On this day in 1997, The Notorious was gunned down. Check this link
In the words of Dave Chappelle, “if you’re in the hip hop industry, you think about this every single day.” He said it reminiscently, like folks might have wondered about the killers of four little girls in Birmingham or those of Emmitt Till. March is a great month. Not only the month of amazing birthdays – from mine to Britt’s to Dave’s to Bari’s to Tom’s to Jerome’s – but it is also Persian New Year, the spring equinox and International Women’s Month. But this landmark day will continue to haunt us as an unsolved hip hop crime.
As we settle our stomachs and nestle in for this new era of change, how can we ensure these crimes get treated as seriously as those against our lighter brothers and sisters? As Living Archive discussed last week, we seek to bury Barry Bonds and allow Bernie Madoff executive Fed Ex accounts to in order to mail Ed McMahon his bling. On top of this maddening contradiction is the attitude that these unsolved cases will forever go unsolved. Whether because we believe the victims lived and died by the glock or because we’re stuck in an east vs. west/Israel vs. Palestine/U.S. vs. them mentality, our culture is that of lumpy afghans over unswept dust. We revel in the denial of individual responsibility and live to blame the victim in most cases involving violence. Emmitt whistled at a white woman, the four little girls unknowingly represented the students-led movement and BIG said, “We just chillin, milk em, top billin.” So be it. I guess everything I want, I gotta work haaaard for it, dodging feds rats and hacks the whole way.
Seriously. What are we to do with this phenomenon, aside from make Hollywood movies about the icon with lackluster marketing and celebrity lookalikes? The movies and other pop candy are simply more encouragement for us to pop bottles and flaunt bling. Meanwhile the ignorance rises, like indigestion from bad champagne. These terrorist acts keep our inner Chuck D in check. The Hip Hop Police know it. Suge Knight knows it. Other acts of terror go even more unnoticed, like the “accidental” car crash that killed Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister’s wife this weekend. Mugabe was like, “don’t ask me, I’m still hung from my $25,000 birthday bash. By the way, what’s the daily Cholera count?” http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-03-07-voa5.cfm
It’s disgusting. But the world keeps turning, revolutionaries keep churning and pigs keep plotting. Meanwhile, we all search for higher ground.
All Power To The People,
Jwhpage
It Was All A Dream
