GloRilla makes surprise appearance at Memphis high school, donates $25,000 for media center
Memphis rapper GloRilla closed out what has been a triumphant 2024 with one final honor.
During the past 12 months, the 25-year-old hip-hop sensation has been presented with a key to the City of Memphis, earned a pair of Grammy award nominations, made the best album and song of the year lists from Rolling Stone magazine, and was named as one of the Associated Press’ “Breakthrough Entertainers.”
Her latest recognition came Wednesday afternoon in Orange Mound as GloRilla — whose real name is Gloria Woods — paid a visit to her alma mater, surprising Melrose High School with a personal appearance and a $25,000 donation to build a new media center as part of its library. In recognition of her philanthropic efforts, Melrose officials announced they would be naming the media center after her.
There were smiles all around as GloRilla presented a check to the school officials, during what had been a secretly planned event designed to surprise Melrose’s roughly 800 students, who roared as GloRilla made her entrance into the school's gymnasium. GloRilla noted that she had always hoped someone would come help Melrose when she was a student at the school. “The fact that I have the ability to do it now warms my heart,” she said.
Since her music career began to take off in 2022, GloRilla has been active in supporting the various Memphis educational institutions she came through. GloRilla attended Westside Middle School, as well Martin Luther King Jr. College Preparatory High School, before eventually graduating from Melrose High.
In September 2022, GloRilla surprised students and staff at MLK College Prep with a performance and a $25,000 donation to the school’s fine arts program. The following year, in November 2023, GloRilla made a $20,000 donation to Westside’s fine arts program. “I always have to come back to the city,” GloRilla said on Wednesday, “because the city made me.”
GloRilla’s donation to Melrose will be used to provide a new library space designed to increase literacy. According to school officials, the upgraded facilities will “offer students the chance to engage with technology that enhances their learning, provide a comfortable, safe space to study with flexible seating, and promote literacy for both Melrose High School and the surrounding Orange Mound community.”
Melrose said it would honor her contribution by naming the space the “Gloria H. Woods Media Center,” noting “GloRilla’s representation as a Golden Wildcat alumna and her continued commitment to the local community.”
GloRilla was senior at Melrose when she began her rap career just seven years ago. In late 2018, she put out her first video, “146 Freestyle,” and followed with a pair of indie EPs, "Most Likely Up Next" in 2019 and “P Status” in 2020. Eventually, in spring 2021, she caught the attention of top Memphis producer HitKidd who teamed GloRilla with a group of other emerging female rappers for an EP called “Set the Tone.”
She would embark on a solo career in 2022, releasing the EP “Anyway, Life’s Great, featuring the single “F.N.F. (Let’s Go)” — another collaboration with HitKidd — which became viral hit then a chart success, earning GloRilla her first Grammy nomination, and getting her signed to Yo Gotti’s CMG label that year.
Her debut album, “Glorious,” was released this past October and hit No. 5 on the Billboard album charts and made it to No. 2 on the R&B/Hip-Hop charts, while she scored four bona fide hit singles in 2024, including “Wanna Be,” her collaboration with Megan Thee Stallion.
GloRilla graduated to full-blown celebrity status this year, as she visited the White House and met President Joe Biden in March, was a featured performer at the MTV Video Music Awards in September, and earned a pair of Grammy nominations for Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance in November.
Locally, GloRilla performed in Memphis several times in 2024, playing a concert at FedExForum in May as part of Megan Thee Stallion’s "Hot Summer Girls Tour." In September, she performed at the 901 Day Celebration event on Beale Street, where she was presented with a ceremonial key to the City of Memphis. And in November, she made a surprise appearance during a FedExForum concert headlined by Rod Wave, where she joined her CMG labelmate Moneybagg Yo during his set.