November 2011

Drake's second studio album debuted at number one and spent six weeks on top of the Billboard 200, eventually selling over four million copies in the United States. Take Care's fusion of hip-hop and R&B created the template for a decade of introspective mainstream rap, winning the Grammy for Best Rap Album.

Ward's second novel, set in rural Mississippi in the days surrounding Hurricane Katrina, won the National Book Award for Fiction. Ward became only the second woman to win the award twice and drew sustained critical attention to Southern Black working-class life.