Clifford's Footsteps

Remember when rap star TI became a completely different person? Prior to the murder of his best friend/personal assistant Philant Johnson, & being busted attempting to buy illegal assault rifles, TI was as much a part of the "problem" as every other rapper who raps without conscious. He glorified violence, materialism, genocide, bragged about his criminal activities & made no apologies about doing so. "Trap rap" was the term coined in regards to him, & many other MC's from his region based on their affection & glamorization of the drug dealer lifestyle. TI became the poster D(ope)-boy for the movement.


Suddenly, he had a couple changes of heart, most likely caused by actuality catching up to him in real-time. He found himself being bitten by the frozen snake he found in the woods. His friend died in his arms, his bodyguard sold him up the river, & already being a convicted felon, he was facing a substantial amount of his life being given to the "system" for his criminal charges. His outlook dramatically changed, seemingly overnight. He began lecturing the youth at school across the country, speaking at rallies about the importance of voting, & starred in an arguably successful reality show aimed at rehabilitating misguided kids before it was too late. He made it clear that he regretted what his life had become, & even warned kids about making similar mistakes on a few talk show couches. The album he recorded while awaiting his day of confinement has been hailed as his most successul, & ironically, his most uplifting & positive release. His relese date is in February, & that will be the hour which he proves himself a changed man, or that the last two years of his life was all merely song & dance.


Only a fool sees prison as a respectable badge of honor. That's like bragging about overdosing on heroin, but surviving. Being arrested is one thing-you can get arrested for indecent exposure, public drunkenness, disturbing the peace, etc. But being found guilty of whatever charges, & going to prison (not a holding cell), is reality at it's most intimate. Case(s) in point; my uncle got locked up for drug trafficking, did almost a decade, came home & has NEVER spoken about what transpired, except to say what degrees he'd obtained. My cousin, coincidentally one of the toughest niggas I've ever met, is serving 25 to life for armored car robbery & attempt murder, & within the last few years has found God & is now studying theology. A close friend of mine is doing a several years on an assault charge, & his letters reek of despair, loneliness & regret. Before he got locked up this last time, he made it a point to speak out about how prison isn't where any of us want to be. He was adamant in his disdain. Hopefully, this time will be his last. All three of these men are nothing short of "gangsta", yet it's obvious that prison time has affected them in ways that even a tumultuous street life couldn't.


Every other month, there seems to be another rapper going to jail. The oddity isn't in the fact that they've committed crimes & ultimately had to "pay their debt to society", but that only Clifford Harris has spoken in regards to this being the inescapable result of unwise decision making. I wonder if Lil Wayne will fully utilize his popularity & tell the millions of impressionable teenagers worldwide that, if they don't smarten up, this is what could happen? No dice, I'm sure. That's quite a bit of pressure to put on a man who earns a heavy pay load by being a negative influence.


Rapper Lil Boosie was sentenced to a year over a gun charge, & all he could do was brag about how "it's nothing". Never once did he tell his supporters publicly, "Don't do what I did". He softens the blow by making it appear to be just a stumbling block to be dismissed & forgotten.


There's a rapper in the Bay Area, CA, that goes by the name "The Jacka" who last year, released a mix tape dedicated to the incarcerated. I understand his sentiments, because I truly believe a man's heart can not be judged solely by his instinctive actions, but if you have to do the time, the least we can do is let kids know that it's not a movie, video game, rap fantasy or "time-out". It's punishment, & punishment should be treated as a tool for future prosperity, rather than glorified war story.


I know better than to believe an artist has the responsibility of mentoring their fans, but at least have some decency about it. C-Murder, convicted of murder, hasn't said one thing positive to the "fans" who supported him. His story ends with "live how you get it" or "die by the sword", when some of the youth would take a "think twice about what's important" to heart just as eagerly. I hear people talk about how there's a lack of guidance in our communities, & I disagree. The guidance is there, but it's dispensed from all the wrong people, places & things.


The thing I love about mistakes is that when I get through them, I can share with my people how/why it happened to me & how they can avoid it. & I don't have to take a goody-goody stance & denounce any aspects of life to help a lesson get learned, becaused I lived it. Hopefully more rappers will follow Clifford's footsteps, & educate the youngters to the true nature of voluntary enslavement, tax monies for prisoners & the infrastructure designed to empower failure.


