Pioneering Memphis Rapper Princess Loko Dies at 40

Princess Loko aka Andrea Summers, the pioneering Memphis rapper, has died at the age of 40. Summers’ cause of death has not been made public.

Summers’ cousin was among the legions of Princess Loko’s fans who paid tribute to the artist on Facebook.

Summers was a native of the Blackhaven neighborhood of Memphis, Tennessee. Summers is well known for her collaborations with fellow Memphis legend Tommy Wright III during the 1990s. The pair grew up across the street from each other in the Blackhaven section. An online profile says that Wright would sneak over to Summers’ home with recording equipment to lay down songs in her bedroom. Summers was one of two women in the Memphis rap collective, Ten Wanted Men. The other was La Chat aka Chastity Daniels.

According to Summers’ Last.fm biography, Summers “split with Tommy in the late 90s.” That profile says that Summers debut album, “Long Ovadue,” was released in January 2012. Despite the split from Wright, the pair performed together in December 2016.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uewP54qrssVideoVideo related to pioneering memphis rapper princess loko dies at 402020-05-21T23:37:04-04:00

One review of Loko’s track, “Loko-4-Real,” read in part:

Loko effortlessly switches between choral chanting and versatile verse science, the samples crowd cheers speaking to the stadium-sized beat that crumbles beneath her.

She doesn’t even really start ‘rapping’ in the non-repetitive sense until close to the second minute and trust when I say you won’t even notice.

VideoVideo related to pioneering memphis rapper princess loko dies at 402020-05-21T23:37:04-04:00

In May 2014, fashion designer Isabel SK released a collection based on Tennessee hip-hop music. Isabel SK told Vice that part of that collection was a skirt with hand-painted Summers and Tommy Wright III lyrics. Isabel SK said:

The handprinting on the skirt that says “45 in my pantyline,” we sat for hours painting it. I knew I wanted to make a schoolgirl skirt because I love that look.

I wear a lot myself and go to Goodwill and chop them off. I was listening to the Princess Loko and Tommy Wright III song where she goes “Blow away your brains with this 45 in my pantyline,” and I thought that’s the hardest line for any female to say.

It’s so badass. And I wanted to put it on a skirt. Then I have the jeans that say “On da creep” on the side which is a reference to Tommy Wright III who always said he was on the creep at night.

VideoVideo related to pioneering memphis rapper princess loko dies at 402020-05-21T23:37:04-04:00

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