Violence and hip-hop. Some would say they go hand in hand. It’s not that surprising when you take one look at the lyrics and content behind most songs or the environments rap artists grow up in. If you look at the beach ball through another perspective, hip-hop saves lives and provides positivity. A means up and away from violence. Sadly today, the world lost two young rising hip-hop artists. XXXtentacion and Jimmy Wopo were shot and killed on June 18th, 2018.
While the world is pretty acquainted with XXX for many reasons outside of his music, the 20-year-old emcee was no doubt talented. His last album reached number 1 on the charts and touched a lot of people. He influenced a ton of the worlds top artist already in his short but wildly successful career. Although his reputation was plagued with a troubled past and unforgivable charges. I don’t want to go into depth on those, but from what it looks like he was a murder victim in a robbery and no one deserves to go out like that.
Jimmy Wopo may not be a name you’re familiar with. The 21-year-old Pittsburgh rapper has been exploding onto the scene over the last year. Defining a new era for the city of Pittsburgh and running numbers on YouTube, Soundcloud, Spotify, and World Star Hip-hop. He frequently spoke about growing up around violence and what kind of person that makes you. Today in an unrelated shooting to XXX, the young man’s life was taken by another firearm homicide.
We’ve taken major losses in the genre of hip-hop this year already. In April earlier this year, young 21-year-old Seattle rapper JuiceTheGod was also murdered. There has been a long conversation about violence in hip-hop. Does the genre cause violence or is the substance in rap simply a representation of the environment surrounding so many young men?
In an age where “flexing” is so highly sought after, we see young and younger kids murder others for a few thousand dollars or to protect their pride. Music is power. It may be used for good or for bad. The genre can be the scapegoat for changing a life and taking a life. All of us who subscribe to this culture have a responsibility to pass down knowledge to the youth. Please, use hip-hop to spread love and not hate.
And put the damn guns down. If you can’t fight with your fist or solve your differences another way, you are truly the weaker individual in any altercation.
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