title: Irenaeus

text: For Irenaeus, Paul's presentation of the Old Law (the Mosaic covenant) in this passage indicates that the Old Law revealed humanity's sinfulness but could not save them. He explains that "For as the law was spiritual, it merely made sin to stand out in relief, but did not destroy it. For sin had no dominion over the spirit, but over man." Since humans have a physical nature, they cannot be saved by a spiritual law. Instead, they need a human Savior. This is why it was necessary for Christ to take human flesh. Irenaeus summarizes how Christ's taking human flesh saves humanity with a statement that closely resembles , "For as by the disobedience of the one man who was originally moulded from virgin soil, the many were made sinners, and forfeited life; so was it necessary that, by the obedience of one man, who was originally born from a virgin, many should be justified and receive salvation." The physical creation of Adam and Christ is emphasized by Irenaeus to demonstrate how the Incarnation saves humanity's physical nature.


title: Irenaeus

text: Irenaeus emphasizes the importance of Christ's reversal of Adam's action. Through His obedience, Christ undoes Adam's disobedience. Irenaeus presents the Passion as the climax of Christ's obedience, emphasizing how this obedience on the tree of the Cross undoes the disobedience that occurred through a tree.


title: Irenaeus

text: Irenaeus's interpretation of Paul's discussion of Christ as the New Adam is significant because it helped develop the recapitulation theory of atonement. Irenaeus emphasizes that it is through Christ's reversal of Adam's action that humanity is saved, rather than considering the Redemption to occur in a cultic or juridical way.


title: Irenaeus

text: The biblical passage, "Death has been swallowed up in victory", implied for Irenaeus that the Lord will surely resurrect the first human, i.e. Adam, as one of the saved. According to Irenaeus, those who deny Adam's salvation are “shutting themselves out from life for ever” and the first one who did so was Tatian. The notion that the Second Adam saved the first Adam was advocated not only by Irenaeus, but also by Gregory Thaumaturgus, which suggests that it was popular in the Early Church.


title: Irenaeus

text: According to the Gnostic view of Salvation, creation was perfect to begin with; it did not need time to grow and mature. For the Valentinians, the material world is the result of the loss of perfection which resulted from Sophia's desire to understand the Forefather. Therefore, one is ultimately redeemed, through secret knowledge, to enter the pleroma of which the Achamoth originally fell.


title: Irenaeus

text: According to the Valentinian Gnostics, there are three classes of human beings. They are the material, who cannot attain salvation; the psychic, who are strengthened by works and faith (they are part of the church); and the spiritual, who cannot decay or be harmed by material actions.


title: Irenaeus

text: Essentially, ordinary humans—those who have faith but do not possess the special knowledge—will not attain salvation. Spirituals, on the other hand—those who obtain this great gift—are the only class that will eventually attain salvation.


title: Irenaeus

text: In his article entitled "The Demiurge", J.P. Arendzen sums up the Valentinian view of the salvation of man. He writes, "The first, or carnal men, will return to the grossness of matter and finally be consumed by fire; the second, or psychic men, together with the Demiurge as their master, will enter a middle state, neither heaven (pleroma) nor hell (whyle); the purely spiritual men will be completely freed from the influence of the Demiurge and together with the Saviour and Achamoth, his spouse, will enter the pleroma divested of body (húle) and soul (psuché)."


title: Irenaeus

text: In this understanding of salvation, the purpose of the Incarnation was to redeem the Spirituals from their material bodies. By taking a material body, the Son becomes the Savior and facilitates this entrance into the pleroma by making it possible for the Spirituals to receive his spiritual body. However, in becoming a body and soul, the Son Himself becomes one of those needing redemption. Therefore, the Word descends onto the Savior at His Baptism in the Jordan, which liberates the Son from his corruptible body and soul. His redemption from the body and soul is then applied to the Spirituals. In response to this Gnostic view of Christ, Irenaeus emphasized that the Word became flesh and developed a soteriology that emphasized the significance of Christ's material Body in saving humanity, as discussed in the sections above.


title: Irenaeus

text: In his criticism of Gnosticism, Irenaeus made reference to a Gnostic gospel which portrayed Judas in a positive light, as having acted in accordance with Jesus's instructions. The recently discovered Gospel of Judas dates close to the period when Irenaeus lived (late 2nd century), and scholars typically regard this work as one of many Gnostic texts, showing one of many varieties of Gnostic beliefs of the period.


title: Irenaeus

text: Irenaeus took part in the Quartodeciman Controversy. When Victor I of Rome tried to force a universal practice of feasting until Easter to supersede the Jewish practice and prevent Christians from partaking of the Passover, Polycrates who led the Churches of Asia Minor continued to hold old traditions of the paschal feast. For this reason Victor I wanted to excommunicate Polycrates and his supporters, but this was a step too far for Irenaeus and other bishops.


title: Blue (Joni Mitchell album)

text: Blue is the fourth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, released on June 22, 1971, by Reprise Records. Written and produced entirely by Mitchell, it was recorded in 1971 at A&M Studios in Hollywood, California. Created just after her breakup with Graham Nash and during an intense relationship with James Taylor, "Blue" explores various facets of relationships from love on "A Case of You" to insecurity on "This Flight Tonight". The songs feature simple accompaniments on piano, guitar and Appalachian dulcimer. The album peaked at number 3 on the UK Albums Chart, number 9 on the Canadian "RPM" Albums Chart and number 15 on the "Billboard" 200.


title: Blue (Joni Mitchell album)

text: Today, "Blue" is generally regarded by music critics as one of the greatest albums of all time; the cohesion of Mitchell's songwriting, compositions and voice are frequent areas of praise. In January 2000, "The New York Times" chose "Blue" as one of the 25 albums that represented "turning points and pinnacles in 20th-century popular music". In 2020, "Blue" was rated the third greatest album of all time in "Rolling Stone"s list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time", the highest entry by a female artist. It was also voted number 24 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's "All Time Top 1000 Albums" (2000). In July 2017, "Blue" was chosen by NPR as the greatest album of all time made by a woman.


title: Blue (Joni Mitchell album)

text: Despite the success of her first three albums and songs like "Woodstock", January 1970 saw Mitchell make a decision to break from performing. In early spring 1970, she set off on a vacation around Europe. While on the island of Crete and staying in Matala, she wrote some of the songs that appear on "Blue". This journey was the backdrop for the songs "Carey" and "California"—"Carey" was inspired by her relationship with an American named Cary Raditz, who was the "redneck on a Grecian Isle" in "California". Some of the songs on "Blue" were inspired by Mitchell's 1968–1970 relationship with Graham Nash. Their relationship was already troubled when she left for Europe, and it was while she was on Formentera that she sent Nash the telegram that let him know that their relationship was over. The songs "My Old Man" and "River" are thought to be inspired by their relationship.


title: Blue (Joni Mitchell album)

text: Another pivotal experience in Mitchell's life that drove the emergence of the album was her relationship with James Taylor. She had begun an intense relationship with Taylor by the summer of 1970, visiting him on the set of the movie "Two-Lane Blacktop", the aura of which is referred to in "This Flight Tonight". The songs "Blue" and "All I Want" have specific references to her relationship with Taylor, such as a sweater that she knitted for him at the time and his heroin addiction. During the making of "Blue" in January 1971, they were still very much in love and involved. By March, Taylor's fame had exploded, causing friction. She was reportedly devastated when he broke off the relationship.


title: Blue (Joni Mitchell album)

text: The album was almost released in a somewhat different form. In March 1971, completed masters for the album were ready for production. Originally, there were three old songs that had not found their way onto any of her previous albums. At the last minute, Mitchell decided to remove two of the three so that she could add the new songs "All I Want" and "The Last Time I Saw Richard". "Little Green", composed in 1967, was the only old song that remained. The two songs removed were:


title: Blue (Joni Mitchell album)

text: In 1979 Mitchell reflected, "The "Blue" album, there's hardly a dishonest note in the vocals. At that period of my life, I had no personal defenses. I felt like a cellophane wrapper on a pack of cigarettes. I felt like I had absolutely no secrets from the world and I couldn't pretend in my life to be strong. Or to be happy. But the advantage of it in the music was that there were no defenses there either."


title: Blue (Joni Mitchell album)

text: Mitchell continued to use alternate tunings on her guitar to allow easier access to augmented chords and notes in unexpected combinations. Due to the stark and bare revelations in the album, when it was first played for Kris Kristofferson he is reported to have commented, "Joni! Keep something to yourself!"


title: Blue (Joni Mitchell album)

text: Today, "Blue" is generally regarded by music critics as one of the greatest albums of all time, with Mitchell's songwriting and compositions being frequent areas of praise. In January 2000, "The New York Times" chose "Blue" as one of the 25 albums that represented "turning points and pinnacles in 20th-century popular music".


title: Blue (Joni Mitchell album)

text: Jason Ankeny of AllMusic describes "Blue" as "the quintessential confessional singer/songwriter album". Praising the songs as "raw nerves, tales of love and loss etched with stunning complexity", Ankeny concludes writing "Unrivaled in its intensity". The writers of "Pitchfork" gave the album a perfect 10-out-of-10 rating, calling it "possibly the most gutting break-up album ever made".


title: Blue (Joni Mitchell album)

text: "Blue" was included in the 2018 edition of Robert Dimery's book "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die". Based on "Blue"s appearances in professional rankings and listings, the aggregate website Acclaimed Music lists it as 4th most acclaimed album of 1971, the 16th most acclaimed album of the 1970s and the 49th most acclaimed album in history.


title: Blue (Joni Mitchell album)

text: The album was a commercial success. In Canada, the album peaked at number nine on the Canadian RPM Albums Chart. In the United Kingdom, the album peaked at number three on the UK Albums Chart and has been certified double platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for sales over of 600,000 copies in the UK. In the US, the album peaked at number 15 on the "Billboard" 200 chart. The album was later certified platinum for sales over a million copies. The single "Carey" reached number 93 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart.


title: Carl Grimes

text: Carl Grimes is a fictional character and is one of the main protagonists in the comic book series "The Walking Dead" and was portrayed by Chandler Riggs in the American television series of the same name. The character was created by writer Robert Kirkman and artist Tony Moore, and debuted in "The Walking Dead" #2 in 2003. In both forms of media, Carl is the son of Rick Grimes, and Lori Grimes.


title: Carl Grimes

text: In the comic book series, Carl begins as a normal and innocent child, but as the events of the new world order force him to grow up, he becomes colder, and sometimes makes brash decisions for what he thinks is the good of the group. The character's development is similar in the television series, where he adopts a callous personality, putting him at odds with his father, who wishes to maintain Carl's childhood morality and innocence as much as possible. Upon reflection, Carl eventually regains his sense of morality while still keeping his survival edge. At the same time, his father begins to lose his morality, which eventually puts Carl into conflict with him for various reasons, particularly in regards to helping strangers in need. Carl is also one of the reasons Rick spared Negan's life.


