|
Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly claims that there is no civil responsibility that goes on with the money that Hip-Hop artists make. So you want to try to understand why rappers hold their tongue? Take a look at the history of police, and their “civil responsibility.” The unfortunate death of former security guard Israel Ramirez was not the first case in which the Hip-Hop community was stunned by death, and the silence that soon followed. Christopher “Notorious B.I.G.,” Wallace, Tupac Shakur, and Jam Master Jay (disc jockey for founding Hip-Hop group Run DMC) are just a few cases from the same category. Sure, people were at the scene in Brooklyn, NY, but no one knows what happened. Rappers, and people connected to rappers have reasons for keeping their mouths closed, and it doesn’t even begin with money. They have to fear for their lives nowadays. You can be here today, and gone tomorrow, depending on whether you do or don’t speak to police. They seem to have a nice little history of being derogatory to say the least to Hip-Hop artists, label owners, basically almost all the people that deal with the genre in general, especially if you are African-American. From what these artists can see, the police do more bad than good for the situation, so it would make no sense for say, Busta Rhymes, A.K.A. Trevor Smith to speak on the murder of his bodyguard. If we went on history, we could infer that even if Mr. Rhymes did speak on the murder, the police still wouldn’t find out who committed the crime. It has been ten years since Tupac Shakur died on that Las Vegas strip, and “the force” still hasn’t found out who took away the iconic Hip-Hop artist. The police have never been a Rap artist’s friend. Dating to the early 90's when rapper Ice T went into his Rock & Roll stage, he created a song titled “Cop Killer,” in which he detailed how he would kill cops. It is even worse in the black communities across the nation because the majority of what the children see are Hip-Hop and sports. They have almost no choice but to follow what is on T.V. and movies. The police haven’t really met the acquaintance of the common African-American either. Remember Rodney King? They have that police beating on tape, and the cops still got acquitted. Who’s the real enemy here? So if it was 5 people or 50 people on the sidewalk that night, including Busta Rhymes, you really can’t expect anyone to talk. Again, they were in a black community. Nobody wanted to be the next one in the coroner van, with a reporter asking a witness what happened to them. That’s the fear that they face. I can understand how the family of Mr. Ramirez’s is feeling pain and anguish derived from Busta keeping his lips sealed, but he has children at home that he wants to keep seeing for as long as possible. Talking to the N.Y.P.D. may tarnish that vision for him. He is looking out for himself. No matter what persona Busta Rhymes portrays on stage and T.V., Trevor Smith knows what’s real, and to him, and many other rappers, the police just don’t fit the description.
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed