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Rappers Are Endangered: Hip Hop Behind Bars In 2010
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Rappers Are Endangered: Hip Hop Behind Bars In 2010
[
2 Aug, 2010
]
N March Of 2009, T.I. Was Sentenced To Serve One Year And A Day In Prison For Weapons Charges Related To Purchasing Machine Guns And Silencers. He’d Been In Trouble Before, Even As Early As 1998, When He Had Been Convicted On Felony Drug Charges And Possession Of Crack Cocaine With Intent To Distribute, In Cobb County, Georgia. Last Year's News Was Huge, Not To Just Hip Hop, But Pop Culture Overall. Between 2006 And 2009, T.I. Finally Ascended To The Southern Hip Hop Throne With His Album Titled, Not-so-coincidentally, King.
He Became A Top 40 Fixture Since His "Rubberband Man"-supported 2003 Album Trap Muzik, And One The Biggest Recording Stars In The Country. The Thought Of Him Going To Prison For An Extended Amount Of Time Seemed A Disaster, But At Least A Solitary Disaster.
But Soon, Another Atlanta, Georgia Based Rapper Who’s Grind Rivaled T.I.’s Was Facing Prison Time, Gucci Mane. Gucci’s Appeal Was Similar To T.I.’s: Trap-based Anthems Full Of (although Not As Aimed To Women As Some Of T.I.’s Biggest Hits Have Been) Vivid Street Subject Matter, And Smoothed Over With Simple, Catchy Choruses. Gucci Mane’s Personal Background Was Somewhat Like T.I.’s. He Had A String Of Arrests And Charges, The Most Infamous Case Being The One Where He Was Charged For Murder In A May 10th, 2005 Shooting. (The Charges Were Dropped In Early January Of 2006, Due To Lack Of Sufficient Evidence.) And, Like T.I., Gucci’s Career Seemed On The Rise After A Number Of Setbacks. 2009’s The State Vs. Radric Davis Was Supposed To Be The Biggest Bullet In Gucci’s Chamber - Where The Charts Would Mirror The Streets. But Gucci Wasn’t Even Around To Promote The Album. On November 12, 2009, The Brick Squad Leader Was Was Sentenced To 12 Months In Jail. The State Vs. Radric Davis Did Move 89,000 First-week Copies. But If Gucci Wasn’t In Jail During The Albums Release, There's A Greater Likelihood That This Album - Still Under The 400,000 Mark, Would Have Struck Gold In The Form Of A Plaque.
With Rap Stars Like T.I. And Gucci Mane In Jail, It Would Seem That The Industry (and The South In Particular) Would Have Gotten A Little More Time To Reel From The Blows Of The Two Men Being Imprisoned. Unfortunately That Wouldn’t Be The Case On Thursday, June 17th, When Baton Rouge, Louisiana Rapper Lil Boosie Was Indicted On A First-degree Murder Charge By A Grand Jury From An Incident That Occurred In October, 2009. When Boosie Was Indicted, He Was Already In Jail For Probation Violation. Lil Boosie’s Case Is The Most Serious Of Recent Rapper Troubles. A District Attorney Involved With The Case Said The Death Penalty Is A Possibility If Boosie Is Found Guilty Of The Charges.
Unfortunately, Hip Hop History Has Many Tales Of Rappers With Promising Careers Cut Short Due To Time In Prison. 1980s Philadelphia Hopefuls Steady B (Warren McGlone) And Cool C (Christopher Roney) Started Out With Promising Careers, Robbed A PNC Bank Building On January 6, 1996, And Killed A Police Officer, Lauretha Vaird. In The Aftermath Of The Prosecution, Cool C Was To Have Been Executed, But Got A Stay. Steady B Got A Life Sentence In Prison. Most Hip Hop Heads Know About Shyne’s Ordeal; He Served Nine Years In Prison For A Shooting In A Nightclub In 1999, With Diddy And Jennifer Lopez In Tow. At The Time Of The Shooting, Shyne Was Bad Boy Record’s Rookie Of The Year And New York‘s Answer To Late '90s Rising Stars Like Juvenile And Nelly. Shyne Po's Buzz Was Huge, As Was His Press Coverage. His Jailing Derailed His Upward Climb, And May Have Compromised His Artistry, As Fans React To A Different Thinking And Sounding Artist Over A Decade Later.
The First Notable Hip Hop Incarceration Story (that Dealt With A True Star) Has To Be The Story Of Slick Rick. Rick Was A Rapper Who’s Legendary Role With Doug E. Fresh On Songs Like “La Di Da Di” Made Him One Of The Most Anticipated Emcees In History. When His Debut Album The Great Adventures Of Slick Rick Was Released In 1988, It Lived Up To All Of The Hype, And Was Certified Platinum For A Developing Def Jam Imprint. Rick Was One Of The Biggest Stars And One Of The Most Talented Rappers Of The Late 1980s (and Early 1990s). There Really Seemed To Be No Ceiling To His Career - Until One Fateful Evening In 1990, When Rick Shot At A Cousin Of His Who Allegedly Harassed Rick’s Mother. Rick Then Led Police On A High Speed Chase, And Later Crashed, Injuring Himself And His Then Girlfriend. After The Mess, Rick Was Indicted On Two Counts Of Attempted Murder And Pleaded Guilty To Numerous Other Charges. He Spent A Total Of Five Years In Prison. Arguably, The Cruelest Blow Dealt To Rick Was To His Career, Which Never Recovered. The Mind Boggles At What Kind And How Big Of A Commercial Star That Rick Could Have Been, Although He Remains A Rap Icon.
It’s Understandable How Rappers Can End Up In Legal Trouble. They Are Targets, As Are Most Entertainers. And In A Country Racked By Recession, It’s Prime Time For Stick Up Kids To Strike, Especially Emcees Who’s Image Is Gully, Hard, Or Gangsta (or Flashy). These Guys In Some Way, Shape, Or Form Can Potentially Be Tested At Any Turn. Years Ago, Ice Cube Lamented The Fact That He Had To Leave His Beloved South Central, Los Angeles Neighborhood, Because Of Kidnapping Threats His Family Were Received Whenever Ice Cube Was On Tour. In 1990, On His Lesser-talked About Album, A Taste Of Chocolate, Big Daddy Kane Mentioned That Old Friends He Grew Up With Wanted To “Rob The Motherfucka." In Cincinnati, Ohio, (where This Writer Currently Resides), T.I.’s Best Friend Philant Johnson Was Shot And Killed In 2006 After An Appearance At Club Ritz. When T.I. Was Accused Of Illegally Purchasing Firearms A Few Years Later, He Mentioned The Cincinnati Incident As A Big Reason Why He Wanted The Weapons. In Another City In Ohio, (Dayton) There Were Rumors For Years Of A Famous Hip Hop Collective That Allegedly Were Robbed Of All Of Their Jewelry In Front Of A Shopping Mall. And Who Knows How Many Times In How Many Cities Rappers, Deejays, And Producers May Have Been Robbed Or Assaulted, Or Both? Even The Most Conservative Hip-hop Head Can’t Knock Someone For Wanting To Protect Himself And His Family.
Read More At HiphopDX.com
By GREG SIMMS
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