title: Carl Grimes

text: For his performance as Carl, Riggs won the Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor in a Television Series in 2014 and 2016. He was also nominated for the Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Series – Leading Young Actor in 2012, 2013, and won in 2014.


title: Carl Grimes

text: Carl is the only son of deputy sheriff Rick Grimes and his wife, Lori Grimes. When the dead rise, Lori takes Carl to a purported safe zone in Atlanta, Georgia, along with Rick's partner, Shane Walsh. Lori and Carl join a group of survivors on the outskirts of Atlanta, formed and led by Shane. There, they are eventually reunited with Rick. Despite being only seven years old, Carl is taught to shoot a pistol. This comes in handy when he saves his mother from an attacking walker. Later, he is forced to kill an unstable Shane in order to protect his father.


title: Carl Grimes

text: After the group buries Shane and leaves Atlanta, Carl is shot and wounded by ranch foreman Otis while searching for supplies in the woods. The survivors are brought to the farm of Otis' employer, veterinarian Hershel Greene, who successfully treats Carl. The group remains at the farm for several days until tensions cause Hershel to evict them.


title: Carl Grimes

text: They eventually find an abandoned prison. While there, Carl and the others enjoy the prison's luxuries, such as hot showers and open space. He is confronted with disturbing experiences, such as witnessing numerous counts of violence/death. While Rick was away with other survivors, he frequently gave Lori re-assurance about his well-being. Throughout Lori's pregnancy, Carl was thrilled with the idea of a baby sister and when Judith is born he is fiercely protective over her. When The Governor and his army attack the prison, Carl managed to escape with Rick.


title: Carl Grimes

text: During the journey, while returning to Kentucky with Rick and Abraham, he is nearly raped by a group of rednecks before his father manages to kill all of them. In the aftermath of their murders, Carl confesses to killing Shane and being a different person than he was before the apocalypse. Shortly after their return to the main group, Carl witnesses a fellow child survivor murder his brother, and he secretly kills the child when he realizes no one else is willing to do it. He feels deep grief, but does not regret his actions.


title: Carl Grimes

text: When they arrive at a gated community in D.C., Carl is unable to fit in with the other children due because of his horrific experiences in the dangerous outside world and the false sense of security the other children had. During a zombie attack, Carl is shot in the face, losing his right eye, and in a coma for weeks. When he wakes up and again is taken care of by Rick, he shows a much more negative outlook, berating his father for all of the horrible things that have happened because of him.


title: Carl Grimes

text: When Rick decides to attack a group of survivors known as the Saviors, they retaliate by killing Glenn. Rick decides to create the illusion of falling in line with their leader, Negan, but is actually trying to find more information about the group when Carl decides to sneak into one of the Saviors' vans and launch an assault on them, ending with him as Negan's new "guest". Negan grows a liking for Carl, although Carl remains resentful towards him. Not long after, Carl is returned to Rick unharmed. He accompanies Rick to "The Kingdom", a neighboring settlement led by Ezekiel. There, they plan to go to war with the Saviors. Carl stays back in the Safe Zone while Rick ventures out to Negan's stronghold for war.


title: Carl Grimes

text: After the roughly four-year time gap, Carl decides that he wants to leave the Safe Zone to journey to The Hilltop and start an apprenticeship with Earl Sutton, the blacksmith. Shortly after arriving there, two boys attack him and Sophia, and Carl beats them off with a shovel, nearly killing them.


title: Carl Grimes

text: In the final comic, Carl is an adult and married to Sophia. After killing a wandering pet walker of Maggie's son's, he faces criminal charges in a society where the threat of zombies is largely ignored and forgotten, but he is cleared of all charges with Michonne being his judge. He is last seen telling his daughter the story of his father, Rick.


title: Carl Grimes

text: Carl is Lori and Rick Grimes' son and Judith's elder half-brother. Carl loved both his parents, even though they began to have marital issues. Upon learning of his father's shooting days before the outbreak, he is devastated, even wanting to give a blood transfusion to help which his mother talks him out of. When the outbreak begins, Shane Walsh and Lori take him to the supposed safe zone in Atlanta. On the way there, he is told that his father is dead, and he gradually began to accept it but had little time to mourn. On the way to Atlanta when traffic is backed up Carl, Lori and Shane meet Carol, Ed and their daughter Sophia who Carl quickly becomes friends with. They set up camp with other survivors on the outskirts of Atlanta, Carl begins to look at Shane as a father figure, as he does various activities with him such as fishing and learns some survival skills from him, but appeared to be oblivious to Shane and Lori's ongoing sexual relationship. Carl and Rick are both ambidextrous.


title: Carl Grimes

text: Carl along with Lori and Shane are part of the survivor group camping in a quarry outside of Atlanta, and has made friends with Sophia, Carol's daughter. When Rick is found and brought back to the camp, Carl is overjoyed to see his father alive, and Lori instructs him to distance himself from Shane. The group is forced to abandon the camp and leave Atlanta.


title: Carl Grimes

text: As Rick's group heads to Fort Benning, they are forced to hide themselves from a horde of walkers amid a jam-up of cars on a highway, during which Sophia goes missing. The group splits up to search for her, and Carl joins Rick and Shane. They spot a deer, but as Carl approaches it, he is shot by Otis, a farmhand from Hershel Greene's farm nearby. They race Carl to Hershel who operates to remove the bullet fragments. The operation is successful, but Carl is bed-ridden for several days, leading Hershel to allow Rick's group to stay on the farm while he heals.


title: Carl Grimes

text: Once Carl heals, he helps out around the farm and the survivor's camp, but Lori notices he has a colder demeanor. Shane starts to go crazy and opens a locked barn, while Carl becomes more distant once the group finds that Sophia had become a walker and was herded among other walkers of Hershel's family and friends into his barn, believing they can be cured. Rick's group is forced to put down all of the walkers, including Sophia. Later, Carl heads into the woods alone, finding a walker stuck in a mudpit. He aims a gun to dispatch it, but instead tried to taunt it, and the walker lurches forward, freeing itself. Carl runs back to camp but fails to mention the walker. Later that day, Dale is attacked by the same walker, and the group is forced to euthanize him, and Carl feels regret for not having killed the walker when he had the chance. Carl learns that Lori is pregnant, but she is unsure if it is Shane's or Rick's child; among these matters, Rick and Shane have a falling out, and Rick stabbed Shane to death as Carl watches. Rick tries to explain why he did that to Carl when Carl pulls out a gun and aims it at Rick; however, he does this to fire at the reanimated body of Shane who was about to attack Rick. The gunfire draws more walkers to the farm, and Rick's group and the Greenes are forced to abandon it.


title: Carl Grimes

text: Rick's group comes to an abandoned prison that they make their new shelter, and spend time clearing it of walkers. They also must deal with a few living prisoners, one of whom turns on the group and is abandoned to walkers by Rick. The prisoner gets his revenge by leading walkers into a breach into the prison. The group is forced to split up, and Carl helps to cover Lori and Maggie. The events have caused Lori to enter into childbirth, but she knows she requires a C-section that will likely be lethal, and says her goodbyes to Carl as Maggie operates. Her daughter is born safely, but she dies, and a traumatized Carl is forced to euthanize his mother to prevent her reanimation. When Carl and Maggie regroup with Rick and the others, carrying the child but without Lori, Rick becomes shellshocked, and spends numerous days mourning over Lori's loss and unable to provide leadership. Carl helps to see to his sister, whom he named Judith, while Daryl, Hershell, and Glenn take up leadership roles.


title: Carl Grimes

text: The prison community becomes the target of the nearby Woodbury community, led by the vengeful Governor, who seeks revenge on Michonne, whom the prison group has taken in cautiously. Glenn and Maggie are captured, and Rick leads a group to recover them, leaving Carl in charge. While Rick is gone, Carl encounters a group of survivors led by Tyreese, one who had been bitten by a walker, and he allows them shelter of the prison but locked away from the rest of the group, though says he will ask Rick to evaluate them when he returns. Rick's group returns successfully, but Rick is still troubled by visions of Lori, and when Carl introduces him to Tyreese's group, Carl interprets Rick's cries of "Get out!", which he is shouting at his hallucinations, as his decision to refuse Tyreese's group to stay. Carl leads them out and apologizes for Rick's lack of understanding.


title: Carl Grimes

text: With war between the prison and Woodbury becoming more likely, Rick, Carl, and Michonne drive to Rick's hometown to retrieve weapons from the sheriff's station. Carl remains concerned about Michonne, but Rick seems to trust her. Rick is surprised to find Morgan Jones, the man he first met after waking from his coma, still in his town, and while Rick sees to Morgan, Carl goes to obtain supplies for Judith with Michonne's help. However, his first stop is a local bar to get a photograph of his family as a memento for Judith, but the bar is filled with walkers. Michonne assists Carl in getting the photo safely. As they return to the prison with weapons and supplies, Carl tells Rick that he believes Michonne is one of them, having gained trust in her.


title: Carl Grimes

text: When the Governor attacks the prison, Carl helps in its defense, including killing a terrified teenager compelled to fight when he was advancing on the unarmed Hershel and Judith. Carl later tells Rick he didn't want what happened to Dale, caused by his inaction, to happen to anyone else. The Governor is chased away, and the Woodbury group is integrated into the prison, as Rick finally has come to terms with Lori's death and finally sees Judith as his daughter.


title: Carl Grimes

text: Despite a population of teenagers at the prison, Carl remains distant from them, having been hardened by his experiences, and instead keeps check on Rick, who has relinquished leadership of the group. Carl assists as he can with a flu-like outbreak that is lethal to many, which in turn leads to the dead becoming re-animated, until appropriate medicine is brought back to stop the illness.


title: Carl Grimes

text: The Governor returns with a new army to attack the prison, forcing the survivors to flee separately. Carl finds a heavily injured Rick in the chaos and helps him to walk away, but then they see the empty baby carrier where Judith had been, and fear she died. The two escape alone, and eventually come to a suburban neighborhood, taking shelter in a house. Rick is still injured and past the point of exhaustion, so Carl lets him rest while scavenging for supplies in the nearby homes. Eventually Rick recovers, and the two are elated when Michonne, having tracked them from the prison, joins them. The three spend several times resting and bonding, learning about Michonne having lost her own son in the walker epidemic. However, upon the arrival of a group of scavengers who have discovered their presence, they are forced to flee the house. They come to railroad tracks, with signs pointing to sanctuary at Terminus, and follow them.


