Malindi Minute: Heart Health, Beyoncé, and Hip-Hop

Happy Sunday! Whether you're a new subscriber or an existing subscriber, welcome back. Here are a few articles you should check out from this week!

This week, Women’s Wear Daily’s Beauty Inc. Awards named CÉCRED as the Prestige Brand of the Year for 2025. Founded by Beyoncé in 2024, the brand has seen a rapid rise to the top, largely due to the authenticity in its marketing, as well as having a hero product. Restoring Hair & Edge Drops have had customers raving about the results, as well as dermatologists confirming the growth and custom formula. The Black hair care market is expected to grow to about $4.9 billion by 2033. Some reports have found that Black women specifically spend 9 times more on ethnic hair-care products than their non Black consumers. Knowing this, the success of CÉCRED isn’t surprising. It’s filling a clearly defined need. The gaps in the market, combined with the star power of Beyoncé, are a perfect formula for a brand to be successful.

Vince Staples did an interview this week at Complex and commented on the news about Hip-Hop dropping out of the Top 40 for the first time since the 1990s. He said, “We gotta stop comparing creativity and commerce. They’re not the same thing.” This is part of a larger conversation that's permeated across social media where the fans are using the numbers and chart positions to then interpret the creative qualty of both artists and their projects. So when the fans saw that Hip-Hop wasn’t on the top 40, people instantly started saying that the quality of Hip-Hop was bad this year. This couldn’t be more untrue. Clipse, Little Simz, Dave, Freddie Gibbs, Cardi B, Chance the Rapper, JID, and Mobb Deep, among others, all released high-quality projects this year. The fact that music doesn’t sell or it doesn't chart doesn’t mean the music was bad. And it is not a reason not to listen or support. So Vince’s sentiment is an important one because too many people are peaking at commercial success and using it as a barometer for the effort of the creator.

The School of Global Health at Meharry Medical College announced a new five-year initiative to study cardiovascular health disparities in vulnerable communities. 60% of Black adults have some type of cardiovascular disease compared to 49% of all adults who have some type of cardiovascular disease. 58.4% of Black women and 57.5% of Black men have high blood pressure. That compares to 50.4% of all U.S. adult men and 43% of all women. So the disparities are clear, and Meharry Medical College, an HBCU, is doing the work to figure out how to get to the bottom of it and fix the situation. Work will be done to focus on developing early detection methods as well. On the topic of disparities, Antonia M. Villaruel co-authored a book called “Systems That Impact Population Health: Past and Present.” The book examines interconnecting U.S. systems and how they have effected healthcare outcomes in diverse communities.

Check out the Malindi Press November Guide, a focused sweep through the month’s most compelling cultural currents. We focus on New York, Paris, and London. Enjoy!

"The Terminal": Where we navigate the vast sea of information to bring you the essential stops for our global Black audience. As a bustling terminal serves as a gateway to new destinations, our curated content will be your passport to knowledge, empowerment, and connection. Embark on this journey with us as we explore the world from a unique perspective—yours.

Conversations this week

Vince Staples speaks with Complex about the release of season 2 of The Vince Staples Show.

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Song of the Week: “Pretty Girls” by Odeal (Nigeria)

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