(ThyBlackMan.com) The horrific murder of nine-year-old Antonio Smith in Chicago sometime last week, weighed heavy on my mind. The outrage was very minimal, but despite what the media has written about one’s lack of outrage, the community is very upset and concerned about this unsolved murder.
Smith was found shot multiple times in the backyard of a residence in the Grand Crossing neighborhood in Chicago. What kind of sick demented person would shoot a 9 year old to death? Then I think about all the other heinous crimes involving the killing of children in this world, some by our own government (drone attacks) that have not sparked too much of an outrage. Situations like this isn’t what we should fully accept. To have this young man killed in such a brutal way and his killer(s) remain free is beyond disturbing. Someone in the community knows exactly who was involved in this killing, but that code of “stop snitching” always seems to
supercede common sense, especially in the urban community.
I had a good brief conversation with a friend a month back concerning the 1989 track “Self Destruction,” which featured tons of my favorite hip-hop artists from the golden-age of hip-hop rapping about the violence in the Black community. It was a positive record and till this day, I recite Kool Moe Dee’s verse with ease.
I remember being in High School at the time and all we would discuss who had the best verse out of the collective artists. During that time, we were cognizant of our culture and wore African medallions. We were in sync when the 1989 song entitled “Fight The Power” by Public Enemy for Spike Lee’s film “Do the Right Thing” debuted. That was during the time when we were more unified than we are now, but violence still plagued our community due to the emergence of crack, poverty and other entities which left catastrophic results. The violence in the community is still bad, but according to a lot of crime reports it is down in the United States. When I turn on the news I still read about about the gun violence in Oakland, Chicago, New York City and other urban cities. Don’t loose sight that gun violence isn’t just rooted in Black communities, it’s only what the news reports.
Recently a nine year old little girl from New Jersey came, down to Arizona with her parents and was allowed to practice shooting guns at a range. What parent or adult in their right mind would allow a nine year old to shoot a gun, and to shoot high power weapons like an Uzi in the first place? While the little girl was showed by the instructor how to shoot this lethal weapon, the little girl was unable to control the kick back when she began to shoot it and ended up shooting the instructor in the head – killing him!
That 9-year-old girl will probably be traumatized forever. What happened to learning how to jump rope, play video games, or go horseback riding. Shooting a gun should be the last activity on earth that her parents or any adult with some sense should think about having a young child get involved in – it’s dangerous and is not child’s play. This world is full of violence, and we as adults are part of the problem in creating this environment of violence around children. Furthermore, the parents should be arrested for endangering the welfare of a child, but we all know that won’t happen.
Two totally different nine-year olds. One who dies violently and the other witness someone dying violently, but the root of the deaths remains the same – gun violence. Nine-year old should be shielded from any acts of violence; that is what we as adults need to understand. One can talk about black on black crime all we want, but let’s not overlook the violence that continues to plague the suburbs, as well. Giving suburbanites, a pass is dishonest, all because we rarely see it highlighted on the news. What happen in Sandy Hook, where a psychopath killed little 5 year old school children should dispel that myth that gun violence is only appointed to the Black community. That is brainwashing 101, and it’s many people are going for the okie dole. Gun violence and violence as a whole is taking place everywhere.
Therefore, I thought about a new version of the song “Self Destruction.” Since in all honesty, hip-hop needs to steer itself in a more positive direction. What is out there now, with the exception of a few rising stars is gibberish that not only dumbs the environment, but creates a diversion that is harmful to the listener if they aren’t capable of differing between entertainment and reality. As one is quite aware, the rappers that rhyme about killing someone aren’t in the least bit about that life, but it sounds great when they rhyme about it for hip-hop fans that gravitate toward that type of lyrical content.
Now would be a great time for rappers to step their games up and try their hand at not just duplicating the track “Self Destruction” because it can never be replicated. What today’s rappers should try to emulate is a new version, or style of “Self Destruction” by calling it something else, but also inheriting their blueprint with the same message, like stopping the violence.
My idea of this sort of track would be led by a rapper/producer is Kanye West, who’s hometown is Chicago and is the media’s target for exposing the violence in that area. Chicago has the most gun violence according to the way the media depicts that city. Of course, they are not the overall leaders of Black murders; another city that has that crown is Omaha, Nebraska. Yes, I was stunned too, but it makes sense if Kanye tackles this project, since Chicago has been the face in the media concerning Black murders.
I would love to see Kanye West no matter how arrogant he can be (he comes off as highly intelligent when focuses on the things that matter, early on in his career). I’m sure in his repertoire of beats he can come up with something that would be just as impactful as the lyrics. Many people would ask who would I like to hear on this track, and I have a couple of artists in mind, but getting all these artists to sign up for this cause to drop verses appears to be impossible, but still doable. Would Kanye even agree to produce something that will be a positive influence on the community, that remains to be seen, but it’s worth tossing out that idea.
Hip-Hop fans from the old-school to the new millennial babies should demand something of this nature. I know the powers that be (the record companies) who have played a hand in ensuring that hip-hop escapes their roots, by promoting the gangster violent, sexual exploitation in their message, wouldn’t promote a project like this one. Then again, artists who are that gifted like Kanye and Common another Chicago native have the power to take reign of their destiny and pivoted to a good cause. Otherwise, we are stuck with reminiscing about the single, “Self Destruction” and even the west coast “All in the Same Gang” for many more decades to come with no new material in sight that reminds us of what it means to band together with a positive message – to stop the violence.
Written By Ms Scripter
Official website; http://for-the-masses.com/