Magnolia Shorty | |
---|---|
Birth name | Renetta Yemika Lowe |
Also known as | Magnolia $horty |
Born | September 30, 1982 New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. |
Died | December 20, 2010 New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. |
(aged 28)
Genres | Hip hop |
Occupations | Rapper |
Instruments | Vocals |
Years active | 1996–2010 |
Labels | Cash Money |
Associated acts | Birdman, Hot Boys, Juvenile, Soulja Slim |
Renetta Yemika Lowe-Bridgewater (September 30, 1982 – December 20, 2010),[1] known by the stage name Magnolia Shorty, was an American rapper in the New Orleans-based bounce music scene.[2] She and Ms. Tee (Trishell Williams) were the first women signed to Cash Money Records.[3] Her 1997 debut album Monkey on the Dick (often stylized Monkey On Tha D$ck) is considered a bounce classic, and she "was already considered a legend of bounce music" at the time of her death.[3] Offbeat said the album exemplifies "the eccentric New Orleans elements of sexuality, comedy and hard edged dance rhythms."[4] In his 2007 book Triksta, Nik Cohn credits Magnolia Shorty with his own discovery of bounce, and the third chapter of that book is named after her debut album.[5]
Magnolia Shorty was discovered by Birdman.[6][7] She received her nickname from Soulja Slim, also known as Magnolia Slim, because both had grown up in New Orleans' dangerous Magnolia Projects.[8] Nicknamed "Queen of Bounce," she collaborated with many Cash Money artists beginning in the 1990s, including Juvenile and Hot Boys.[5] She was first featured on Juvenile's 1997 song "3rd Ward Solja."[9] In 2009 she appeared at the SXSW music festival[10] and won Best Bounce Song at the Underground Hip-Hop Awards in New Orleans.[3] She was a member of Lil Wayne's Cash Money crew in the early 1990s, and she was collaborating as well as working on her second album on the Cash Money/Young Money label in 2010.[11]
She was married to Carl Bridgewater at the time of her death. She was shot and killed in a car with Jerome Hampton in a double homicide at the Georgetown of New Orleans apartments complex in the New Orleans East neighborhood of Edgelake .[12][13] Police described the crime as a drive-by shooting.[14] She was buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery in New Orleans.