title: Carl Grimes

text: Some days later, they are discovered by the same group of scavengers, who have also captured Daryl. Their leader, Joe, announces that his group will beat Daryl to death and rape and kill Carl and Michonne before killing Rick. The threat of harm to Carl enrages Rick, who tears Joe's throat out, guts Carl's attacker, and kills the rest assisted by Daryl and Michonne. The four continue on to Terminus. They near Terminus, but Rick, suspicious of it, buries most of their weapons outside before they approach it. While they are welcomed into the community, they notice they possess items belonging to their friends, and suspect they have been captured. The Terminus people turn on them, and force them into a boxcar, where the remains of Rick's group are being held. Rick vows that the Terminus group messed with the wrong people.


title: Carl Grimes

text: Carol and Tyreese help to rescue Rick's group from Terminus, and when they regroup Rick and Carl are elated to find they have watched and cared for Judith since the Governor's attack on the prison. The group encounters Fr. Gabriel Stokes and spend some time sheltered in his church. Carl is put in charge of defending the survivors when Rick and the others leave to finish off the remains of the Terminus population that are seeking revenge from the group.


title: Carl Grimes

text: The group eventually continues on from the church, heading towards Washington D.C., and suffers a number of hardships along the way. The group is met by Aaron, a recruiter for the nearby Alexandria Safe-Zone, offering the group a place there. While Rick's group is initially skeptical, they are generally welcomed with open arms. Carl helps to take care of Judith as Rick and the others improve Alexandria's security. Carl meets some of the teenagers in the community, including Enid, a girl who had been wandering on her own after seeing her parents killed by walkers. Carl finds something of interest in Enid, and discreetly watches her, and when she climbs over the fence of Alexandria, he follows her. She remains emotionally distant, but accepts Carl's friendship and returns to the community.


title: Carl Grimes

text: Rick's people have been placed into positions of leadership around Alexandria due to their superior survival skills, and one of Rick's first acts is to round up and herd a large group of walkers from a nearby quarry far away from the community. Carl remains in Alexandria to watch over Judith and the other Alexandria residents. An attack by the Wolves, a feral group that attacks settled communities, disrupts Rick's plan. The Alexandria wall is breached and walkers swarm in. Rick and Michonne race back to the community to help protect it, joining Carl as he, Judith, Gabriel, Deanna Monroe and Jessie Anderson and her two sons Ron and Sam attempt to escape to an upper floor of a house and escape. Deanna, who already knew she was dying, sacrifices herself to give the others time to escape by covering themselves in viscera from dispatched walkers to fool the horde. They get far enough to allow Gabriel to take Judith to the secured church safely so that they can then seek out other survivors, but a panicked Sam does not want to leave with Gabriel and instead insist on staying with their mother. This leads to walkers attacking the group, killing Sam and Jessie. Ron, enraged to see his family killed, pulls a gun and shoots Carl in the eye, before Michonne kills him. Carl is rushed to safety, and eventually Rick and his allies clear out the walkers.


title: Carl Grimes

text: Over the next several months, Alexandria resecures its walls. Carl loses his eye, but is otherwise unharmed, and continues to develop a friendship with Enid.


title: Carl Grimes

text: Rick's group comes to learn of the Saviors, a survivor group that use violence to coerce other communities to provide them offering of food and supplies on a regular basis. As a part of the group goes on the hunt for Saviors, Maggie starts having complications with Glenn's unborn child. Carl joins Rick, Maggie, Glenn and others as they set off for the nearby Hilltop community, with whom they have made friendly ties. They run into traps set by the Saviors, and soon Rick's group, including those who went looking for the Saviors, are forced to kneel before Negan, the leader of the Saviors. He plans on killing one of them with "Lucille", a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire, to force them into servitude, and threatens to cut out Carl's other eye and feed it to Rick should any of them intercede.


title: Carl Grimes

text: After a random choice, Negan kills Abraham, and when Daryl tries to punch Negan in revenge, Negan then kills Glenn in retaliation. While the rest of the group is held at gunpoint, Negan takes Rick on a short trip to convince him to submit, and on his return, demands that Rick cut off Carl's arm as a show of agreement to the Savior's terms, or else he will kill the entire group. Rick tearfully prepares to cut off Carl's arm, but Negan stops him at the last moment, assured that Rick will now follow his orders. The Saviors leave them, but plan to show up at Alexandria for their offerings.


title: Carl Grimes

text: When the Saviors first arrive, they proceed to take much more than anticipated, and Carl yells at Rick for being willing to put up with this. Carl attempts to sway one Savior at gunpoint from taking nearly all the medicine. Negan sees this, and tells Carl that he is impressed by his courage, but he cannot tolerate anyone threatening his group, and has the Saviors take all of the guns from Alexandria. Later, Carl again sees Enid leaving Alexandria, and when he catches up to her, finds she wants to go to Hilltop. He accompanies her there, explaining his desire to kill Negan. They arrive at Hilltop just as the Saviors are there collecting their weekly offering. Carl decides to stowaway aboard one of the trucks when they drive away, discovering that Jesus, one of the Hilltop survivors, is also there, seeking the location of Sanctuary, the Savior's base. As they near Sanctuary, Carl tricks Jesus into getting off the truck.


title: Carl Grimes

text: When the trucks get to Sanctuary, Carl starts attacking, killing two of the Saviors before he is restrained. Negan again shows appreciation of Carl's courage, and forces Carl to talk about how he lost his eye, and then into how he lost his mother; Carl avoids speaking about Judith during this. Negan decides to return Carl to Alexandria and takes several men there, arriving earlier than expected for their next supply run. As Rick has gone with Aaron to find more supplies, Negan decides to wait by making himself at home in the house Rick and Carl occupy, and Carl is unable to stop him from discovering Judith. Negan uses this information to help put more sway over Rick once he returns. After Negan leaves, Rick, encouraged by Michonne and Carl, decides to take a stand against the Saviors, and starts to find allies and weapons. Eventually, the Alexandria community is joined by the Hilltop and the Kingdom to stop an attack by the Saviors and their allies, the Scavengers, against Alexandria, and the three communities declare war against the Saviors.


title: Carl Grimes

text: While Rick organizes the combined forces of Alexandria, the Hilltop, and the Kingdom against Negan, Carl becomes more concerned with the safety of others, making sure that the remaining survivors of Alexandria are prepared. At some point, Carl and Rick are out searching for gas but come across a man named Siddiq, alone and seemingly confused. Rick is prepared to shoot him, but Carl stops him and berates Rick for not showing compassion. Later, as Rick's army attacks the Saviors, Carl encounters Siddiq again, and after learning his hardships, offers to take him to Alexandria. As they make their way back, they run into a small group of walkers, one of which manages to bite Carl on his abdomen before they can fend it off. Carl keeps the bite hidden from Siddiq and others. Knowing his death is imminent, he spends time with Judith, and writes several letters to his loved ones.


title: Carl Grimes

text: Negan and the Saviors eventually escape Sanctuary and assault Alexandria. Thanks to Carl's planning and distractions, most of the Alexandrians are able to make it to the shelter of sewers as the community is firebombed by the Saviors. Eventually, Rick and Michonne make their way back and follow the others into the sewers, where Carl is forced to show them the walker bite. Daryl prepares to lead the other Alexandrians to the Hilltop, but tells Carl he helped to make this all possible. With Carl too weak to make the trip, Rick and Michonne take him to the Alexandria church, and Carl implores Rick to show mercy and compassion, hoping to make him a better man. Rick and Michonne go outside to deal with their grief as Carl shoots himself in the head with the same gun he has had since he was a child. Rick and Michonne then bury his body next to the church. The shocking news of his death reaches the communities and even Negan. In the eighth-season finale, Rick reads Carl's note to him about the future. When Alexandria, The Kingdom, Hilltop, and Oceanside go to war with the Saviors for the last time, Rick and Negan talk about Carl's dream, which almost brings Negan to tears. Rick slits Negan's throat but spares his life, just as Carl wanted. Later, Rick mentions that Negan will not be killed or harmed as Carl found him to be redeemable. With the Saviors finally defeated, Rick thanks his son for allowing him to be his father.


title: Carl Grimes

text: Two years after Negan's defeat and imprisonment, Rick has continued to honor Carl's legacy by keeping the joined communities working together, despite any inner turmoil amongst the Saviors. However, even though Rick's allowing Negan to live was done to honor Carl, Daryl and Maggie are still hellbent on killing him to avenge Glenn's death. When Maggie is going to Alexandria to kill him, Rick and Daryl argue about her plan and Rick is brought to tears in saying that by killing Negan, Carl died for nothing. Daryl tells Rick that he'd die for him and that he would have died for Carl, but urges him to let his son's dream for the future go. When Rick is gravely injured by being impaled on a piece of rebar, Carl appears in Rick's hallucination as one of the many corpses piled together that he stands upon.


title: Carl Grimes

text: Six years after Rick's apparent death, Carl is mentioned by Judith when she admits to Michonne that she is starting to forget both Carl and Rick's voices. During the time-skip, Michonne has given birth to Carl's half-brother, Rick "R.J." Grimes Jr., who was conceived shortly before Rick's disappearance. Negan continues to be a prisoner in Alexandria and he shares an amicable relationship with Judith, telling her stories about the past that an overprotective Michonne keeps from the young girl. Negan later berates Michonne for not telling Judith more about her father and brother, calling Judith just as much of a badass as Carl was. The older Judith has taken to wearing Carl's old hat that he had left to his sister before dying.


title: Carl Grimes

text: In "Judge, Jury, Executioner", Carl evolves into a desensitized character and ultimately relinquishes his naïveté to the world around him. Although "Entertainment Weekly" writer Clark Collis drew parallels to a serial killer, Kirkman suggested this was an initiative to give more screen time to the character. He said Carl was "one of the most fun characters to tell stories about in this world." He continued: "It's true of the comic and it's true of the show. Over time, we're going to start to see more and more of this kid. What's awesome about that is, think about what it would be like to grow up in this world. It's one thing to have everything you know taken away from you and have to deal with this s—y world you now have to live in. But to have barely even really recognized what the world is and how it works and what to expect and then to be thrust into this apocalyptic threat and to grow up and mature with these kinds of situations. It's going to make him grow up weird, is what I like to say."


title: Carl Grimes

text: When it was discovered that Carl was going to be killed off after the season 8 midseason finale, fans were upset by the loss of the character, which is a significant departure from the comics, where Carl is still alive and takes on more of a leadership role as Rick ages, even outliving his father by the end of the comics.


