Cries of The Windy City - Chris "Preach" Smith

Chief Keef.

By now, the insanity that was the Chief Keef/Lupe Fiasco situation that erupted
on Twitter has died down somewhat. And yet, there’s a lot left to be answered
in the air out of Chicago. Cries unheeded. Because that drama speaks to the crux
of a situation that has boiled over this whole summer. And if you ask folks from
the City of Wind, longer than that.

Chief Keef is the voice of Chicago’s streets right now. Brash, unapologetic, young
and full of menace. When I first started hearing of this young dude, I immediately
thought of O-Dog from ‘Menace II Society’. The 16 year old is a rapper on the rise.
Birdman is looking to sign him, Kanye West did a remix of his most popular track
to date, ‘Don’t Like’. It’s even on the new ‘Cruel Summer’ album by G.O.O.D. Music.
Keef made himself famous, and infamous, by Youtube videos that bubbled through
Chicago’s school system shortly after getting arrested last December. If you listen
to ‘Don’t Like’, you hear the snarl, you feel that smirk you often see on corner boys
in Any City, USA. But that popularity has a dark side we can’t ignore anymore. It
used to be that we could separate the ‘hood from the MC. MC’s like 50 Cent and
others could give you the street without being overtly street as to scare away those
that would do business with them as well as listeners. You saw the separation clearly.
With Chief Keef, you get none of that.

The fact that this young cat laughed over the death of Lil Jojo, a former friend and
MC turned rival on Twitter can’t be dismissed as ignorance. And Chicago police are
still investigating Keef’s Twitter feed to see if he had anything to do with it. It’s one
murder in a summer that saw 157 others die on the streets of Chicago, but it is
symptomatic of a sickness being wrought on people out there. It’s no surprise that
outside of Los Angeles, Chicago has an extremely deep gang history with names
like the Gangster Disciples and Blackstone Rangers coming to mind. But now, the
young folk out there are losing their lives in such number that it makes you shake
your head. And there doesn’t seem to be a concerted effort by the city to combat
the issue outside of the tried and tired methods of extra police without furthering
community outreach. Even now, Chicago is dealing with a teacher’s strike. Money
is going to charter schools and public schools, mostly in neighborhoods of color are
being closed. All under the eyes of Rahm Emanuel, the new mayor fresh out of the
White House. It’s as if there’s a mood among elected officials that harks back to the
line in ‘The Godfather’: ‘They’re animals anyway, let them lose their souls.’

Is it fair to make Chief Keef the poster child for such craziness? Maybe not, but his
recent actions put him in that position. To attack Lupe Fiasco on Twitter for a simple
statement and threaten him is low class. Lupe handled it with dignity, as an elder
cat from those streets should. There are those who think he took that route because
he didn’t want to get shot. That kind of reasoning is stupid. Lupe did what most of
us grew up expecting the older cats we grew up with to do; take someone aside if
they’re acting out and pull their coat to their behavior. And Keef’s behavior after,
claiming he’s shutting down his Twitter account? More self-preservation and possibly
a nudge from a label exec who didn’t want to lose their newest cash cow over
self-incrimination.

Chief Keef isn’t the problem, but he’s shown us how deep that problem goes. Because
while the ‘I don’t give a f***’ swagger in hip hop is as old as Joe Jackson’s eyebrows,
this is a look into just how he represents the voices off of Chicago’s streets. Hungry,
brash, and trying to claw their way out. Even over their neighbors, peers and elders.
THAT’S the s*** we shouldn’t like, instead of just listening to it without absorbing it.
Because in doing so, we may risk ignoring the cries of others out there for the sake of
entertainment.

The Fires, From That Time to Now - Chris 'Preach' Smith

Twenty years ago today. the City of Angels burned like hell.

Los Angeles saw itself set ablaze because of the horrendous acquittal of four LAPD
officers caught on tape beating Rodney King after pulling him over on the road after
a high speed chase. That video did nothing to sway an all-white jury in the suburb
of Simi Valley from setting those cops free. And years of pent-up frustration and
anger exploded. It took one billion dollars of property damage and a new federal
trial to bring some sort of calm back to the streets. It took 54 people dying and
one near death on TV, that of Reginald Denny, a trucker, to get a kind of justice
for Rodney King.

I can’t sit there and say that I remember the riots themselves very well. But I do
remember feeling that they marked a significant change for me. I remember
thinking that as we watched Cliff and Claire Huxtable dance off the set the night
after, marking the end of ‘The Cosby Show’, thinking that we were seeing the end
of a supposed innocence the country allowed itself about people of color. Here in
New York, I remember seeing my parents’ faces grow a bit somber. We were glued
to coverage of the riots when we were home. I was in my second year of high
school. As much as I was into video games, comics and music and girls at that time,
the L.A. Riots was something that weighed on me. I began to question just how
justice could ever be given to people of color. I also wondered if something like
that could happen here. I don’t even remember more than one teacher talking
about it. In a Catholic high school set in the predominately white neighborhood of
Fresh Meadows, it may have been tantamount to revolution.

