Lauren LaRosa (3:26)
Hey y', all, what's up? It's Lauren LaRosa and this is the latest with Lauren LaRosa. This is your daily dig on all things pop culture, entertainment news and all of the conversations that shake the room, baby. So today guys, here on the latest. We are definitely going to start with the behind the scenes of the grind. Check in. I'm so excited because I brought you guys some audio from the Cardi B concert, her second sold out night at Madison Square Garden. And I have a little audio bonus for you guys if you're listening to this episode. I want you guys to then go check for the episode to follow this one the day after. And normally I don't even do episodes on the weekends, but I want you guys to really experience this concert with us. It has to feel good. Like it has to feel good to be back home selling out the Garden. Like it's, it's like the ultimate return to where you're from. And this is not, you know, Cardi's like first return home, first concert home, those type of things. But every time has to feel good. Like there's no way. It can't. I was watching her original show, not original show, but her first night at Madison Square Garden the night before last. And the opening scene where she comes out and there's smoke and it's, you know, she's walking slow and she's very powerful. I was like, man, I can't imagine how she feels. But at that moment, I wanted to feel how she felt. Not even because it's like, you know, there's all these people screaming and like the celebrity of it all, but more so just like I did this, like, my purpose, my intention, my passion, all of that, my ups, my downs. We've seen Cardi go through a lot publicly have all led her to this moment. Now let's get on into the latest. Speaking of Cardi B, it was announced this week that Cardi B's music will now be studied at Howard University. And it's not just her music per se. It is the album rollout that Cardi B did for her studio album and my the drama, which is what she's on her Little Miss Drama tour touring right now, and, you know, some of her own music as well, too. But the hip hop studies majors at Howard University will get to dive into how she wrote out the project, how she, you know, targeted her market of her audience. Um, the marketing course that it would be featured in is offered in partnership with Morning Music, and it'll break down the strategy behind Cardi's Am I the Drama? Album campaign. Now, that album sold over 200,000 units in the first week alone, just based off of pre sales. You know, she added wap on the project as well too, which people people was upset about it, but it's strategy w so crazy. It was never placed on any of her albums because she hadn't dropped an album in years. So all of this strategy will be a part of the 2026 fall semester for the students of that course. Now, the Warner Music University page and Howard University's University of Fine Arts, which is the Chadwick Boseman College of Fine Arts program, posted this to their Instagram and they said the Cardi B am I the drama, the art, production, marketing and cultural impact is here at the Howard University. And they opened up registration for the course. Now, the course is an elective course. And for those of you guys, for anybody that didn't go to college, an elective course is basically something that you can take on, not the side because it still counts toward all of your credits that you need to graduate. But there are like main courses you have to take. So your math, your Englishes, your history courses, um, and then there are certain main courses you have to take with your major. So, like, for instance, I was a marketing major, business administration major at Delaware State University. In my main courses that related to my major, I had a marketing class. I had a business development and strategy class. But elective would have been something that I chose to take. So sometimes either the courses too, that you can have more fun with, that still counts towards your graduation. But I think that this is dope. I love when I see colleges do this because one of the things that I always felt like was missing, missing during the time when I was at Delaware State and, and I know it's gotten a lot better now. I felt like being a marketing major. I was there from 2010 to 2014 and I felt like being a marketing major at Delaware State University then, which is an hbcu. I just felt like everything I was learning in real life as I was going out and doing all these creative and, you know, business based internships, when I would come back to campus, everything was so like boxed in. Like, everything was like the, the basic ABCs, 1, 2, 30s of business and marketing and strategy and development. And I'm like, do y' all not see us creative kids over here that also want to run businesses that also want to, you know, be able to come into a brand or a business, figure out what they need and provide that? Like, I always felt like that. And to be honest with y', all, and this is nothing I've never said before, I love my hbcu, but I feel like my teachers kind of gave me a hard time because they would give us assignments like, oh, go create a business and talk about how you're going to sell it. And then the person that you're going to sell it to when they acquire it, what is the basically like the franchise program that you're going to leave behind for them to follow? And I remember I made a magazine and I made the magazine, both digital and print because I felt like for where I knew things were going because Instagram was like the go to for everything. But this was before Shade Room on Instagram, Ball Alert on Instagram. I was like, anybody that picks up this business, you're going to have to understand where digital is going. And I need to be a part of the franchise. I remember my teacher telling me it was a great idea. I scored well on the project. But he was like, you didn't follow instructions because we can't look at this business because this isn't a real thing. These business, these type of businesses aren't tangible. This market, this is dying. So why create a. Oh, I remember this like yesterday. Why it was my senior year. Why create a Business in a dying market. Why focus on careers in a dying market? Lean more where business is growing, not dying. Imagine telling a senior in college that who was looking to go out into the world and move to LA and work in entertainment. So I love seeing these type of courses because I feel like it encourages, you know, kids to understand that There are some ABC123 practices to all of this creative thing, all of the creative things that they're seeing people do, like becoming a music artist or, you know, even just exposes you to new jobs. Like, okay, so if I'm a student at Howard University and I'm looking at Cardi's album rollout as, you know, a course in my class, that means I have to talk about everybody that helped her put this rollout together and actually execute it. So it's not just about the rap artist. It's not just about the music. It's about the team and the execution and the business and the actual structure and foundation of it, which I think really doesn't get talked about enough, especially to people who have these, like, big hoop dreams. So this is one of my favorite things to see. So that course will begin in the fall of 2026 and was announced, you know, via the Instagrams that we talked about. And it'll be offered Tuesdays and Thursdays on the campus. Now, I'm not for sure if it's only offered to, like, full time students at the. At the. At Howard University or not, but maybe we can kind of like, see, maybe I can reach out and figure it out because this one's so viral and Cardi's the type to reach out to the school and try and figure out how she can support it. I feel like I know this course filled up. There's no way that there's more space after that, after the announcement. Like, there's no way because it went so viral. So, yeah, Let me get this straight.