title: Black Widow (Yelena Belova)

text: Black Widow (Yelena Belova; Russian: Еле́на Бело́ва) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She is depicted as a spy and was the second modern-era character to use the Black Widow name. She first appeared in "Inhumans" #5 (March 1999) and was created by Devin Grayson and J.G. Jones. She was trained as a spy and assassin in the Red Room. Originally, Yelena was a foe of Natasha Romanova and was sent to kill her, but the two later became allies. She was also a member of S.H.I.E.L.D., , and HYDRA; the latter organization changed her into a version of Super-Adaptoid. As Super-Adaptoid, she was one of the members of the High Council of A.I.M. She reverted to her original codename. Black Widow, in 2017. She is the first confirmed asexual character in the Marvel Universe.


title: Black Widow (Yelena Belova)

text: Florence Pugh portrays the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film "Black Widow", the miniseries "Hawkeye" (both 2021), and the upcoming film "" (2024).


title: Black Widow (Yelena Belova)

text: Belova, the second modern Black Widow after Natasha Romanova (Natasha Romanoff), was initially a Russian spy of the GRU. She debuted briefly in "Inhumans" (Vol. 2) #5 (March 1999), and was fully introduced in the 1999 Marvel Knights mini-series "Black Widow". A second miniseries also titled "Black Widow" featuring Natasha Romanoff and Daredevil followed in 2001. The next year, she did a solo turn in her own three-issue miniseries, "Black Widow: Pale Little Spider" under the mature audience Marvel MAX imprint. The storyline by writer Greg Rucka and artist Igor Kordey was a flashback to her taking on the mantle of the second modern Black Widow.


title: Black Widow (Yelena Belova)

text: Belova is an amoral spy and assassin who was trained at the Red Room by the same spymasters who trained Natasha Romanoff, the first Black Widow. Yelena was born in Moscow, Soviet Russia, at the of 15 she was recruited by the GRU. After the death of her trainer, Pyotr Vasilievich Starkovsky, she is activated as the new Black Widow and deployed to investigate. She apprehends and eliminates his killer, unaware that both his murder and the investigation were part of a ploy to get Belova to assert herself as the new Black Widow. Believing herself to be the rightful successor to the "Black Widow" title, Yelena enthusiastically volunteers for a mission that will put her at odds with Natasha, although the meeting and confrontations between the two do not lead to a decisive battle. Natasha refers to Yelena as "little one" and "russkaya", meaning "Russian", and encourages her to find what makes her unique and her personal identity rather than blindly devote herself to nation. Natasha later subjects Yelena to a cruel but necessary manipulation to shatter her illusions about the "Black Widow" title and teach her the reality of the espionage industry. Belova eventually retires to Cuba, where she becomes a successful businesswoman and model.


title: Black Widow (Yelena Belova)

text: She is lured back, however, by the espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D., and becomes involved in the agency's vibranium mining in the Antarctic Savage Land. Shortly afterward, she barely survives an attack by Sauron, receiving severe burns and being subsequently approached with an offer for revenge against S.H.I.E.L.D. and the New Avengers.


title: Black Widow (Yelena Belova)

text: Belova is genetically altered by the terrorist organization HYDRA, as she had suffered debilitating and disfiguring injuries after her last encounter with the New Avengers in the Savage Land. HYDRA recruited her with the prospect of revenge and after hiring the services of A.I.M. transferred her mind into a new version of Super-Adaptoid. This body appeared as Belova had originally until it began to absorb powers, at which time it changed as the original did, though now yellow in color. Now equipped with the ability to copy all of the New Avengers' powers, she engages the superhero team in combat. She is eventually defeated by a combination of Tony Stark's 49 successive Iron Man armors—from the first, "Tales of Suspense" #39, to the then-current—and the Sentry's use of his Void persona, which she absorbs with the rest of the Sentry's powers and energy. When she is defeated, HYDRA disables her using a remote self-destruct mechanism they had implanted in her, rather than let her reveal intelligence to the New Avengers.


title: Black Widow (Yelena Belova)

text: During the "Dark Reign" storyline, Quasimodo researched Yelena Belova for Norman Osborn. Yelena Belova appeared to join Osborn's Thunderbolts. However it was eventually revealed to be actually Natasha Romanova in disguise, acting as a double agent for Nick Fury. She believed she was disguised as Belova on Fury's behalf, planted for Osborn to find and invite into the Thunderbolts. However, Osborn revealed to her that he had tricked her into taking on Belova's appearance in order to get her to do his dirty work. After Natasha's escape from the Thunderbolts, Osborn then revealed the true Yelena in stasis to Scourge and warned him that she could be his replacement on the team.


title: Black Widow (Yelena Belova)

text: The real Yelena is later freed from stasis by members of A.I.M. who install the female Adaptoid on the High Council of A.I.M. (alongside Andrew Forson, Graviton, Jude the Entropic Man, Mentallo, Superia, and an undercover Taskmaster) as the Minister of State in Bagalia (a country populated by supervillains).


title: Black Widow (Yelena Belova)

text: After the death of the original Black Widow at the hands of Captain America's Hydra doppelganger then defeat at hands of the real Captain America in "Secret Empire", Yelena began to reassume the Black Widow identity once again, but now to honor the late Natasha. Sometimes during the world's restoration from Hydra's mess, Yelena travels around the world to assassinate the world's infamous generals and Hydra's remnants, which caught the attentions of Natasha's former lovers Winter Soldier and Hawkeye.


title: Black Widow (Yelena Belova)

text: Black Widow is in peak athletic condition. She also has extensive military, gymnastics, martial arts, and espionage training.


title: Black Widow (Yelena Belova)

text: As a Super-Adaptoid, she was mutated by material synthesized from the Super-Adaptoid where she could adapt the powers of anyone around her like Luke Cage, Iron Man, Ms. Marvel, Sentry, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, and Wolverine in rapid succession.


title: Black Widow (Yelena Belova)

text: Yelena Belova appears in "Avengers Assemble", voiced by Julie Nathanson. This version is the second incarnation of the Black Widow following Baron Strucker reactivating the Red Room program and is the self-proclaimed rival of Natasha Romanoff. In season four, she rechristens herself the Crimson Widow and becomes a Hydra agent.


title: Black Widow (Yelena Belova)

text: Yelena Belova appears in media set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, portrayed by Florence Pugh. This version is a sister to Natasha Romanoff, and was trained to be a Black Widow alongside her in the Red Room.


title: Afrobeats

text: Afrobeats (not to be confused with Afrobeat or Afroswing), or Afro-pop or Afro-fusion (or Afropop or Afrofusion), is an umbrella term to describe popular music from West Africa and the diaspora that initially developed in Nigeria, Ghana, and the UK in the 2000s and 2010s. Afrobeats is less of a style per se, and more of a descriptor for the fusion of sounds flowing out of Ghana and Nigeria. Genres such as hiplife, jùjú music, highlife and naija beats, among others, were amalgamated under the 'Afrobeats' umbrella.


title: Afrobeats

text: Afrobeats is primarily produced in Lagos, Accra, and London. Historian and cultural critic Paul Gilroy reflects on the changing London music scene as a result of shifting demographics:


title: Afrobeats

text: We are moving towards an African majority which is diverse both in its cultural habits and in its relationship to colonial and postcolonial governance, so the shift away from Caribbean dominance needs to be placed in that setting. Most of the grime folks are African kids, either the children of migrants or migrants themselves. It's not clear what Africa might mean to them.


title: Afrobeats

text: In his earlier book, "The Black Atlantic", Gilroy rejects the notion that Black culture and music can be bound to one geographical region (Gilroy 16). Afrobeats definitely exemplifies this syncretism as a transnational genre that is now getting international attention. David Drake writes particularly about popular Nigerian music and notes it is "Picking up on trends from the U.S., Jamaica, and Trinidad, they reimagine diasporic influences and—more often than not—completely reinvent them" (Drake).


title: Afrobeats

text: Afrobeats began to experience widespread global mainstream acclaim in the late 2010s, with artists achieving success across Africa, Europe, and North America.


title: Afrobeats

text: Afrobeats (with the s) is commonly conflated with and referred to as Afrobeat (without the s), however, these are two distinct and different sounds and are not the same. Afrobeat is a genre that developed in the 1960s and 1970s, taking influences from Fuji music and highlife, mixed in with American jazz and funk. Characteristics of Afrobeat include big bands, long instrumental solos, and complex jazzy rhythms. The name was coined by Nigerian afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti. Fela Kuti and his longtime partner, drummer Tony Allen, are credited for laying the groundwork for what would become afrobeats.


title: Afrobeats

text: This is in contrast to the afrobeats sound, pioneered in the 2000s and 2010s. While afrobeats takes on influences from Afrobeat, it is a diverse fusion of various different genres such as British house music, hiplife, hip hop, dancehall, soca, Jùjú music, highlife, R&B, ndombolo, Naija beats, Azonto, and palm-wine music. Unlike Afrobeat, which is a clearly defined genre, afrobeats is more of an overarching term for contemporary West African pop music. The term was created in order to package these various sounds into a more easily accessible label, which were unfamiliar to the UK listeners where the term was first coined. Another, more subtle contrast between the two sounds, is that while Fela Kuti used his music to discuss and criticise contemporary politics, afrobeats typically avoids such topics, thereby making it less politically charged than afrobeat.


title: Afrobeats

text: Afrobeats is most identifiable by its signature driving drum beat rhythms, whether electronic or instrumental. These beats harken to the stylings of a variety of traditional African drum beats across West Africa as well as the precursory genre Afrobeat. The beat in Afrobeats music is not just a base for the melody, but acts as a major character of the song, taking a lead role that is sometimes equal to or of greater importance than the lyrics and almost always more central than the other instrumentals. Afrobeats share a similar momentum and tempo to house music. Usually using the 4/4 time signature common in Western music, afrobeats commonly features a 3–2 or 2–3 rhythm called a clave. Another distinction within Afrobeats is the notably West African, specifically Nigerian or Ghanaian, accented English that is often blended with local slangs, pidgin English, as well as local Nigerian or Ghanaian languages depending on the backgrounds of the performers.


title: Afrobeats

text: Sampling is sometimes used within Afrobeats music. Burna Boy and Wizkid, for example, have both sampled Fela Kuti.


title: Afrobeats

text: London-based DJ Abrantee was credited by "The Guardian" for coining the name "Afrobeats", in order to package and present the sound to a British audience. Of the name, DJ Abrantee stated:


title: Afrobeats

text: I cannot say I invented Afrobeats. Afrobeats was invented before I was born. It was invented by Fela Kuti. But what you’ve got to remember is the genre of music artists themselves are now producing — the likes of WizKid, Ice Prince, P-Square, Castro, May7ven are calling their music Afrobeats. So that's what I call it when I put them on my mix tapes.


title: Afrobeats

text: Afrobeats is less of a style like afrobeat is, and more of an overarching term for the contemporary sound of African pop music and that of those influenced by it. DJ 3K criticised the label for being a contemporary marketing category. According to David Drake, the eclectic genre "reimagines diasporic influences and—more often than not—completely reinvents them". However, some caution against equating Afrobeats to contemporary pan-African music, in order to prevent the erasure of local musical contributions. Some artists have distanced themselves from the term 'afrobeats' due to the overt similarity it has with 'afrobeat', even though they are different sounds.