The L.A. Riots struck a chord in me, one I didn’t realize until years later. It helped me to
connect better with the music of NWA, Tupac and others who called those streets home
and had dealt with the paramilitary-styled LAPD for years. I began to think how I could
have grown up out there, feeling as if I was at war with an arm of a society that viewed
me as a criminal. And then seeing that I was in that same boat with the NYPD. I dug into
books on the riots during the Civil Rights era. And as I grew, I saw hip hop grow with a
duality of voices, bearing both a hard edge and a political one.

Leonard Pitts of The Miami Herald wrote about the Rodney King case being similar to the
recent death of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida. And that comparison is stunning, because
of what it means. It means that we as a nation have not learned nor fully addressed racism
as this country’s original sin. We’ve never dug deep in that national discourse. Given the
fact that riots are cyclical, who’s to say that if justice is not served in the Trayvon Martin
case that we wouldn’t see something like that break out again? I’m not advocatiing it or
predicting a riot. Because that damage now, in a weak economy that has hit Black homes
hard would absolutely push us over the brink. There’s no power in that. But what this day
should be is more than a mere footnote. We should remember why those fires burned. We
should not be afraid to have that discourse on race and justice, ALL of us. And we should
remember that fires that burned before can rise again if we’re not careful.

Holler If You See Me - Chris 'Preach' Smith

History was made at Coachella Sunday.

Yes, by now the world is still buzzing about the fact that Tupac Shakur
appeared onstage with Dr.Dre, Eminem and Snoop Dogg Sunday night.
Yes, the same Tupac Shakur who was gunned down in Las Vegas years
ago. Thanks to the collaboration between Dre and AV Concepts, Tupac
was rejuvenated for the set, sending the Coachella crowd and everyone
crazy for days after. Now the ‘hologram’ (in reality it’s a 2-D, CGI model
displayed by a 19th century technique of reflection known as ‘Pepper’s
Ghost’) not only has its own Twitter account, but it also may be going
on tour with Snoop and Wiz Khalifa among others. This raises many
questions, but none bigger than this:

Are we THAT starved for quality concerts?

First, give Dre a lot of credit for again making another techonlogical
breakthrough in the world of hip-hop. He did have people gassed with
initial reports of Nate Dogg being the one to be revived digitally, even
though there are reports of more to come and both Dre and AV Concepts
aren’t giving away too much. The other positive here is that Afeni
Shakur, ‘Pac’s mother did give her blessing for this to take place, which
worried me when I saw first reports about this. But in regards to that
question I posed above…taking a ‘hologram’ on tour? Dre has a vision,
all right. He’s looking to stack huge amounts of paper. Wiz Khalifa is
arguably the most popular of the contemporary rappers out. Big arena
concerts run you about 55 dollars and up. Add a phenomena like this
Tupac hologram and you’re now talking a 50 dollar increase. Taylor Swift
money. That’s one underlying aspect to this. I’ve seen jokes about doing
this for Biggie and Big L and others, but who’s to say that won’t happen?

The other underlying issue is, will this be the upcoming norm now? The
tech behind this costs about $100,000 to $400,000. How many hip-hop
artists can you name that would be able to pull this off night in and night
out? And as Questlove said on Twitter, there may be some half-hearted
imitators coming down the pike. Imagine a…dare I say it…French Montana
hologram?! I’m safe in saying no one wants to see that. This whole thing
seems like a revamp of Michael Crichton’s ‘Westworld’. Plus, what does it
say that people will be more amped to spend money for a show like this
but have complained in the past about paying for shows like Rock The
Bells, Paid Dues and others? The ghost in the shell is loose…let’s see if
it’ll remain innovative and positive.

Quiet Storm No More - Chris "Preach" Smith

Monday was a bad day for Queensbridge.

First Lamar Odom aka Mr. Khloe Kardashian winds up parting ways with the Dallas
Mavericks with a huge cloud over him. Can’t be good for Kris’ percentage as his
manager. Then I get home and get wind of a Twitter war starring…MOBB DEEP?!!
For those who have avoided this situation like a ‘Basketball Wives’ pancake breakfast,
let me sum it all up. Havoc allegedly fired off a string of nasty Tweets directed at
Prodigy, proclaiming him to be a jailhouse homosexual. He even claimed he had to
put hands on Prodigy at last month’s SXSW in Austin in the rant as a result. Hav later
issued  a statement  claiming his phone was stolen while at a gas station in New Jersey.
But  there’s now audio which repeats the same claims and the voice was confirmed on
The Breakfast Club by Noreaga. Prodigy issed a quick reply via Twitter, claiming that HIS
account was a fake to begin with but never addressed the comments made.

