A Salute To Weed Carriers

Why Are So Many Weed Carriers Being Shot?
Here’s Killer Mike, who once had a spark, on the Philant Johnson killing and violence in hip-hop:

I think the biggest insult since Philant has been killed is the [suggestion that] this is somehow rap-related because that doesn’t get to the real problem,” he says. “The real problem is that you have millions of young, angry, disenfranchised Latino, Black and poor white men who don’t have any real hope or outlet for hope.

My thing has always been this (nullus): If this isn’t a hip-hop thing, then why don’t you all of these killings occur in other genres of music? This year alone three major weed carriers have been shot and killed, not to mention a whole host of unimportant regional rappers (who or wtf is a Big Hawk?) and various assorted hangers on.

Just this weekend, I see Young Zee from The Outsidaz, who I’m sure someone on the Internets considers the GOAT, and KRS-One’s old weed carrier Hakim Green from Channel Live were stabbed outside of an Ice Cube concert at BB King’s in New York. Was somebody trying to rob them for the mad izm?

I don’t think it stands to reason that this can all be blamed on poverty and “disenfranchisement” because you don’t see any of this bullshit happening in genres of music created by poor white people like country or hair metal, or even in R&B which, quiet as it’s kept, is largely created by and for poor black people.

Also, as mentioned in Orlando Patterson’s recent op-ed in the New York Times, you don’t see the poor bastards who live in third world countries turn to crime at nearly the same rate as blacks here in the US. What’s the difference between them and jigs here in the US? Could it be hip-hop?