'It's a war zone': why is a generation of rappers dying young?

By Sirin Kale

 

A roadside tribute to the murdered rapper XXXTentacion. Photograph: Mediapunch/Rex/Shutterstock

 

It might sound callous, but Jacob Thureson’s parents, Erik and Judy, were not too worried when they heard about his latest overdose.

 

It had happened a couple of times already and the 18-year-old rapper had always made it out of hospital in one piece.

 

Thureson, who performed under the name Hella Sketchy, was among the wave of emo-influenced trap rappers who came up using the music platform SoundCloud.

 

He had recently relocated from the family home in Texas to Los Angeles after being signed to Atlantic Records.

 

Full Story: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jan/31/war-zone-music-industry-confronts-a-generation-of-rappers-dying-young

Swords - live by them, die by them

Coronavirus.

rap is <deleted>,  I know I wanna die when exposed to it ... so this understandable phenomena.

Be fair when was the last time you heard a rap song not about guns, knives, police, drugs or lack of ping pong facilities ? 

 

... well, try this one ...

 

> Jon Lajoie parodies modern rap by delivering a sixty-three <deleted> salute, describing just how much of a <deleted> he doesn’t give < 
 

 

 

Lyrics:             https://genius.com/Jon-lajoie-chainsaw-everything-lyrics

 

 

12 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Be fair when was the last time you heard a rap song not about guns, knives, police, drugs or lack of ping pong facilities ? 

I agree with your point, but there are some conscious rappers like lowkey (the UK one), wretch 32 and Akala, who don't glamorise these things. Most of their best material is about 8 years old, though.

Does anyone else find this - at best - distasteful? Like rap, war zones are not nice, but to compare the two is insulting. These prancing prats with their overdose 'culture' deserve what they get - few people in real war zones do.

Chamillionaire and Eminem - now they were two of the truly genius rappers rapping about real sh$ttt. These days most rappers are usually rapping about nothing.

Edited February 1, 20206 yr by bbi1

They promote and partake of gang and drug culture.  How many other youngsters have died because they emulate these cultural examples who go around draped in gold, throwing gang signs?   They die as they live.  I do not have it in me to feel sorry for them.

If you have to ask "Why is a generation of rappers dying young?" then you don't understand the rap/gang culture.  Sadly, it was the US media back in the 80's and 90's that glorified rap and the violent gang culture.  They literally made gang members so called "legitimate" super stars.  The black gang culture is everywhere in rap, NBA and NFL.  Just look at some of the hand signals that have been thrown in games, in music videos, and in their everyday pics.  Just look at the most famous rapper, Calvin Broadus Jr., otherwise known as Snoop Dogg, has stated repeatedly the he is a Crip for life, as the US media has made him a super star who brags about gang violence, drugs, guns, and more...