This whole situation is like stepping off the back of the bus and catching a foot in your
back to make you crash to the ground. One of the grimiest hip hop duos ever beefin’?
ON TWITTER?!!! That’s about as gangster as Richard Simmons doing Eazy E karaoke.
For anyone who’s followed Mobb from their first album, this hurts. Being from Southeast
Queens, you know that part of the summer of 1995 had to have ‘The Infamous’ as part
of the backdrop. They are the stickup kids turned into verse-spitting rap stars. They were
the only ones willing to challenge Snoop & the West Coast during those times of coastal
beef. Havoc and Prodigy, for all that’s been said about them, were real in that sense.
You don’t expect thug dudes like they are to air each other’s business or even attempt
to online. That’s for the Chris Browns and Perez Hiltons and Courtney Loves of the world.
Beefs begin on wax and (hopefully) get handled on wax. That’s been the way. But this
episode shows that even this code is no longer sacred.

The other aspect about this that is troubling is the homosexuality issue. We all know that
it’s a hot-button topic in hip-hop. Who’s on the DL? Who isn’t? It’s a common slur when it
shouldn’t be, but it is. And ‘allegedly’ calling your main man out for it publicly is a bad look.
First off, it raises the question as to WHY someone would even do that and second, why
would you do that to your boy of 10+ years? Knowing that Prodigy has been the brunt of
jokes ever since the Summerjam screen? Maybe there’s been tension brewing all along.
Maybe Havoc got tired of Prodigy’s Alex Jones speeches. Maybe the rigors of being relevant
in today’s candy-painted rap game got to them. Either way, there’s a sadness to all of this.
Just sadness.

Double Standards at Twin Lakes - Chris 'Preach' Smith

I woke up this morning and outside of all of the other thoughts that
ran through my mind, prayers and all was this:

You can now die just for having a bag of candy and an iced tea. If you’re
a young Black male, that is.

Trayvon Martin, only 17 years old, was murdered on February 26th in Sanford,
Florida after going to a convenience store just because he wanted a snack for
his younger brother.  George Zimmerman, the 26-year old captain of the neighborhood
watch, saw Trayvon and immediately called 911. They advised him to back off. It’s
on tape. Yet Zimmerman confronted Trayvon, and as a result Trayvon died from one
9mm gunshot wound to the chest. Claiming self-defense in the guise of Florida’s
‘Stand Your Ground’ law, Zimmerman was let go. And remains free. And that is
the inherent, but all too familiar tragedy. As a Black man in the United States, it
is a tragedy that looms as a possible future for me, even now. It always has. I
think about how many times, growing up in Southeast Queens, that my mother
would caution me to be careful, to be aware. How she would worry if I didn’t call,
or until I called or came home. I know why she worried. She didn’t want my name
to be added to that long ledger known as Dying While Black. And as I get older,
I see just how real that fear is day by day.

Zimmerman is supposedly a white Latino which makes this all the more troubling
combined with the other elements of this murder. I use the word ‘murder’ because
that’s what this is. I use it so that I know, and you know from readng this, that there
is no room to evade or hide from that. Zimmerman has had issues before. He had been
alleged to have forcibly escorted a person out of the mostly white, gated community.
There were complaints about his behavior. And riddle me this: who would issue a
NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH CAPTAIN a 9MM handgun? Or allow that to take place? Or
even install someone who has been arrested in 2005 for assault of a police officer and
resisting arrest to be in that position? Zimmerman’s father issued a statement saying
that his son wasn’t racist. I think his father is deluded. Because listening to the 911 call,
you can hear the uneasiness in his son’s tone. The wary inflections. The tone that usually
says, ‘You don’t belong here.’ HE INITIATED THE INCIDENT. Yet the police let him go, and
confound their blunder by sitting on the 911 tapes and then releasing them on a Friday
in the middle of March Madness, when they felt no one would make them notable.

I’ve heard all the tapes. Heard someone scream for help. And I can’t help but think of
what Trayvon’s last moments were. I can’t help but think about how his parents felt,
knowing they’d never see him come through their front doors again. I can’t help but
think of my godmother’s nephew who was jumped and murdered just a few years ago
and no one was ever charged. I can’t help but think that Zimmerman’s aggression and
attitude was yet another construct of a society that views young people of color as a
threat, so much so that a law called ‘Stand Your Ground’, with severely broad interpretations
on the basis of how self-defense as a right can be used. If it seems like I’m angry, I am.
And i’m sad because even with a Black president, young lives of color are still seen by
many as nothing more than the price of an Arizona Iced Tea and a bag of Skittles. It
hurts to read about something like this, hurts more for parents to go through it. And it
hurts us as a nation that this still goes on. Which is why Zimmerman needs to be
arrested and brought to trial. Enough is enough.

Sign the petition here:

http://www.change.org/petitions/prosecute-the-killer-of-17-year-old-trayvon-martin