title: Afrobeats

text: Afrobeats is also sometimes referred to as Afro-pop and Afro-fusion. A few artists use alternative names to describe their music; Don Jazzy has stated he prefers "Afro-pop" rather than afrobeats. Wizkid, Burna Boy, and Davido all use Afro-fusion or Afro-pop to describe their music. Mr Eazi also refers to his music as 'Banku Music' to denote the influence Ghana has had on his music (Banku is a Ghanaian dish). Rema coined the term "Afrorave", which is a subgenre of Afrobeats with influences of Arabian and Indian music.


title: Afrobeats

text: Yeni Kuti, daughter of Fela Kuti, expressed distaste for the name 'afrobeats' and instead preferred if people referred to it as "Nigerian Pop", "Naija Afropop", or "Nigerian Afropop". Music critic Osagie Alonge criticised the pluralisation of 'afrobeat'. Sam Onyemelukwe of Trace Nigeria, a television show, however noted that he liked 'afrobeats', noting that it acknowledges the foundation set by afrobeat while also recognising that it's a different and unique sound. Nigerian artist Burna Boy has stated that he does not want his music referred to as afrobeats. However, most of these monikers, including afrobeats, have been criticised for using the 'afro' prefix, presenting Africa as a monolithic entity, rather than one with diverse cultures and sounds.


title: Afrobeats

text: Reggie Rockstone, a pioneering hiplife artist, felt conflicted over artists referring to their music as 'afrobeats' rather than 'hiplife', a genre that is often placed under the 'afrobeats' umbrella. He stated in an interview with Gabriel Myers Hanse:


title: Afrobeats

text: It's like ‘Oh come on! We work so hard for you to get on, and now you're gonna deny what it is that we did? Come on!’ Sometimes I get that vibe, but then, in the same breath, I'm like, well, it is one Africa, and I'm pan-African to the bone. So do I really care if it's called Afrobeats or hiplife? As long as Black people are getting it, and young people are making money, feeding their kids, I think I'm okay. So, to each their own.


title: Afrobeats

text: Styles of music that make up afrobeats largely began sometime in the late 90s and early-mid-2000s. With the launching of MTV Base Africa in 2005, West Africa was given a large platform through which artists could grow. Artists such as MI Abaga, Naeto C and Sarkodie were among the first to take advantage of this, however most of the artists were merely making interpretations of American hip hop and R&B. Prior to this, groups such as Trybesmen, Plantashun Boiz, and The Remedies were early pioneers that fused modern American influences from hip-hop and R&B with local melodies. While this allowed them to build local audiences, it blocked them from a wider platform due to the language barriers in-place. P-Square released their album "Game Over" in 2007, which was unique for its usage of Nigerian rhythms and melodies. Meanwhile, artists such as Flavour N'abania were able to find success by embracing older genres, such as highlife, and remixing it into something more modern, as seen in his song "Nwa Baby (Ashawo Remix)". By 2009 artists within the burgeoning scene were beginning to become stars across the continent and beyond. The style of music had a variety of names which made it difficult to market outside of Africa.


title: Afrobeats

text: However it wasn't until the launch of Choice FM's New Afrobeats Radio Show' birthed and presented by DJ Abrantee in April 2011 that the genre gained traction and saw 'Afrobeats' trending for the first time in history. The launch of the show gained popularity and provided a launch pad for both UK Based and African artists to submit songs for playlist consideration. Abrantee used his daytime show to test day time play of Afrobeats. Some of the first Afrobeats songs to be playlisted on daytime radio across the UK were Mista Silva "Boom Boom tah", May7ven's "Ten Ten", D'Banj's "Oliver Twist", and Moelogo's "Pangolo" in March 2012. Square released "Chop My Money (Remix)" alongside popular Senegalese-American artist Akon in 2012. "Oliver Twist", released online by Nigerian artist D'banj in the summer of 2011 charted at number 9 on the UK Singles Chart in 2012 (making him the first afrobeats artist to make it to the top 10 in the UK), and number 2 in the UK R&B Charts. Mr Eazi later credited D'banj in an interview with Sway In The Morning in 2019 for helping encourage Nigerians to embrace their accents and music, rather than looking outwards and trying to emulate American accents and music.


title: Afrobeats

text: British DJ's such as DJ Edu, with his show "Destination Africa" on BBC Radio 1Xtra, and DJ Abrantee, with his show on Choice FM, granted African music a platform in the United Kingdom. DJ Abrantee has been credited for coining the name "afrobeats". DJ Abrantee launched his Afrobeats Charts on Capital Xtra in 2014. DJs and producers like DJ Black, Elom Adablah, and C-Real, were also crucial in spreading afrobeats, often giving songs a burst of popularity after being played on their shows.


title: Afrobeats

text: Ghanaian British artist Fuse ODG helped popularise afrobeats in the UK. He was also the first to top the iTunes World Chart and received the Best African Act award at the 2013 MOBO Awards. In 2009, Fuse ODG described his sound as "hip hop with an African vibe". In 2011, Fuse ODG travelled to Ghana where he discovered the Azonto dance, and became inspired by hip hop-influenced Afro-pop and Naija beats. Once he returned to London, he fused the sounds he had found in Ghana into what he described as "Afrobeats, but with my U.K. thing added to it", fusing the sound with influences from UK funky and grime. In 2012, he saw his first success with the song "Antenna" which peaked at number 7 on the UK Singles Chart. He followed that up with "Azonto", which further helped popularise afrobeats and the dance in the UK. Such songs, and the Azonto dance craze, helped encourage Black Brits to embrace their African heritage rather than, as was the norm before, attempting to fit into British-Caribbean communities. Afrobeats night clubs became primary features of UK's nightlife with clubs opening in most major cities.


title: Afrobeats

text: More viral dances would follow which played an important part in popularising afrobeats. In 2011, Nigerian singer Iyanya released "Kukere". The song became popular and known for its adaption of a traditional dance called Etighi. Another dance was popularised by Nigerian artist Davido when he released "Skelewu" in 2013. Davido promoted the song by uploading an instructional dance video of it onto YouTube on 18 August 2013. The video was directed by Jassy Generation. The release of the instructional video accompany the announcement of the Skelewu dance competition. In order to win the competition, participants were told to watch the instructional dance video and upload videos of themselves dancing to the song. According to Pulse Nigeria, the number of dance videos uploaded to YouTube by fans aggregated to over 100,000 views.


title: Afrobeats

text: Other British afrobeats artists also emerged around 2012–2013, such as Mista Silva, Vibe Squad, Weray Ent, Naira Marley, Kwamz, Flava, Moelogo, and Timbo, who collectively set the foundation for future UK afrobeats and its derivative genre, Afroswing. Mista Silva's songs "Bo Won Sem Ma Me" and "Boom Boom Tah" were notable early hits in the UK afrobeats scene. Mista Silva and Skob credited Fuse ODG's "Azonto" song for encouraging them to create afrobeats.


title: Afrobeats

text: Ghanaian artist Guru also popularised his own dance in 2013 called "Alkayida" with the release of the song "Alkayida (Boys Abrɛ)". Nigerian artist MC Galaxy also popularised a dance called "Sekem".


title: Afrobeats

text: Another method of utilising social media in order to boost a song was seen in the promotion of "Dorobucci", released in 2014, wherein Don Jazzy encouraged people to record themselves singing the song prior to release. The song won Best Pop Single at The Headies 2014, and Song of the Year at the 2015 MTV Africa Music Awards. It gained over 20 million views by 2016.


title: Afrobeats

text: Ghanaian artist Sarkodie won Best International Act Africa at the MOBO Awards in 2012, and Best Hip Hop award at the 2014 MTV Africa Awards. In 2011, his song "U Go Kill Me" became a hit in Ghana and helped popularise the Azonto dance craze.


title: Afrobeats

text: American artists such as Michelle Williams, French Montana, Rick Ross, and Kanye West have all collaborated with Afrobeats artists. Michelle Williams released "Say Yes" in 2014, a gospel song based on the Nigerian hymn "When Jesus Say Yes". The song's beats are said to resemble the popular four-beat of house music, but in fact follows the 3–2 or 2–3 of Afrobeats. This beat is known as the clave and mixes a rhythm with a normal 4/4 beat, it is commonly seen in many forms West African music. Another notable hit was "Million Pound Girl (Badder Than Bad)" by Fuse ODG, which reached 5 on the UK Singles Chart in 2014.


title: Afrobeats

text: In 2014, a genre derivative of afrobeats known as afroswing emerged in the UK, which fused the sound with influences from road rap, grime, dancehall, trap, and R&B. The genre was popularised by J Hus. This has led to many people referring to afroswing as 'afrobeats', however the two genres are distinct from each other.


title: Afrobeats

text: Canadian artist Drake also began to experiment with afrobeats in the mid-2010s, which arguably helped afrobeats gain international mainstream appeal. In 2014, he featured on "Ojuelegba (Remix)" by Nigerian artist Wizkid alongside British MC Skepta, and in 2016 when he released "One Dance" alongside British singer Kyla and Wizkid. "One Dance" became Spotify's most streamed song, with over a billion streams, and was number 1 in 15 countries. Drake's 2017 album "More Life" contains many Afrobeats and Dancehall influences. In 2017, Wizkid signed to RCA Records, which became the biggest ever deal an African musician has ever received. Wizkid and Drake have both been credited in helping popularise Afrobeats worldwide. "One Dance" has been credited with helping push afrobeats into worldwide mainstream appeal, which would only continue the rise within the following years. Wizkid was later entered into the Guinness Book of Records 2018 for featuring on the most streamed Spotify single of all time, "One Dance". He is the first afrobeats artist to enter the Guinness Book of Records.


title: Afrobeats

text: Nigerian artist Mr Eazi began to gain popularity in 2016 with his breakout singles "Skin Tight" and "Bankulize", both produced by British-Ghanaian producer Juls. He won Best New Artist at the Soundcity MVP Awards Festival in 2016. Mr Eazi initially gained his popularity in the UK after Juls reached out to him resulting in the song "Bankulize". Mr Eazi soon after became a star in Ghana and Nigeria. He has stated UK, Ghanaian and Nigerian music have all influenced his music. Mr Eazi calls his music 'Banku Music'. He was the first African pop artist to gain an extensive Apple Music artist page.


title: Afrobeats

text: Nigerian artist Tekno signed a multi-million dollar deal with Columbia Records. In August 2017, he released "Pana". The song was a hit in Nigeria, but failed to propel Tekno's career into America as was hoped. On October 1, 2017, Wizkid became the first African artist to hold a sold-out headline show at the Royal Albert Hall.


