New Yorkers have witnessed a wave of gun violence over this past Labor Day weekend like never before.
An estimated 67 people have been victims of gun violence, many of the shootings revolving around the Labor Day West Indian day parade in Brooklyn. And it didn’t stop there.
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Yesterday, a man stepped into a Carson City, Nevada IHOP and killed three people, wounding eight others, all before shooting himself in the head.
In West Virginia, Shayne Riggleman, a 22-year-old kid, murdered five people including a pregnant woman, her brother and her mother.
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It’s safe to say the rash of gun violence across America in the past five days have been shocking to say the least. And what’s even more appalling is that no one is talking about it.
Instead of President Obama talking about jobs and the economy tomorrow night, maybe he should also talk about gun violence. Seriously, what gun regulations or law has been passed since Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head nine months ago?
As far as the gun violence we are witnessing today, it’s at an all time high. Back in the crack-filled epidemic of the 1980s Ronald Reagan era and early ’90s, many hip-hop artists were tagged as violent gun-toting thugs who shot and killed people by the likes of Tipper Gore and C. DeLores Tucker, may she rest in peace.
That was their argument: blame the artists for gun violence. And back then, it was an easy debate to win considering rappers like Ice Cube were rapping about his 9MM gun.
I heard payback’s a motherfucking nigga/That’s why I’m sick of gettin treated like a goddamn stepchild/Fuck a punk cause I ain’t him/ You gotta deal with the nine-double-M. – Ice Cube “The Nigga You Love to Hate”
Those days are long gone and now you can’t blame artists and musicians for their lyrical content as it relates to gun violence. For one, many artists have changed their musical tones to fit the times and the new age of rap music isn’t focused on bussing shots and violence, it’s about being a boss and showing the world how rich you are, it’s about being a businessman.
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Let’s look at some of the top heavyweights in the game.
Jay-Z and Kanye West aren’t rapping about shooting and killing people, they’re rhyming about “Niggas In Paris” and “Murder To Excellence” is a song about putting a spotlight on black on black gun violence and murder.
50 Cent was shot nine times and survived, so it’s understandable why gun violence was relevant in his music back in the early 2000s, but now he’s rapping about feeding 1 billion famine-stricken children in Africa.
Lil Wayne, the man who broke an iTunes record for most albums sold in a week, raps about everything from money to sex. In fact, one of Shayne Riggleman’s last Facebook posts was Lil Wayne’s “How to Love” song posted on his wall.
So we can’t blame rap music for violence anymore.
Put the blame where it belongs, mainly on our elected lawmaking congressional leaders, who by the way, just came off their summer vacations.
