Page 29 - Florida Sentinel 9-10-21

National
‘The Wire’ Actor Michael K. Williams Found Dead
Drake’s ‘Certified Lover Boy’ Smashes Spotify Records As It Heads For Biggest Debut Of 2021
In NYC Apartment
As anticipated, Kanye West scored the biggest debut of 2021 with his new Billboard 200-topping album Donda. But the Chicago rapper won’t hold the title for long, as Drake’s Certified Lover Boy is headed for the biggest debut of 2021 by a huge margin, smashing a myriad of stream- ing records along the way.
The Toronto native’s new full-length is on track to move north of 600,000 album- equivalent units in its first week, HITS Daily Double re- ports. It will give Drake the biggest debut since Taylor Swift’s Folklore opened with 846,000 units last August, and it will roughly double the first- week numbers of West’s Donda, which opened with 309,000 units.
Certified Lover Boy could earn between 680 and 700 million streams by the time this week is through. It would fall slightly short of the first- week streaming record held by Drake’s own Scorpion (745.92 million), but it will still
(132 million). Certified Lover Boy also earned a record 80.4 million first-day U. S. streams, outperforming Scorpion by just 1.2 million, according to HITS Daily Double. And lest anyone think the album only performed well on Spotify, Chart Data also reports that Certified Lover Boy broke Apple Music’s single-day streaming record for an album.
Naturally, the individual tracks on Certified Lover Boy have also gotten off to historic starts. The Lil Baby-assisted “Girls Want Girls” earned the biggest global Spotify debut ever with 12.4 million streams, surpassing the former record holder, BTS’s “Butter,” by roughly 1.4 million. (Keep in mind that “Butter” logged 20.9 million first-day streams on the Spotify counter but had nearly half of them filtered.) Drake also notched the sec- ond- and third-biggest global Spotify song debuts with “Champagne Poetry” (11.7 million) and “Fair Trade” (11.6 million).
The tragic death of actor
Michael Kenneth Williams has hit fans right out of the blue. A brilliant actor best known for his fan- tastic performance as Omar Little in ‘The Wire,’ Williams passed away in his penthouse in Brooklyn, New York, before being found by his family on the afternoon of September 6, 2021.
Williams, 54, was discov- ered face-down and unrespon- sive in the dining room of his luxury Williamsburg pad with what appeared to be heroin on the kitchen table, sources said. Throughout his glorious act- ing career, Williams has won over many a heart through his exceptional talent.
His breathtaking perform- ances in several movies and TV shows, namely ‘The Night Of,’ ‘Bessie’ and ‘Lovecraft Country,’ also saw him get nominated for the prestigious Emmy awards. Interest in Williams’ life has peaked since his heartbreaking de- mise, and the actor’s net worth was $5 million.
Williams’ charming and powerful portrayal of Omar Little earned him countless accolades and paved the way for roles in shows including but not limited to ‘Alias,’ ‘Six Degrees,’ ‘CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,’ ‘ Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,’ and ‘Third Watch.’ Becoming quite a force to be reckoned with in the entertainment industry, Williams’ next massive role was as Albert “Chalky” White in HBO’s ‘Broadwalk Empire’, which further proved his prowess as a top-rung actor.
Willams also lent his talent to numerous movies and is best known for his roles of Robert in ‘12 Years a Slave,’ Neville Baraka in ‘The Gambler,’ Agent Hawkins in ‘Ghostbusters,’ and Moussa in ‘Assassin’s Creed.’ Throughout his career as an
MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS
actor, Williams has also been nominated for numerous prestigious awards. He was also nominated for the Emmys for his performances as Jack Gee in ‘Bessie,’ Freddy Knight in ‘The Night Of,’ Bobby McCray in ‘When They See Us,’ Montrose Freeman in ‘Lovecraft Coun- try,’ as well as for being an Ex- ecutive Producer in ‘Vice.’ “The Wire” actor’s death has triggered a criminal investiga- tion, the police are trying to find the person who may have supplied him with drugs.
The results of a toxicology test, which would confirm a drug overdose, won’t be ready for several weeks.
Williams, 54, was open in interviews about his drug ad- diction and his efforts to stay sober. In a 2012 interview, he revealed that he wasted his earnings from “The Wire” on drugs, and said he was “play- ing with fire,” fearing it was “just a matter of time” before he ended up dead.
More recently, he told pod- caster Marc Maron about being in recovery, acknowl- edging that relapse “is part of my story.”
“But I’m living good today, you know,” Williams said. “All’s we got is today.”
DRAKE
smash the 2021 record cur- rently held by Donda (357.39 million).
Drake’s latest project has already obliterated a slew of other streaming records. It racked up 153 million global Spotify streams in its first day, notching the biggest 24-hour debut in the platform’s history, surpassing yet another record previously held by Scorpion
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