title: Afrobeats

text: 2017 also saw the rise of Shaku Shaku, another dance craze. Though the origins are not known, the dance is believed to have been popularized by street urchins in Agege around mid-2017. The Shaku Shaku dance move first appeared in Olamide's "Wo" music video. Much like the Azonto dance, Shaku Shaku also gave rise to its own genre of music, pioneered by artists such as Mr Real, Slimcase, Idowest.


title: Afrobeats

text: In the late 2010s, international record labels Universal and Warner Music began to invest money into Afrobeats artists.


title: Afrobeats

text: In 2018, French-Malian singer Aya Nakamura released "Djadja". The song became a number 1 hit in France and the Netherlands, as well as becoming certified gold in Belgium and Switzerland. The song gained over 400 million views on YouTube. She became the first French artist to secure seven top 10 songs in the French Singles chart and the first French singer to gain a number 1 album in the Netherlands since Edith Piaf in 1967, and became the most streamed French female artist in the world. Her sophomore album "Nakamura" became certified gold in France. Her rise has been notable due to the relative difficulty French black women have had in gaining mainstream popularity in France.


title: Afrobeats

text: In June 2018, prominent American rapper Kanye West released his album titled "Ye". Fans of Kanye West that searched for his album also, unintentionally, came across Burna Boy's song called "Ye" (released in January). This led to a 200% spike in streams for Burna Boy, gaining over 11.2 million streams in the United States.


title: Afrobeats

text: In August 2019, Mr Eazi launched emPawa Africa, a talent incubation initiative to nurture and support up-and-coming artistes in Africa. The platform will be used to help promote upcoming artists and give them a major platform. The initiative is also supported by YouTube Music.


title: Afrobeats

text: The latter half of the 2010s also saw prominent American artists experiment with Afrobeats music. This is notable due to the difficulty Afrobeats has previously had in accessing the American market. In 2018, Swae Lee and Drake released "Won't Be Late", produced by Nigerian artist Tekno. In 2019, Janet Jackson released "Made for Now" with production by Harmony Samuels. The song was afrobeats, and became a top 10 hit on Adult R&B radio. In 2019 two prominent American artists, GoldLink and Beyoncé, both released albums with afrobeats influence. GoldLink released "Diaspora" on June 12, 2019, featuring an afrobeats song as the lead single, "Zulu Screams" and production from P2J. GoldLink had also previously made "No Lie" alongside Wizkid back in 2014. Beyoncé released "", coinciding with the release of "Lion King" film released by Disney"," on July 19, 2019. The album featured artists such as Burna Boy, Mr Eazi, Wizkid, P2J, Yemi Alade, Maleek Berry, Tiwa Savage, and Shatta Wale. Mr Eazi and GuiltyBeatz predicted the album would help afrobeats reach a higher level of popularity, especially in the US, than it has yet to achieve. In July 2019, Yemi Alade's "Johnny" set the record for the most viewed female African music video on YouTube which made her the second artist with the most views on a single video after Davido. Afrobeats artist Rema was the first Nigerian musician to land a song on former US president Barack Obama's yearly summer music playlist. On August 23, 2019, Jidenna released the afrobeats album "85 to Africa". On October 1, American artist Chris Brown released "Lower Body", an afrobeats single featuring Davido. On October 25, 2019, Akon released a new afrobeats album titled "Akonda".


title: Afrobeats

text: The rising attention of afrobeats in the US also reached music radio stations, which began airing afrobeats, something they typically would not do before. Davido's "Fall" became a top 20 radio hit in America, 24 months after it was initially released. "Fall" also began rising on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay and U.S. Shazam charts, also becoming the longest charting Nigerian song in Billboard history. The song later became certified Gold in Canada and the U.S. Nigerian artist Burna Boy also saw some success, performing to over 9,000 people in Brooklyn, and gaining over 11.2 million streams from the US on his single "Ye". His album "African Giant" was nominated for 'Best World Music Album' at the Grammy Awards. Wizkid's "Come Closer" became certified RIAA Gold in 2020, 3 years after initial release. His song "Soco" also received a Canadian Gold certification in 2020. Despite gaining popularity in the US there stands some contention between the African American community and the greater African Diaspora. Afrobeats has been treated as an "other" category at BET awards despite being a black genre. These awards are catered toward Black Americans highlighting their lack of solidarity the diaspora says Boima Tucker. Afrobeats artists are tired of being treated like "second class citizens" in African-American Music award shows in the United States. In December 2019, YouTube announced it would be supporting four afrobeats artists: Kizz Daniel, Reekado Banks, Simi, and Teni. Announced at an event titled "A celebration of Afrobeats" hosted in Lagos, Nigeria, YouTube stated it would be providing them with tools to "propel their music, grow their presence on YouTube and accelerate the growth of their audience globally".


title: Afrobeats

text: In July 2020, the British Official Charts Company announced it would be creating an 'Official UK Afrobeats Chart' to track the sales and streaming data of afrobeats songs in the UK. In the year prior, afrobeats artists had spent a collective 86 weeks on the Official Chart Top 40, compared to 24 in 2017, and the amount of afrobeats artists in the UK Top 40 had doubled in that period. The company claimed it was the one of the 'world's first official charts' for afrobeats music.


title: Afrobeats

text: During the Nigerian End SARS protests in October, Davido's song "Fem" was described as a 'protest song' for the movement. The song was prominently played outside the government secretariat in Lagos, to protest and drown out the Lagos governor who was attempting to speak to the protestors.


title: Afrobeats

text: In April 2021, Davido's song "Fall" became the first Nigerian afrobeats song to receive over 200 million views on YouTube. In the same year, Wizkid and Tems became the first Nigerian pop artists to earn a spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with their song "Essence", while Burna Boy became the first African artist to earn 100 million streams across three albums each on Spotify.


title: Afrobeats

text: A range of new artists, such as Rema, Fireboy DML, Tems, and Joeboy, began to gain widespread popularity around the early 2020s, with a defining sound of R&B-infused, and sometimes trap-influenced, afrobeats music. In January 2022, Fireboy DML was the first Nigerian artist to reach the number two position on the UK Singles Chart with his "Peru" remix featuring Ed Sheeran. Rema released his debut album "Raves & Roses" in March 2022.


title: Afrobeats

text: In September 2021, Ckay became the second Nigerian pop artist to debut on the Billboard Hot 100 with his song "Love Nwantiti" which peaked at number one in India, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland, and gained popularity across TikTok. CKay personally dubbed his sound 'Emo-afrobeats', noting the additional focus on emotional and romantic-focused lyricism in his music. In the same month Wizkid's "Essence" became the first African song to be certified platinum and to reach the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100.


title: Afrobeats

text: In March 2022, the United States Billboard announced it would be creating an 'Official U.S Afrobeats Songs Chart' to track the sales and streaming data of afrobeat songs in the U.S. In the year prior, Wizkid had spent a collective 27 weeks on the radio domination Chart with Essence, after which Kodak Black's "Super Gremlin" claimed the number one spot. Currently, the genre has yielded some of the biggest success stories of the young decade — including songs like Wizkid's "Essence" featuring Tems, CKay's "Love Nwantiti (Ah Ah Ah)" and Fireboy DML's "Peru".


title: Afrobeats

text: The Azonto is a Ghanaian dance and music genre. Although the origins of the dance are unclear, Ghanaian artist Sarkodie helped popularise the dance with his 2011 song "U Go Kill Me", produced by EL and Krynkman, which became a hit in Ghana. This wasn't the first Azonto song however. Azonto music first emerged sometime in 2010, with songs such as "Kpo Kpo Body" by Gafacci and "I Like Your Girlfriend" by Bryte and Gafacci being among the first to showcase the new style. The dance craze that followed, in turn, created a subgenre of afrobeats specifically dedicated to the dance, utilising simplistic, faster, and easier to dance to rhythms and simple, memorable hooks. In 2011, Fuse ODG traveled to Ghana where he discovered the Azonto dance. Once he returned to London, he realised nobody knew what the dance was, and so he made the song "Azonto", which further catapulted the dance's popularity globally and in the UK. This was also the first time afrobeats was being played on daytime British radio. The song was followed up by another Azonto song, "Antenna".


title: Afrobeats

text: In 2013, Bronx-based rapper 2 Shy released "Azonto Girl", produced by Ghanaian-British producer Rude Boy, helping spread the genre and dance to the United States.


title: Afrobeats

text: Banku music is a subgenre of afrobeats pioneered by Mr Eazi. The core of the genre is Ghanaian highlife bounce while mixing them with Nigerian chord progressions, then mixed in with various other genre influences such as reggae, R&B, and hip-hop. Mr Eazi's style is also mellowed and laid back, with heavy usage of Pidgin English, and percolating rhythms. The genre is called 'Banku' in reference to the Ghanaian dish. The dish contains a multitude of different ingredients, much like how Banku is a fusion of various genres. Eazi credited Ghana for the mellowed sound in his music, in contrast to the typical high energy of Lagos, Nigeria.


title: Afrobeats

text: Pon Pon is a subgenre that was briefly the main sound in the Nigerian afropop music scene during the mid-2010s. The subgenre has been used to describe songs influenced by dancehall and highlife. Sess The Problem Kid, a producer, characterised the genre by its "mellow vibe and soft-hitting synths, mostly in pairs". The name of the subgenre is an onomatopoeia of the synths that feature in Pon Pon songs. There has however been confusion over exactly what defines the subgenre. It's unknown exactly where the genre originated, but Tekno's song "Pana" has been credited for popularising the sound. Krizbeatz, one of the producers behind "Pana", instead prefers to call the genre "Afro Dance Music" (ADM), denoting the influence of EDM.


title: Afrobeats

text: Davido's songs "If" and "Fall" both fall under the Pon Pon subgenre. Other songs include "Mad Over You" and "For Life" by Runtown, "Medicine" and "Odoo" by Wizkid, "Gaga Shuffle" by 2Baba, "Mama" by Mayorkun, "Ma Lo" by Tiwa Savage, "Jeje" by Falz, and "Ur Waist" by Iyanya.


title: Afrobeats

text: Afrosoca is a fusion genre of afrobeats and soca music with some influences from dancehall. The genre was pioneered in Trinidad & Tobago by Nigerian and Trinidadian artists. The genre has been pioneered by artists such as Olatunji, Machel Montano, and Timaya. Olatunji's song "Ola" was one of the most popular songs in Trinidad's 2015 carnival season, leading Olatunji to earn the prize "Groovy Soca Monarch" for his performance at the International Soca Monarch competition. Another notable song is the remix of "Shake Your Bum Bum" by Timaya and Machel Montano released in 2014, which was a hit in Trinidad. By 2016, a wave of Afro Soca songs were released coinciding with the years carnival season in Trinidad. Notable songs include Olatunji's "Oh Yah" and Fay-Ann Lyons and Stonebwoy B's song "Block D Road".


