s
executives have suggested the conditions exist
to begin play.
““
“I don’t want to make this conversation
sound like it’s going to be an easy
thing,” Fauci said. “We may not be able
to pull this off. We’re going to have to
see: Is it doable? Do we have the capability
of doing it safely? Because safety,
for the players and for the fans, trumps
everything. If you can’t guarantee safety,
then unfortunately you’re going to have
to bite the bullet and say, “We may have
to go without this sport for this season.”
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If events resume,
people might not
show up
ome public officials aren’t taking “no” for an answer.
Governors of states including Missouri and Arkansas
have decided to reopen large events
and gatherings beginning this week. To help
mitigate the spread of the virus, the states are
ordering that seating must be “spaced out according
to social distancing requirements.” The
enforcement around distancing is vague, however.
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson’s office said “the
state is working with local health authorities to
support the order.” In Arkansas, “signs advise no
entry if recent fever, symptoms or contact with
positive patient,” according to Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s
office.
Other states with comparable outbreak levels
will surely take cues on how to proceed based
on what happens in states that reopen. But
simply allowing large gatherings doesn’t mean
people will actually attend them.
SAP’s Qualtrics, the employee management
software company, polled 2,000 U.S. residents
at the end of April about how comfortable they
were returning to different aspects of life. Attending
a concert or sporting event topped the
list of “most uncomfortable,” with about 80% of
respondents saying they weren’t comfortable
going to a live event.
“To get the country back to where we need to
be, we need to get hearts and minds in the right
spot,” said Qualtrics CEO Ryan Smith, who has
advised clients, including the NBA, on returning
to normal. “Take something like the NBA.
If you’re thinking about reopening, none of it
matters if you can’t figure out what’s going to
make fans feel comfortable. Now’s not the time
to guess.”
Even if league commissioners or public officials
reopen arenas for conferences, concerts and
sports, it’s dangerous to attend while new cases
are still arising, said Dr. Ashish Jha, professor of
health policy at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of
Public Health. People understand that.
“I don’t need my governor to tell me I should
avoid getting sick and dying,” Jha said.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Dallas
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban agreed that large
gatherings are inextricably tied to how quickly
doctors can come up with effective treatment
or immunization.
“It’s difficult to imagine us getting together in the
thousands anytime soon, so I think we should
be prepared for that this year,” Garcetti told
CNN. “I think we all have never wanted science
to work so quickly. But until there’s either a vaccine,
some sort of pharmaceutical intervention,
or herd immunity, the science is the science.
And public health officials have made very clear
we have miles and miles to walk before we can
be back in those environments.”
Still, Cuban wouldn’t rule out getting fans back
in seats sooner than others suggested. While he
wouldn’t estimate a timeline, he also wouldn’t
eliminate a late 2020 return for the NBA. “We
have some amazing scientists,” Cuban said in
an e-mail. “Unknown is unknown. The science
will guide us.”
Say goodbye to large weddings, too
Large weddings, religious rites of passage and “Maybe instead of 150 people, you have 50 or maybe you only have 20,” Petersen said. “Maybe the
services, reunions and other big gatherings will 20 who come get caviar and you livestream the wedding. Maybe each couple gets their own table
likely be on hold until 2021, too, say health experts.
while still being safe about it? People still want to get married.
and a really fantastic French wine. Are there ways to host those things on a much smaller scale
“If you want to have a wedding with 200 people,
you are really risking things, prevaccine,” said
Jha. “If you really, really wanted to have a wedding
that size, you’d need fabulous amounts of
testing and everyone would have to get the test
the day you arrived at the wedding. Turnaround
times would have to be that day and false negatives
on tests would have to come way down.”
Event planners are already talking to couples
and other party planners to invite small groups
of people while webcasting the event to other
guests, said Katrina Petersen, program director
of National Association for Catering &
Events Maine and an owner of a wedding venue.
While this will undoubtedly hurt the event
planning industry and disappoint couples who
had hoped for dream weddings in 2020, small
group events can become more luxurious and
potentially help venues and vendors stay afloat,
Petersen said.
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THE IMPACT OF COVID 19
ON THE ENTERTAINMENT MARKET
The film industry is vulnerable due to the pandemic
as both the production and the consumption
of its output require numerous people
together in small spaces. The global entertainment
industry includes various entertainment
venues such as online video streaming, amusement
parks, theatrical productions, sports, live
events, and trade shows. The primary factors for
the growth of the entertainment industry before
the COVID-19 pandemic include the increased
adoption of online video streaming especially
Netflix, Amazon Prime, among others. The rise
in the multiplex chain and their expansion in
semi-urban areas along with the rising number
of Chinese investors in Hollywood were also
the growth-enhancing factors of the entertainment
industry before the pandemic. However,
the key factors that affect the entertainment
industry after the COVID-19 pandemic include
the shutdowns of the theatrical product, cinema
theatres among others.
