R.I.P Hip Hop?
Besides all the shootings and killing in Hip Hop, the culture is not to Rest In Peace, I say 2006 is Tha Year Of Tha Classics no doubt. But it’s not all about the music though, many rappers lost their lives over bullshit and who is suffering? The culture itself !
According to sohh :
Hip-Hop is in a state of emergency. 2006 may go down as one of the deadliest the culture has ever seen. Not even half way through the year and there has already been well over a dozen shootings — from the murder of Busta Rhymes’ bodyguard and T.I’s assistant to the Proof slaying and the low-profile tragedies in between. SOHH examines this “killa season” and the increasingly volatile state of affairs that is driving this violent trend.
From Obie Trice being shot in the head in the early morning hours of January 1 in an apparent case of road rage to fellow Motor City MC and friend Proof of D12 being murdered inside of the Detroit’s C.C.C. nightclub on April 11, there is an increased amount of tension in the streets of this former motor industry hub.
“The climate is like 150 degrees homie, it’s hot,” says Obie Trice of the atmosphere in his home town. It’s been that way though, it’s just touching close to home now.”
Quick to dismiss the suggestion that the violence in his city is being fueled by rappers and hip-hop, he explains the other factors — such as a local economic crisis that resulted from the automobile industry leaving town — have added to an overall aggressive attitude there.
“Aint no money in the city, niggas is broke,” Trice laments. “The city’s in a $130 million deficit right now. People are getting laid off.”
Obie takes a few minutes to discuss his personal experience, describing the scene on the day he was shot in the head while driving on the highway there. He hopes that revealing the details of his situation will make hip-hop fans realize that life and death is not something to be taken lightly.
“My head was like a watermelon, blood everywhere,” he describes with vivid detail. “I came into the hospital, nurses had their hands over their mouths[in disbelief]. If the bullet had went less than an inch deeper, I’d be deceased.”
He also described seeing the aftermath of close friend Proof being gunned down, apparently over a pool game. “I couldn’t sleep for a while because I went and saw him at the hospital. They had him on the gurney. I’m touching his face, his face is freezing, his mouth was open… I don’t wish death on nobody. We as Black men are dying out here, getting erased, over bullshit.”
This disturbing trend of gun violence has become a national epidemic with numerous incidents reported across the country. On February 11, rapper Slick Pulla of Young Jeezy’s Corporate Thugz Entertainment survived his injuries after he was shot outside of a popular Atlanta pizza shop. Marque Dixson (who also went by Baby Bleu), an associate of record label Black Mafia Family and reportedly the younger brother of BMF artist Bleu Davinci, was fatally shot in a parking lot on March 9 in the Buckhead section of Atlanta after leaving a club hours before. On February 1, rapper Trajik (born Amir Crump) of the group Desert Mobb was said to have shot and killed Sgt. Henry Prendes in a shootout with police in Las Vegas before he himself was killed in the same incident. Aspiring Las Vegas MC Mac was also gunned down in Sin City as he sat in the drive through of a local fast food restaurant on April 7. New York was the site of both the shooting death of Busta Rhymes’ bodyguard and friend Israel Ramirez on February 6 as well as the shooting of Brooklyn rapper Gravy outside of the studios of New York radio station Hot 97 on April 26. Well respected Houston rapper Big Hawk was also recently laid to rest after being gunned down by possibly more than one assailant in his hometown in a suspected attempted robbery on May 1.
But these incidents are in no way exclusive to largely populated cities. A shooting outside of The Granada nightclub in Lawrence, KS on February 5 resulted in the 46-year old uncle of local rapper Doe being killed following a performance there by the rapper, according to KUJH-TV in Lawrence, KS. Kansas City rapper 747 (born Christopher Riley) was found murdered in his apartment on February 12 after neighbors noticed a pool of blood coming from beneath Riley’s door. Aspiring Indianapolis rapper D-Shock (born DeAngelo Morrison) was also involved in a shooting incident on April 20 that left one man dead after Morrison shot and killed a would-be robber outside of his apartment, according to The Indianapolis Star. Violence also erupted north of the border when a shooting took place at a show headlined by Lord Finesse at a club in Vancouver, Canada that resulted in two men being shot and rapper Big Rowd of the Canadian group Fourth World with minor injuries.
Most recently, Cincinnati was the scene of a shootout that left Philant Johnson, T.I.’s personal assistant, dead and three other members of T.I.’s entourage wounded on May 2 after gunmen followed T.I. and his party out of a club where an altercation had reportedly taken place and began shooting into a van carrying Johnson. Fellow Atlanta native Killer Mike, who knew Johnson since childhood and whose parents know Johnson’s parents, spoke candidly to SOHH about the incident which he described as “senseless.”
“I had to call my sisters and let them know that Philant was dead,” Mike said of making the call to his family to tell them of the tragedy. “What brother wants to do that? I never imagined a 26-year-old man being taken off this earth after he opens up a restaurant and starts doing positive things not only for himself and his community.
Killer Mike reiterates the sentiment spoken by Proof and those who defend hip-hop as the scapegoat to the violence, citing poverty and oppression as the root cause.
“I think the biggest insult since Philant has been killed is the [suggestion that] this is somehow rap-related because that doesn’t get to the real problem,” he says. “The real problem is that you have millions of young, angry, disenfranchised Latino, Black and poor white men who don’t have any real hope or outlet for hope.” All they have is envy and hate that they pour into one another. They’re made to feel as if they’re not good enough and that if they buy some shit and put it on, people won’t treat them like they’re poor. And when that doesn’t happen to a disenfranchised Black male, the only thing he’s left with besides all [of the material things] is a lot of pain and anger because the hole that’s in him is not filled up yet. And I believe that that’s the spirit that killed Philant.”