Much respect to the dudes who did their time & came home ready to make a difference. The truth is, we need more cats to show the positive sides of negative situations. In the words of the Real Freeway Ricky Ross, "I'm out now, & it's time to make things happen".

Man Down! Man Down!

Remember how shocked people were when rapper Chi Ali killed some kid in 2001? Even if one hadn't gotten wind of this young MC (no Bust A Move), it was still pretty awesome that this quasi-famous teenage rapper had grown up & taken a man's life. [See the beginning of the movie "Strapped" for a loose re-enactment.] Before the crime, he aligned himself with the Native Tongues crew, & by all early-90's Hip Hop standards, he was destined for greatness. That fantasy world finally came crashing to the asphalt when, later that same year, he was featured on an episode of America's Most Wanted for Murder. When the smoke finally cleared, he was sentenced to 14 years behind bars.

So far this year alone, there have been two high-profile cases involving rappers & their involvement with a crime that resulted in murder.

Corey Miller, formally known as C-Murder & brother to Master P, was sentenced last month to life, plus 10 years, for the 2002 killing of a 16 year old young man during a club parking lot scuffle. True or not, witness accounts say he reached into a small crowd & fired his weapon into the boy as he laid on the pavement. This verdict came on the heels of him beating an attempted murder case in another Louisiana parrish. C-Murder, in-fucking-deed. Ironically, Miller has a tattoo of his brother Kevin's face on his arm, who was senselessly killed many years prior. Now, somebody will be getting this dead boy's face on their body, no doubt.

Jim Jones/Dip Set affiliate Max B. was sentenced to 75 years on Sept. 3, for his role in a 2006 robbery that left a man dead. His supposed girlfriend-turn-witness spilled her guts about the plan he reportedly devised, in an effort to save her own ass. Though he didn't pull the proverbial trigger, he might as well had, according to the jury pool who found him guilty of conspiracy. Many fans & supporters believe that his lawyer was reckless & naïve, speaking to magazines & tweeting in regards to the case prematurely, but that doesn't alter the fact that he was an accomplice to a crime that ended in one less human being walking the face of the planet.

Maybe the weeds getting better, or times are getting worse, but cats are blindly intent on keepin' it real these days. I remember when rappers got tossed out of shows, or under buses. Under the jail though, is beyond me.

Honorable mentions to MC Slick Rick, for trying to shoot & kill his cousin in 1991, which for the most part spelled doom for his career. When he was released from prison after roughly 5 years, many popular rap dudes tried to pull him on to their projects, but times had changed from the rap scene he was running years prior. The world wasn't ready for a criminapper to be all over it's respective TV screens. Oddly enough, if that had've been today, it would've launched his recording career into the stratosphere & made "Slick Rick" a household name. In a good way. Also, rapper Shyne, who under the tuteledge of the omnipotent Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, found himself in the middle of a club, busting his .40 caliber at some of Diddy's "friends" in 1999. He was convicted of attempted murder & handed a 10 year sentence before Diddy turned his back & walked away without serving any time for his involvement, including an ensuing car chase with actress/then girlfriend Jennifer Lopez in the vehicle. Shyne is to be released later this year.

In Hip Hop, we're at a crossroad; on one side, there's these criminal minds who truly believe in what the speak. Manifest destiny per se. On the other side is the victim. Often, the victim is cut from the same cloth as the victor, yet find themselves on the bad end of the bargain. It's impossible to root for one, while we mourn for the other one. It's that complex balance of the universe that makes the world go 'round, but that doesn't make it okay. I guess it does make it okay, until our father, uncle, brother, best friend is killed for the sole reason of "keepin' it real", whatever the fuck that means nowadays.

Now's the part where I'm supposed to urge my more influential brothers & sisters to WAKE UP! & RISE!, but that empty, Spike Lee movie rhetoric falls on deaf ears. It's not a Black thing, because if it were, our collective pride wouldn't allow us to hunt & destroy one another like so much sport. & I refuse to blame "the White Man", because I can't remember the last time I looked over my shoulder for a White man as I walked home from the weed spot. It's a people thing, & their insipid lack of natural love for one another. I understand people make mistakes, but a mistake repeated is a purposeful act. If we don't take responsibility for ourselves, then other's will. & if we learned anything from 'Amistad' or 'Roots', it's that the last thing we want is other motherfuckers in charge of "our" lives.

It's deeper than rap, but we might as well find a point to start from. Better late than never, Word to Dr. Rev. MLK, jr.