title: Afrobeats

text: Shakira Marshall, a New York-based choreographer, has been credited with coining the name 'afrosoca' for her dance class in 2012 in order to describe the unique fusion of Western, Southern and Central African, and Caribbean dance styles she was teaching. Afrosoca songs typically have a similar tempo to Groovy Soca (110 to 135 BPM), often with West African-influenced melodies.


title: Afrobeats

text: Gospel singer and songwriter Isaac Blackman and DJ Derek "Slaughter" Pereira have both criticised the name and the implication that it's a new sound, particularly due to the fact that the origins of soca are African music to begin with.


title: Afrobeats

text: Afroswing, also known as Afrobashment, is a British genre that developed in London around 2014. The genre is derivative of afrobeats, mixing it with various influences from British dancehall, grime, R&B, trap, and hip hop. British rapper J Hus and producers such as Jae5, Blairy Hendrix, Joshua Beatz have been credited for pioneering the new sound. The genre has commercially been very successful in the UK.


title: Afrobeats

text: Afroswing is largely defined by its melody rather than a specific tempo. Producer Steel Banglez stated the key elements of afroswing were happy or dark chords that "make you feel a certain way", and that "drum pattern is the most important thing about this whole sound, it's the snare that comes on the third. In hip-hop it comes on the fourth. Coming off the third beat comes from afrobeats".


title: Afrobeats

text: Martin Connor, an expert in vocal melodies and rap analysis, described the characteristics of the genre as being "[..] technically in 4/4, what you will hear over and over again is this recurring pattern made up of three notes that are still repeated in the framework of a 4/4 time signature [..] You can hear the inspirations of Jamaican music in the rhythm except Jamaican music doesn't have a bass kick and the snare – that's hip hop, that's traditional rap. So this is that translation of cultures happening subtly in the instrumentation. Yet it still has a hip hop sensibility in terms of lyrical focus and music videos: cars, money, authenticity, hardness".


title: Afrobeats

text: In Cuba, a new genre of music known as Bakosó emerged in the mid-2010s pioneered in Santiago de Cuba by artists such as Ozkaro and Maikel el Padrino and producers like Kiki Pro. Africans who were studying in Cuba helped influence local Cuban artists by introducing them to African genres, leading to the creation of Bakosó, a fusion of genres such as afrobeats, kuduro, and azonto with local Cuban genres such as rumba and conga. An artist named Inka has been credited with coining the name of the genre. Originally the word "Bakosó" was used to mean "party". In 2019, Havana-based DJ Jigüe debuted a documentary titled ""Bakosó: AfroBeats of Cuba"" (or ""Bakosó: Afrobeats de Cuba"") about the genre at various film festivals, until it was globally released in 2021.


title: Afrobeats

text: Afro trap (also written as "Afro-trap") is a genre that takes inspiration from both Sub-Saharan African music traditions and modern rap music. The genre was coined in the mid-2010s by French rapper MHD. MHD, who is of West African descent, stated he judged the world of French-language rap was too much influenced by American trends, so he decided to create Afro-Trap by incorporating elements of West African culture, such as traditional music and languages such as Fula or Wolof. The genre is only very loosely influenced by trap music.


title: Afrobeats

text: The genre has since spread across Europe, especially in Germany where artists such as Bonez MC and RAF Camora have been pushing the genre, however with a heavier lean towards dancehall than afrobeats. The German variation of the genre has been criticized by Ghanaian Stallion for the lack of actual African influences, with the only thing remaining being a dancey rhythm.


title: Afrobeats

text: The late 2010s saw the emergence of a new commercially successful Nigerian genre, Alté, which fused a wide array of influences from Afrobeats, rap, R&B, soul, dancehall, and others. The term was coined by DRB LasGidi member BOJ on his 2014 song "Paper", and was later used to describe left field styles of music. TeeZee explained the term saying "Alté is Nigerian lingo for ‘alternative’ which means freedom of expression essentially through any medium. It's been going on since the '60s as Africans always experimented with music. It became recognised as a style or genre from about 2012 upwards and it broke into the mainstream in 2016 with the rise of its new stars." Other Alté artists and pioneers include Cruel Santino, Odunsi (The Engine), Zamir, Tems, Lady Donli, Nonso Amadi, Tay Iwar, and Amaarae.


title: Charles Vane

text: Charles Vane (c. 1680 – 29 March 1721) was an English pirate who operated in the Bahamas during the end of the Golden Age of Piracy.


title: Charles Vane

text: Vane was likely born in the Kingdom of England around 1680. One of his first pirate ventures was under the leadership of Henry Jennings, during Jennings' attack on the salvage camp for the wrecked Spanish 1715 Treasure Fleet off the coast of Florida. By 1717, Vane was commanding his own vessels and was one of the leaders of the Republic of Pirates in Nassau. In 1718, Vane was captured but agreed to stop his criminal actions and declared his intention to accept a King's Pardon; however just months later he and his men, including Edward England and Jack Rackham, returned to piracy. Unlike some other notable pirate captains of the age like Benjamin Hornigold and Samuel Bellamy, Vane was known for his cruelty, often beating, torturing and killing sailors from ships he captured. In February 1719, Vane was caught in a storm in the Bay Islands and was marooned on an uncharted island. Upon being discovered by a passing British ship, he was arrested and brought to Port Royal where he was eventually tried and hanged in March 1721.


title: Charles Vane

text: Little is known of Vane's early life. He lived in Port Royal before becoming a pirate, but he was most likely not born there.


title: Charles Vane

text: Vane worked with Henry Jennings during Jennings' attack on the salvage camp for the wrecked Spanish 1715 Treasure Fleet. Vane first operated as an independent captain in the summer of 1717. By the winter of that year he was one of the leaders of the pirates operating out of Nassau.


title: Charles Vane

text: When word reached the pirates that King George I of Great Britain had extended an offer of pardon to all pirates who wished to surrender, Vane led the pirates who opposed taking the pardon, which included many with Jacobite leanings. On 23 February 1718, Captain Vincent Pearse arrived at Nassau in , in an attempt to get the pirates on the island to surrender. Vane was captured along with his sloop, the "Lark". Benjamin Hornigold, Thomas Nichols, and others urged Pearse to release Vane as a show of good faith, which he did; Vane afterwards declared to Pearse that he intended to take the King's pardon. But on 21 March, Vane and his men (including Edward England and Calico Jack Rackham) turned pirate again, capturing a Jamaican sloop. Vane sailed back to Nassau and harassed Pearse repeatedly, trading their sloop for the "Lark". Vane left Nassau on 4 April; four days later Pearse left with HMS "Phoenix", and Nassau was again controlled by the pirates.


title: Charles Vane

text: After leaving Nassau, Vane raided ships around the Bahamas. He gained a reputation for cruelty; he and his crew would often beat or torture captured sailors to force them to surrender their valuables. Around this time Vane's crew renamed the "Lark", calling it the "Ranger".


title: Charles Vane

text: Vane cruised again in May and June, capturing, among other ships, a twenty-gun French ship that became Vane's new flagship.


title: Charles Vane

text: Vane was back at Nassau on 22 July 1718 when Woodes Rogers reached Nassau to take office as the new governor. Rogers' ships trapped Vane in the harbor; Vane's ship was too large to pass one of the harbor's two entrances, and the other was blocked by Rogers' fleet. That night, Vane turned the French ship into a fireship, setting it on fire and sailing it towards Rogers' ships. The fireship failed to damage any of Rogers' fleet except one, but the ships were forced to pull away, unblocking the channel. Vane commandeered a small 24 gun sloop, the "Katherine", and escaped out the smaller entrance as Rogers' ships returned.


title: Charles Vane

text: Vane took ships off the Bahamas in July, working with Charles Yeats, the original captain of the "Katherine". A brigantine that Vane captured became his new flagship. In August he sailed to Charleston and took eight ships there. After seizing a slave ship, he put the slaves aboard Yeats' ship; Yeats sailed off with the slaves and surrendered to the governor of South Carolina in exchange for a pardon. The merchants of Charleston outfitted two sloops to hunt Vane, under the command of William Rhett. Rhett failed to find Vane, but his ships located and captured the pirate Stede Bonnet.


title: Charles Vane

text: In August Vane careened his ship near Abaco, where his accomplice Nicholas Woodall smuggled him supplies and ammunition. Hornigold had turned pirate-hunter along with his associate John Cockram and followed Vane, who escaped; Hornigold and Cockram instead captured Woodall, who was imprisoned by Rogers.


title: Charles Vane

text: Vane returned to Nassau in September to marry, threatening to retake the city. In October Vane sailed to Ocracoke Inlet, and met with Blackbeard, perhaps attempting to convince Blackbeard to join forces with him; the two crews celebrated for several days, but split up afterwards.


title: Charles Vane

text: In October Vane raided Eleuthera, carrying away liquor and livestock. On 23 November, Vane spotted a large frigate, but when he hoisted the Jolly Roger the frigate replied by raising a French naval ensign and opening fire. Vane's brigantine and sloop were outgunned, and he ordered a retreat. Vane's crew saw this as an act of cowardice. He was voted out of command in favor of Calico Jack Rackham. Vane and sixteen others who supported him, including his first mate Robert Deal, were put on the sloop.


title: Charles Vane

text: Vane sailed to the Bay Islands, capturing sloops along the way, one of which Deal took command of. In February 1719, Vane and Deal were caught in a hurricane and separated; Vane was wrecked on an uninhabited island. When English ships arrived to collect water near the island, Vane tried to join one of the crews under a false name. He was recognized by an old acquaintance, and arrested.


title: Charles Vane

text: Vane was taken to Spanish Town, Jamaica and held in prison for some time. On 22 March 1721, he was tried for piracy and found guilty. Vane learned that Deal had been tried, convicted, and hanged some time earlier. Vane was sentenced to death, and on 29 March he was hanged at Gallows Point in Port Royal. His corpse was hung in chains at Gun Cay.


title: Charles Vane

text: Vane appears as a side character and minor antagonist in the 2013 video game "", in which he was voiced by Ralph Ineson. In the game, Vane is portrayed as rude, foul-mouthed, and self-centered, but despite this, he becomes a friend and ally of protagonist Edward Kenway and one of the co-leaders of the Pirate Republic in Nassau. Following the Republic's collapse, Vane and Kenway team up to search for the Observatory, which the latter believes will enrich them, only to end up marooned together on an island following a mutiny staged by Vane's quartermaster, Jack Rackham. During their time on the island, Vane is driven insane, to the point he tries to kill Kenway, who defeats and subsequently abandons him. In a later mission, Kenway can encounter Vane in prison, revealing that the latter was captured and sentenced to death. Though he considers saving him, Kenway ultimately leaves Vane to his fate, deeming him too far gone.


