Dummies On Demand - Chris "Preach" Smith

Photo Credit: TheRapFest


About two weeks ago, the world caught a slight break on Sunday
from the political and social madness. This break came in the form
of two superfans - or super-stupid fans if you will - of Drake who
were so into the ongoing tiff between he and veteran MC and 1/4
of Slaughterhouse, Joe Budden that they decided to prank Joe. By
rolling up on him as he pulled into his driveway. You can guess how
it turned out from the lead photo above, but take a look at the
footage from the vantage point of these trolling buffoons:

 

Budden literally chased them down and had to repeatedly tell
them the next time someone would get seriously hurt. Of course,
he did this while throwing rocks at the car and causing some..
spillage on behalf of the once-brave Drake stans no doubt. He wound
up going to the house of one of the individuals afterwards and
spoke to him along with his parents, stressing to him the dangers
of doing something so outrageously dumb and dangerous. In
an interview after the incident, Joe did note that he had noticed
them hanging around the entire day and that it wasn’t hard
for him to find out where one of them lived:  “Because the Internet
will tell you everything that you need to know about someone.” 
The situation spawned a serious wave of memes that we all
enjoyed including Budden. Hell, he’s even making some paper
off of it. But the underlying tone to this situation is one that 
should really make you pause. Especially when in combination
with another viral situation that took place that same weekend.

Photo Credit: www.mirroruk.com

The man in the photo above is a struggling rapper who goes
by the name of Kasper Knight. This genius decided that the
best way to shoot up the ranks of the rap game and to prove
his “realness” was to shoot himself in the face on video. In
case you can’t believe what you just read, he SHOT HIMSELF
IN THE FACE ON VIDEO. Then he uploaded it to his Facebook
page. After a wave of comments that ranged from horror to
disbelief, this cat decided to upload a second video all bloodied
and stitched up, even remarking that he might’ve swallowed
the bullet. He went on to eseentially dump all over his family
and friends, claiming “Your care for my life will never supersede
my disregard for it.” Knight even took WorldStar Hip Hop to 
task for not showing the video, claiming it was a racially-motivated
decision. At last word, police in Indiana were investigating.

As we’re in an era where all it takes is a short video clip to be
famous (take Antoine Dodson or Chewbacca Mom for example),
you can sit and say that this is par for the course. But then
you would be numb to, and dismiss something more important.
There are idiots out here, a nation of them, who wouldn’t mind
putting themselves and others at risk for fame and imaginary
success. I mean, when it comes to someone like Kasper Knight,
we can shake our heads at how incredibly stupid he is. But the
real question is, can you really laugh at someone who has that
much disregard for himself and others? He originally wanted to
have someone shoot him in the face for a music video. Can you
really look at someone like that and not wonder if he’d want to
go on a spree of shooting others for “shock value”? As for the
teens who stalked Joe Budden, that could’ve went sideways
really fast. Suppose Budden had a piece on him and was inclined
to feel like his life was threatened? You would’ve had someone in
the hopsital or the morgue and Budden in jail if he let off a shot
or two. And then there would’ve been comments from that crowd
that despises anything Black and/or rap-related quick to call him
a “thug” or “senseless” among other things.

The bottom line is, it gets to be a problem when you have such
an emphasis on quick viral videos as a way to gain fame and
money. It sometimes means that Black & Brown communities
get preyed upon the most in these videos, mainly by those who
are white or otherwise willfully ignorant enough to view them
as fodder to get clicks and views. I still remember seething when
there were two guys who felt it would be funny to go around
tougher areas of Brooklyn and step on people’s sneakers to get
a rise out of people. It wasn’t cool then and it isn’t cool now.
Look at that video of Budden and the OVO teens. Even as he’s
confronting them, the main one goes “okay, but follow me on
Twitter!!” And let’s face it, that fool may wind up being in a role
where he’s going to make decisions that impact you or me. Look
at your current election season for proof. You have to be careful
when dummies on demand are willing to go to any lengths for
some shine. In these days and times, it could be more dangerous
than hilarious.