“To be a rap artist is the most dangerous job in the world. It’s more dangerous than going to war in Iraq. You’re always on defense. You don’t know who’s who. People get right on you and try to do something to you. You’re always in a beef. How many rappers do you hear get shot at in a week?”, legendary recording and performing artist Jim Jones said in 2019.
This past week, 30 year-old Philadelphia hailed crooner and father PnB Rock was pronounced dead on 1:59am Monday West Coast time after succumbing to gun shot injuries. The incident took place at a Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles in Inglewood, Los Angeles. The homicide was a case of an armed jewelry robbery gone wrong. His girlfriend had only just posted their location moments before the fateful incident ensued.
PnB Rock was a celebrated rapper-singer synonymous with popularizing sing-rapping with a zany tone and cadence. He featured on numerous hits including “Everyday We Lit” feat. YFN Lucci, “Dangerous” alongside Meek Mill & Jeremih, “Selfish”, and many others. His collaborators and respected peers such as Nicki Minaj & Drake have all paid their respects to the outstanding emoter.
This unfortunate occurrence is parallel to 22 year-old New York rapper Lil Tjay who was involved in a shooting in late June. The shooting was a targeted robbery in Edgewater, New Jersey. Bronx rapper Tjay was attacked by unknown people who fired seven times, and the rapper was only lucky to complete surgery recently and avoid being paralyzed. He speaks about the altercation in his latest song, “Beat the odds”.
The dangers associated with being a famous rapper are not exclusive to the most popular rap acts. Aspiring Tampa Bay rapper Rollie Bands was shot and killed minutes after daring his opponents, what rappers term as “opps” to pull up to his location via Instagram. “If niggas want smoke I’m at my crib in 5 mins” he posted. In five minutes, the rapper was deceased with authorities reporting a parking lot murder.
In the last week, controversial Savannah rap star Quando Rondo denounced his way out of a gang. He is known to be affiliated with the gang, The Crips, identified largely by wearing blue bandanas or apparel. Quando Rondo who was a witness to one of his entourage, rapper Lul Pab, being killed in a Los Angeles drive-by shooting on August 19 set to cut ties with any gang-connected activities. The distressed rap artist took to his Instagram to announce his termination of affiliation with the Rolling 60’s in an unusual fashion. However, Hip Hop did not take this lightly, with some elder statesmen of the gang such as rapper J. Stone even issuing warnings to the rapper who was identified as an accomplice in the murder of popular and now deceased Chicago rapper, King Von, who passed away after a violent death in 2020. Quando mentioned “he didn’t expect to be jumped out by unloyal gang members, and he wants to focus on his family”
Gangs are of course touted to be “blood in, blood out” ritual-heavy.
Another prolific figure in the Hip Hop space affiliated with the Crips was one Bashar Barakah Jackson aka Pop Smoke. The gruff-toned emcee who was among the most zealous Hip Hop acts of his time, was nabbed by suspected robbers after mistakenly leaving his address on an Instagram post, only for robbers to pounce on his location and murder him.
Gang affiliation and related murders are very symbiotic with Hip Hop. Months before Pop Smoke was killed, activist, wellness advocate and Crenshaw stalwart Nipsey Hussle was the victim of a murder on March 31, 2019. Nipsey, who was known for his charitable works and community-building efforts was shot in the head by Eric Holder outside his own store, Marathon Clothing on Slauson Boulevard. The killing still reels pain to date due to the figure and light Nipsey was in the rap community, and the fact that it took place in his own neighborhood where he grew up.
With multiple cases of short-lived lives predominantly fueled by actual poverty of the soul and mind, the black and African-American experience is a noir reality.
Black on black crime is a serious epidemic as out of 776 black-white crimes, 533 are committed by blacks and 243 by whites according to Powerline’s Paul Mirengoff FBI Statistics, 2020. When it comes to black on black crime, 2,570 blacks have been murdered by their own blacks – with a majority male carrying out the acts.
The scrutiny and role rap music lyrics have in impacting violence and black life preservation has been put into question several times. Famously, in his last Cover story with Hip Hop media trailblazer Vibe Magazine, articulated by Kevin Powell, 2Pac probed the significance of rap lyrics in the black life expectancy rate in America. 2Pac was of course the victim of a New York shooting that saw him take five bullets, and in one of Hip Hop’s most idyllic death mysteries, was killed in Las Vegas on September 13, 1996 following a shooting.
“If we really are saying rap is an art form, then we got to be more responsible for our lyrics. If you see everybody dying because of what you saying, it don’t matter that you didn’t make them die, it just matters that you didn’t save them” he quoted famously.
In 2022 alone, Jay Da Youngen, Rollie Bands, Trouble, PnB Rock, Lul Pab are but some of the rappers that have fatally passed away. Many attempts at rappers’ lives have been executed.
