Kanye Was Right: “Man, Killin’ Some Wack Sh*t…”
Lately, Kanye West has been in the news for being a jack-off. But let’s keep it real – you know, like I know, aside from all things, the musician best known for his emotional music has a heart of honesty (he just hasn’t figured out how to contain it) and maybe too much passion. He seems to be the more “cultured, stylish” version of what Eminem used to be – he says everything that we want to say, sometimes speaks up when nobody else in pop-culture will (i.e. Katrina, inner-city crime, problems with the uninsured, etc.) and he means it.
Again, Kanye brings up an awesome point (that mainstream media and pop-culture continuously overlooks).
Let’s talk about street crime…On his 2007 album release Graduation, the Chicago bred emcee says on “Everything I Am” featuring the world famous Tony Williams:
“I know that people wouldn’t usually rap this
but I got the facts to back this
just last year, Chicago had over 600 caskets
man, killin’ some wack shit
oh, I forgot, ‘cept for when n*ggas is rappin’
do you know what it feel like when people is passin’?
he got changed over his chains, a block off Ashland”
As media practitioners and supporters of music, it’s very important to evaluate the things that we glorify and celebrate in our communities, culture and daily dialogue. “Killin’ is some wack sh*t” and the latest case of 16-year-old Derrion Albert displays a terrifying and important message to the world: We have to be better.
We have to think smarter, make better decisions and become better examples for young people and peers.
According to CNN.com four teens have been arrested in Albert’s death – Silvanus Shannon, 19; Eugene Bailey, 17; Eric Carson, 16; and Eugene Riley, 18. All are being charged with murder.
Albert isn’t coming back and the lives of Carson, Riley, Bailey and Shannon have been changed forever. We won’t count the countless lives effected by both sides of the crime.
Last year, during the week of April 16 – 23, 2008, more people were killed in a Chicago weekend than an in entire week in the nation of Iraq. Iraq pulled in 11 deaths. Chicago pulled in 32!
As of May 2009 more than 35 Chicago school age children were killed and according to CBSNews.com, “Before 2006, an average of 10-15 students were fatally shot each year. That climbed to 24 fatal shootings in the 2006-07 school year, 23 deaths and 211 shootings in the 2007-08 school year and 34 deaths and 290 shootings last school year.”
If we haven’t taken anything else seriously from Kanye, maybe we should pay attention to his message of stopping the violence in inner-city communities. Let’s end hatred, the increasing death toll in cities throughout the world and place a halt on glorifying death.
We debated showing the video on DrJays.com Live, but the graphic violence displayed is heartbreaking. If you want to watch the horrifying footage, go to TheExaminer.com.
In the words of Shawn Carter, “This ain’t a movie, dog.” The dead don’t come back.
YOU WILL BE FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS GOD BLESS!
God bless our children in this cruel, cruel world.
~BL
RIP Derrion Albert…Stop the violence!
Really sad, not only did a good person lose their life to the world but also 3 misguided teens will now rightfully spend much of their life locked up in a maximum security prison. What a waist.
Great article. The message in Kanye’s music is relevant and thoughtful even when he acts irresponsibly. We have to end the self-hatred that leads to these sorts of deaths by educating and “reprogramming” our minds. That’s a process that we have to start today. The problem is that we have to take proactive as well as reactive measures to stop these problems before they reach the new generation and to quell the problems that already exist right now. The best way to do this is to have parents – and ultimately, “villages” – that once again raise our children. We’ve dropped the ball on that for the past few decades, and we pay the price for it almost every day when we watch the evening news.
This situation is bigger than a Kanye West song. The bottom line is the parents, they don’t come to the schools to check on their child’s progress, they’re never home, they don’t enforce homework, they don’t enforce education as the primary way to elevate one’s social status, hell they don’t even teach their child compassion for ALL human beings. This is our biggest problem I believe…
I think its important to evaluate the ENTIRE situation. A huge percentage of the children who live in the inner-city don’t have parents who are there (due to drugs, crime, imprisonment, full-time jobs, etc.).
Where do these kids get their direction and motivation from if it isn’t from their parents? Most of the time its from their neighborhoods, their schools and quite frankly, mainstream media.
That’s why its important to be an example of positivity and progress, because you never know who’s watching you…
Ms. Civil, I know the problem is “bigger” than a Kanye song, but the solution starts with “a Kanye way” of thinking and that’s through the elimination of glorifying violence and negativity.
That’s all I was saying. Nevertheless, I hope things change.
I watched the video, and it was disgusting too watch. I cried. The creeps who were videotaping this, and all those people who drove by and didn’t do anything are responsible too! When things like this in the world happen, we have to make it our business, because if we DON’T- this is what happens.
We’re always waiting for “someone else” to do something about it, but if not you, then who?
It’s not “snitching”- a young life could have been saved. More than just the boy who was killed- the kids involved in the altercation may have been arrested and been placed in intervention programs- but now how are they going to rehabilitated and put back into society after murder charges? And they’re in for murder charges- rightfully so! This isn’t a move; this isn’t a music video on BET. This is reality.
“The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.” – Albert Einstein
“Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all — the apathy of human beings.” – Helen Keller
“He who does not punish evil, commands it to be done.” -Leonard Da Vinci
@ BELLA:
Nicely done!