For all the attention placed on Chicago, also known as “Chiraq”, people would get the idea that the rest of America must be relatively safe….but all across the country, young men, especially Black youth, are dying at an alarming rate from gun violence and suspected gang activity.
Well I want parents that may be unaware to know….our teens are in danger. They may be living in the most disrespectful era I have seen….and I have lived to hear some really disrespectful things put on tracks.
But this is different. When I was a teen….the gang diss songs were coded….meaning the people sung them knew very well they were dissing the dead. But now I have lived to see the day where America sings along….not just the hood it is intended for. How many people sing along to lyrics they have no idea are true?
The streets are not colder….they just have a grip on the young that is becoming more widespread with the culture that is made popular….they took the wheel my generation invented and improved on it. Just like my generation did before….they remixed how to gangbang…..what was it the old people use to say when we said…..
“Look Grandma, look at this new dance!” Grandma’s across the country said the same thing….. “oh that aint nothing new…..We did that dance back in my day but we used to call it the…”
Nothing new is under the sun, the Bible tells us, it has all been done before. So the babies decided to put a cruel and insidious twist on what was already a cold blooded. Stop bragging that your generation is the hardest……we all hard at this point. Whew! I have been a teen trapped in the hood….can’t go nowhere without fear……I’m not bragging….I’m just pondering why the heck is this a plight that I have to live through again?
Now that I am a granny myself, I want to tell the babies….I have seen diss songs go bad before. Could Hip Hop do something new? Why do you call them “new age rappers?” LA, Chicago, New Orleans…..name a hood that didn’t already do it? Go on and say how you were let into the door……yawl already been there….gang banging been around since civilizations have risen…it’s called tribalism and that leads to violence…..American youth are responding to the legacy started by the founders of this country….its systematic…..the only things Americans really truly respect is money and blood, ya dig?
Well Jacksonville, Florida has a gang war occurring that could rival anything going on in places like Chicago, Illinois. This isn’t about who’s hood is harder….everybody is dying in the hood….no matter where that may be. Did you know there was a war occurring in Jacksonville? Well Trap Lore Ross, my favorite Hip Hop Historian did a whole documentary about it. Here it is……
(Posted on YouTube by Trap Lore Ross)
This documentary is one of the best ones you will find out there, but there are plenty more videos out there that is documenting what is going on in Jacksonville. I for one owe a great debt of gratitude to Trap Lore Ross for explaining something so complicated. Thank you Trap Lore Ross.
The documentary put this post into context. The “diss” song mentioned in the documentary is one of the most disrespectful I have ever heard. First of all let’s review what exactly a “diss” song is. It is more than just a “disrespectful song”. I found a definition by Wiktionary:
“A song or hip-hop track, frequently as part of a hip-hop feud, primarily intended to verbally assault or insult a person or a group of people.”
So, a diss song is one that is used in Hip Hop by rappers. But when it comes to the genres of Hip Hop like “ganster” or “drill” music…..the rap is a hobby for some and what they really do is street professions.
There used to be pretenders, actors, or “studio ganster” rappers and yes some rappers really were street but the trend use to be rap got you out of the hood….. Now rappers want to be involved in the street dealings. Do you recall the song? It is alleged by some to be about real street dealings. Here it is……
(Posted on YouTube by Spinabenz)
First I want to do a defacto checklist and see if this song measures up to being a diss song.
It is a song that is a hip-hop track. It is part of a hip-hop fued and it disrespected several members of the opposition…which is a trend for the new age rapper.
The video is quite deceiving how it opens. The young men in the video could of easily fit in with a prep school the way they were dressed. But the lyrics would get them the side eye of the upper echelons of society…..The ones they say they are “smoking on?” Are all dead. What is wrong with the babies yawl? We failed them in some way. The enemies have somehow been murdered in the streets and they say they are smoking them…..
Smoking on ashes is nothing new to Hip Hop either. This was a concept some say started when it was rumored the friends of Tupac said they rolled his ashes in a blunt and smoked them as tribute to the slain rapper. The new age rapper uses this as a sign of disrespect. They laugh and taunt the slain on social media to the dismay of loved ones. And then expect no consequences for the diss.
The young men that are mentioned such as, Bibby, Teki, and Lil Nine are all dead….while they prance around naming them to a catchy beat…it’s like an evil has taken over the youth….but it’s not a new evil…it’s just spreading and gaining massive popularity and flooding money into the pockets of a variety of participants…..
What about the teen that wants to go to parties, the gym, jobs? Do you remember that one of the slain was killed while going to a job interview? So what do you think the plight is for those youth who do not want to be caught in the gang violence…..well if they live in the hood they more than likely will be affected by the widespread violence….regardless of gender?
We must do better to help the youth….one way is spreading information. The music they listen to is a problem if they are not in a gang…..because it’s for gang members, and if they are in a gang that’s an even bigger problem. The least you can do is talk to them about the music they are listening to…please.
The rapper goes back to the hood. His family is in the hood. The music affects the hood….because the retaliation for the disrespect of the dead…..usually takes place in the hood…..now that the violence is affecting the other parts of the cities….the feds are watching…..but I digress. But its not on a massive scale so the government is slow to react as more citizens are terrorized in their homes.
While I do not agree with Marshall Law…..what choice is being left when so many young men are being killed?
The problem I have with the song is……so many youth are dying…..going to jail…..and it is being documented for the world to see. Did you know about this song? Well my son was the first to mention it to me….but I guess I didn’t understand what he meant….
We were having a discussion about rap and if it was wack now….and I told him about some of the songs that were disrespectful in my day. He told me about, “Who I Smoke” and that was that. Imagine my horror when Trap Lore Ross, who I subscribe to, made a video on this?!
For all my preaching, and working with kids, I too am guilty to not always listening to them. Just like that I remembered him telling me…..”Nah, nah….that Tupac song, yeah it goes hard….but I can play you a song that goes harder….”
And just like that…I shut him down. “I don’t want to hear none of that mess yawl listen too….”
I’m an ass sometimes…..if you have a teen….and they play this song, ask them why? Do they know that they are dissing the dead?
Did you know about the so called “War in Jacksonville”?
Pray for Jacksonville…..the killings must stop. Rest in Peace to all the youth killed that were mentioned in this song and the youth killed in retaliation…..God is Love…..
But what do I know? I’m just a bootleg sociologist who nobody will listen to so I started a blog……….
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References:
‘Who I Smoke’ is 2021’s shocking viral hit (michigandaily.com)
When This Woman Speaks 