Claressa Shields Previews Debut Album With Papoose In Atlanta

Claressa Shields is taking this rap thing seriously and has no intention of letting her debut album arrive quietly. She got down to it recently.

The boxing champion brought out more than 500 guests for an Atlanta listening party for What Did You Expect. Nine tracks got their introduction, and Shields performed several selections herself for the audience. That is a a lot more than freestyles and social media hijinks. Shout out to photographer Freddie O for documenting this for us all. Here come the questions.

Can Claressa build a following that comes for the songs and stays beyond the celebrity curiosity? That is the challenge with any athlete entering Hip-Hop. Getting people to press play once is achievable. Getting them to put you in their regular rotation takes something else.

Performing as Ressa Da GWOAT, Shields certainly has a memorable name. Imagine being the opening act and having to follow that introduction with your modest little stage name.

Papoose attended the festivities, along with Scrappy, Dondria, Hotboy Turk, Jhonni Blaze and others. Pap also joined Shields onstage. His presence is hardly surprising, considering their relationship, but having a respected lyricist in your corner gives rap fans another reason to pay attention.

It also guarantees that somebody will ask what advice he is giving her. I would like to hear that conversation myself.

The event celebrated “Party,” her lead single, which already has a music video. There is still no announced release date for the album, so everybody demanding a verdict might have to exercise a little patience.

“We dropping more heat next week!!!!!!”

That was part of Ressa’s celebratory message following the event. She sounds pleased with how the night went, and understandably so.

My position? Let the woman release her music. Then judge the music. Boxing greatness does not automatically produce a great album, but it should not disqualify somebody from trying either. We have plenty sports people try this.

The title What Did You Expect invites commentary and I cannot wait to see what comes out of it. Claressa knows people are watch…now how many will keep listening.

Here are some of the new songs:

It does not sound like Pap is writing for her, by the way.