Global Entertainment industry report is segmented
based on online video streaming,
amusement parks, theatrical productions,
sports, live events, and trade shows. The outbreak
of COVID-19 had a dual impact on these
segments as all the upcoming events have
been canceled or delayed, due to which most
of the companies experienced losses. While the
online video streaming segment is witnessing a
significant hike. Video streaming companies are
coming up with new solutions when people are
residing more at their homes. For instance, Netflix
launched a Google Chrome browser extension
named Netflix Party which allows the users
to access the video in groups and watch them
together.
The novel COVID-19 has impacted the entertainment
industry in most of the regions including
North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the
Rest of the World. Asia-Pacific and Europe are
the largely impacted regions across the globe.
This is attributed to most of the cases recorded
in theses regions especially in the countries
including Italy, Spain, France, and Germany in
Europe and China in Asia-Pacific. The Chinese
government has shut all the cinema theatres
and amusement parks in order to stop the COV-
ID-19 spread among peoples. Further, since
February 2020, the occurrence of the disease
has raised in the European region especially in
countries such as Italy. In order to support the
public, the Italian government has launched
various campaigns to help people cope with
COVID-19 lockdown. For instance, the government
website encourages companies to offer
free online services and e-learning, and data &
publications are made free.
Due to the outbreak of the pandemic corona
virus, these companies are largely affected.
The prominent players operating in the global
entertainment industry and get affected due to
pandemic include Warner Bros, Sony Pictures
Motion Picture Group, Walt Disney Studios, Universal
Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Paramount
Pictures, China Film Group Corp., Netflix Inc.,
Hulu LLC, and Apple Inc., among others. Several
Hollywood productions are affected due to
the outbreak, and productions shooting in any
of the outbreak zones especially China, the US,
Italy, and South Korea have been restricted to
alter schedules, shift locations, or shut down
entirely. For instance, Walt Disney canceled its
European press launch in London.
Research Methodology
The research team recently published a report
addressing the impact of COVID-19 on the
global entertainment industry. The study is incorporated
by extensive primary and secondary
research conducted by the research team.
Secondary research has been conducted to
refine the available data. Different approaches
have been worked on to derive the market
value and market growth rate. In the report, the
analysis of the country is provided by analyzing
various regional players, laws and policies, consumer
behavior and macro-economic factors.
The report includes analysis of different regions
and countries and the effect of COVID-19 on the
entertainment industry of each respective region.
Besides, an expected recovery timeline of
the industry will also be included with the bestand
worst-case scenario which will aid clients
to take their future steps in the decision-making
process.
Sources Include
Financial reports of companies involved in the
market
Whitepapers, research-papers, and news blogs
Company websites and their product catalog
Government Organizations Reports
The report provides an in-depth analysis on
market size, intended quality of the service preferred
by consumers. The report will serve as a
source for 360-degree analysis of the market
thoroughly integrating different models.
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TOME
KING
BENTLEY
King Bentley is a artist that embrace both Hip Hop and
Caribbean music and uses it to make is own sound .
King Bentley was born in Jamaica and move Brooklyn
U.S.A at a very young age. His love for music came from
his dad constantly playing reggae music such as Bob
Marly on a huge boom box.
In addition to his music influence at home King Bentley
was also captured by the brooklyn streets fulled with
HipHop. In time King Bentley realized he had a calling
to music and began to pursue it. King Bentley now had
a hunger to make it in the music industry which would
fuel his desire to spend numerous hours in the studio. If
you are curious to find out how it all tured out.
Check out is latest song “Bumflick”
Michelle Oluwatomi Akanbi aka TÖME is a Canadian artist of Nigerian origins, born in Montreal, and later moved to
Toronto where she pursued a music career
She is known for mixing French lyrics and English , while adding some african rhythms throughout her songs , often
called Afrofusion.
A mixed of Rnb and Afrobeats
The 22 year old have performed a bit everywhere around the world, with known artist such as mister Izzy, burna boy ,
places such as Germany, England, France, Canada and the USA, she recently put out a somg “all to you” with popular
artist King Promise that are killing the charts in Africa, and #1 in several countries and African boards.
She also has her album she recently released called BT4W(bigger than 4 walls)
Which includes some of her popular tracks, “sol” ,magical fruits, cherry blossom, all to you and more
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Watch her now while she takes over the
scene
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The plug radio platform has over 15 channels
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From RnB/hip hop to rock , dancehall,
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Listen now to all our station
On the plugcircle.com/the-plug-radio
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And listen to our radio everyday any day while
listening to your favourites tracks
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