title: Melissa Lucio

text: Melissa Elizabeth Lucio (born June 18, 1969) is the first woman of Hispanic descent to be sentenced to death in the U.S. state of Texas. She was convicted of capital murder after the death of her two-year-old daughter, Mariah, who was found to have scattered bruising in various stages of healing, as well as injuries to her head and contusions of the kidneys, lungs and spinal cord. Prosecutors said that Mariah's injuries were the result of physical abuse, while Lucio's attorneys say that her death was caused by a fall down the stairs two days prior.


title: Melissa Lucio

text: Lucio's case was the subject of a 2020 documentary, "The State of Texas vs. Melissa". She has maintained her innocence, and Cornell Law School professor Sandra Babcock has called the prosecution "by far the weakest capital case I've ever seen". Lucio's execution was set for April 27, 2022, but an appeals court granted her a stay on April 25, 2022.


title: Melissa Lucio

text: Melissa Lucio was born in Lubbock, Texas, on June 18, 1969, according to court records. Her father died when she was an infant, and the family moved to the Rio Grande Valley, where her mother had grown up, when she was a toddler. Lucio says she was sexually abused by her mother's boyfriend for about two years, beginning when she was seven years old. Lucio was married at the age of 16 and had her first five children with Guadalupe Lucio. She stated that he was often addicted to drugs and alcohol and was physically abusive. Lucio then had seven children with Robert Alvarez. Two more children (twins) were born while she was imprisoned.


title: Melissa Lucio

text: Mariah Alvarez was born to Melissa Lucio and Robert Alvarez in September 2004. Mariah was Lucio's twelfth child. Child Protective Services had previously investigated Lucio for allegations of child neglect, and they reported that Lucio's youngest children were often left in the care of their teenaged siblings. Lucio was addicted to cocaine and tested positive shortly after Mariah was born; this prompted authorities to place her children in foster care. Three older children went to live in Houston with their father, and Lucio regained custody of the others in late 2006.


title: Melissa Lucio

text: On February 17, 2007, paramedics were called to the Lucio residence because two-year-old Mariah was unresponsive and not breathing. According to the Cameron County District Attorney's Office, Mariah was found at the home with signs of abuse on her body. She had scattered bruising, bite marks on her back, patches of hair that had been pulled out, and a broken arm. According to Lucio, Mariah had sustained the injuries when she fell down a flight of stairs two days earlier. It was later determined that Mariah's arm had been broken two to seven weeks before her death, and an autopsy also showed a head injury and bruising of the kidneys, lungs and spinal cord. The child was pronounced dead at a local hospital.


title: Melissa Lucio

text: Following Mariah's death, Lucio was arrested and questioned for seven hours by Texas Ranger Victor Escalon without a lawyer present, and without receiving food or water. She admitted to having spanked Mariah, but denied ever having abused her, which she repeated more than 100 times. She was then told by Escalon: "Right now, it looks like you're a cold-blooded killer. Now, are you a cold-blooded killer or were you a frustrated mother who just took it out on [Mariah]?" He continued by telling her, "We already know what happened". After several hours of interrogation, Lucio stated, "I guess I did it. I'm responsible."


title: Melissa Lucio

text: One of Lucio's sons was also questioned by law enforcement shortly after Mariah's death. In a video, a female officer asks the boy: "Did you see your sister fall down the stairs or did somebody tell you that she fell?" The boy then responded: "No, I saw her fall."


title: Melissa Lucio

text: During the trial, Lucio's recorded statements from her interrogation were described as a confession by Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos, who was seeking re-election at the time. A pathologist, Dr. Norma J. Farley, testified that the child’s autopsy indicated that she did not die from falling down stairs, and instead her injuries were consistent with a death from blunt force trauma. Additionally, court documents state that the emergency room physician said he had not seen a case of child abuse worse than Mariah's.


title: Melissa Lucio

text: Lucio’s defense argued that Mariah's injuries were from falling down the stairs, and that Lucio's psychological functioning contributed to her conflicting reports given to authorities. Despite the defense's arguments, Lucio was found guilty of capital murder and later sentenced to death in 2008.


title: Melissa Lucio

text: Lucio was pregnant with twins at the time of Mariah's death, and authorities compelled her to place them for adoption after delivering them while in jail. As of 2022, Lucio is being held on death row at the Mountain View Unit in Gatesville, Texas.


title: Melissa Lucio

text: A 2011 appeal against the conviction was denied by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. In 2019, a three-judge panel of the Federal Appeals Court overturned the sentence because of the trial court's interference in Lucio's right to present a defense. This decision was subsequently overturned and Lucio remained on death row.


title: Melissa Lucio

text: Forensic pathologist Dr. Thomas Young, the former chief medical examiner in Kansas City, Missouri, reviewed the case at the request of Lucio’s post-conviction attorney. He concluded that Dr. Farley appeared to have jumped to wrong conclusions. In the similar case of Manuel Velez, a man who was initially convicted for murdering a one-year-old baby and whose death sentence was overturned after further investigation, Farley's conclusions had also been contradicted by other medical experts.


title: Melissa Lucio

text: In August 2021, an "amicus" brief was filed on Lucio's behalf by a group consisting of legal scholars, experts on violence against women, and representatives from sixteen organizations that combat violence against women. The brief states that Lucio's subdued behavior and acquiescence during interrogation were the result of prior trauma as a survivor of abuse. They also argued that a judge’s order to exclude expert testimony on the effects of trauma had "deprived Melissa of the only means she had of explaining that, notwithstanding her demeanor and self-incriminating statements, she was innocent of her daughter’s murder."


title: Melissa Lucio

text: In January 2022, Cameron County officials signed an execution warrant for Lucio. She was scheduled for execution on April 27, 2022. Lucio subsequently petitioned for clemency. If a majority of the Board of Pardons and Paroles were to recommend it, Governor Greg Abbott could grant clemency. The parole board was scheduled to vote on Lucio's clemency petition two days before the execution. In a March 2022 letter to the Board of Pardons and Paroles and to Governor Abbott, eighty-three members of the Texas House of Representatives, including both Democrats and Republicans, signed a letter stating that executing Lucio would be "a miscarriage of justice."


title: Melissa Lucio

text: In April 2022, a juror on the trial, Johnny Galvan Jr., wrote in the "Houston Chronicle" that he had wrongly succumbed to peer pressure during deliberations and had changed his vote from a life sentence to the death penalty. The Mexican Ambassador to the United States, Esteban Moctezuma, announced on April 22 that he sent a letter to Governor Abbott asking him to grant executive clemency to Lucio, as "Mexico has historically manifested an unwavering commitment in its opposition to the death penalty."


title: Melissa Lucio

text: On April 25, 2022, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued a stay of execution and ordered the 138th Judicial District Court of Cameron County to consider new evidence of Lucio's innocence in the death of her daughter.


title: Melissa Lucio

text: A 2020 documentary by Sabrina Van Tassel, titled "The State of Texas vs. Melissa" follows Lucio's case. It played at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2020, and won best documentary at the Raindance Film Festival.


title: Melissa Lucio

text: On March 6, 2022, in the main segment of an episode of the HBO show "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" called "Wrongful Convictions," her case was the main one to be mentioned as a reason for the reform of the American justice system and specifically, the abolition of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA). On April 17, 2022, in the main segment of another episode, called "Police Interrogations", Lucio's case was mentioned again as having every hallmark of a false confession.


title: Covert Affairs

text: Covert Affairs is an American action drama television series filmed in Toronto, Canada, starring Piper Perabo and Christopher Gorham that premiered on Tuesday, July 13, 2010. On January 6, 2015, USA Network canceled "Covert Affairs" after five seasons.


title: Covert Affairs

text: A young CIA trainee, Annie Walker, is sent to work in the Domestic Protection Division (DPD) as a field agent. August "Auggie" Anderson, a blind tech operative, is Annie's guide in her new life. In the beginning, Annie's cover story is that she works in Acquisitions at the Smithsonian Museum but she is later let go. As of the fourth season, her new cover is that of a glamorous and well-connected importer/exporter, with expensive tastes and dealings that may not always be legal. The series traces Annie's evolution from a wide-eyed young operative who fetches coffee for her co-workers to a hardened spy who does not balk at enhanced interrogation. This change in tone is also seen in the opening credits, which used chick lit–style graphics in the early seasons. The cartoons, like the focus on Annie's home life with her sister, were gone in the fourth and fifth seasons.


title: Covert Affairs

text: "Covert Affairs" first appeared on USA Network's development slate in July 2008. The pilot episode was written by Matt Corman and Chris Ord. Casting was underway in June 2009, with the expectation that successful casting would lead to a production commitment. Piper Perabo was the first actress cast in early July 2009, as CIA officer Annie Walker. The casting of Christopher Gorham came in late July, quickly followed by an announcement that the pilot had been green-lighted by USA Network.


title: Covert Affairs

text: In early August 2009, Tim Matheson signed on to direct a 90-minute pilot. Further casting announcements included Anne Dudek in mid-August, followed by Kari Matchett and Peter Gallagher in early September. Eric Lively was cast as a fellow CIA officer and peer to Perabo's character, and Eion Bailey was cast in a recurring role as Annie Walker's ex-boyfriend. The pilot began filming in Toronto in September 2009.


title: Covert Affairs

text: In January 2010, the "Covert Affairs" pilot received a 10-episodes order. Sendhil Ramamurthy was added to the cast as a CIA officer, replacing Lively's character, along with Emmanuelle Vaugier in a recurring role as a journalist.


title: Covert Affairs

text: The series executive producers are Doug Liman and David Bartis and the co-executive producer is Jonathan Glassner. Production of the series takes place in Toronto, Ontario, at primary static sets housed in a studio, as well as at "stock" shooting locations throughout the local area. This is combined with material filmed at various international locations in which the series' episodes are set, such as Washington, D.C., capturing geographically unique elements of these places. In some instances, the series' producers use a stand-in location for shots where the costs and logistics of the actual location shoot are impractical, or if the location specified is fictional.


title: Covert Affairs

text: "Covert Affairs" received positive reviews from critics. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports a 93% approval rating, while on Metacritic, the first season of "Covert Affairs" received a score of 64 out of 100, based on 23 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The second season received a score of 68, based on six reviews. At the 68th Golden Globe Awards, Piper Perabo was nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series—Drama. She also won the award for Outstanding Female Actor in a Breakthrough Role at the Gracie Awards in 2011. Christopher Gorham won the Seeing Beyond Vision Loss Special Achievement Award at the CNIB Awards in 2013.