R.I.P. Proof
If you don’t already know, D12 emcee Proof was killed Monday night from a gunshot wound to the head. I guess he was kicking at a club when some nonsense broke out that he ended up being caught in the middle of.
This year is becoming unbearable. Between Proof, Professor X, and J-Dilla there have been more hip-hop deaths than good hip-hop albums in 2006.
One day last year as I lay down to sleep, a thought occurred to me. A thought that made all of the violence in hip-hop make a bit more sense to my weary mind. Even as I think of it now, it sounds mad emo, but if I may abandon my b-boy grimace for a moment, I’d like to share it with you.
The notion that popped into my brain that night was that hip-hop will be remembered in history as an audible diary of a people leaving the earth.
I know…it sounds very Def Poetry Jam. That’s why I never really shared it with anyone. I’ve always been afraid that the Underground Hip-Hop Drop Squad would raid my crib and strip me of my backpack and headphones, but I can hold my tongue no longer. Shit is getting out of control, and it seems silly for me to hold on to a flower power notion of good vibe, worry-free music when there is death…everywhere.
As easy as it may be for many people to point at hip-hop from their safe enclaves and say “those people are violent and ignorant”, at some point all of us are going to have turn and look at all of the dead “Americans” in the hood next door. Especially if you shake your ass to the music…
“This is for all the slain rappers and the fallen rappers…”
Big L (DITC) – Shot Dead
Too Poetic/Grim Reaper (Gravediggaz) – Colon Cancer
Big Pun (Terror Squad) – Heart Attack
Freaky Tah (Lost Boyz) – Shot Dead
Dilla – Complications from Lupus
Professor X (X-Clan) – Meningitis
Eazy E (NWA) – AIDS
Jam Master Jay (Run-DMC) – Shot Dead
Mac Dre – Shot Dead
Souljah Slim – Shot Dead
ODB (Wu-Tang Clan) – Heart Attack
Mausberg – Shot Dead
Looks like colon cancer is the closest thing we’ve got to natural causes. But there’s no oil in the projects so there’s no need for alarm.
Look out for your loved ones…
Peace.
