Reality Bites
If you know anything about me you know one of my favorite things to do is poke fun of rappers and fake bravado.
Most of these guys professing thug life were raised in mellow 'burbs where the worst things they had to be angry about were lattes being served cold and not making the starting lineup on the water polo squad. And some, in spite of the booty-shaking women in their videos, are rumored to be in love with each other... not that there's anything wrong with that. Seinfeld said so. And I have no reason or desire to argue.
But it wasn't funny last night when I saw on the news that rapper Eminem's best friend and best man at his latest wedding, a rapper stage-named Proof, was killed in a shooting at a Detroit nightclub.
It's kind of spooky that both men made a music video last year for a Slim Shady song called Toy Soldiers, calling for an end to the potentially violence-provoking tension between their "team" and another rap faction. In the video Proof is shot and taken to an emergency room where he later dies.
Life imitating art.
There is no better example of lack of good sense than shooting someone or even thinking about doing so for no good reason.
I once covered a homicide case at another newspaper, where a young girl (I think she was 12) was struck and killed by a stray bullet. It turned out the shot was fired by a guy on the sidewalk who was spraying bullets at another man who'd stepped on and scuffed the shooter's girlfriend's shoes in a nightclub the night before.
His best explanation was a long drawn-out version of oops. Yeah, to all you tough guys out there, that's "real."
Most of these guys professing thug life were raised in mellow 'burbs where the worst things they had to be angry about were lattes being served cold and not making the starting lineup on the water polo squad. And some, in spite of the booty-shaking women in their videos, are rumored to be in love with each other... not that there's anything wrong with that. Seinfeld said so. And I have no reason or desire to argue.
But it wasn't funny last night when I saw on the news that rapper Eminem's best friend and best man at his latest wedding, a rapper stage-named Proof, was killed in a shooting at a Detroit nightclub.
It's kind of spooky that both men made a music video last year for a Slim Shady song called Toy Soldiers, calling for an end to the potentially violence-provoking tension between their "team" and another rap faction. In the video Proof is shot and taken to an emergency room where he later dies.
Life imitating art.
There is no better example of lack of good sense than shooting someone or even thinking about doing so for no good reason.
I once covered a homicide case at another newspaper, where a young girl (I think she was 12) was struck and killed by a stray bullet. It turned out the shot was fired by a guy on the sidewalk who was spraying bullets at another man who'd stepped on and scuffed the shooter's girlfriend's shoes in a nightclub the night before.
His best explanation was a long drawn-out version of oops. Yeah, to all you tough guys out there, that's "real."
posted by James Burnett at
9:21 AM
2 Comments:
more laughable are the suckers who claim the 'burbs are rough and proudly rapping about their allowance and being stuck driving mom's Lexus.
ever seen a tally on how many MCs have died a violent death? Seems like at least one a year since Biggie and Tupac...
-sp, milwaukee
By
Anonymous, at 12:10 PM
Man, the 'burbs ARE rough! Soccer moms can be so vicious and cheerleaders are downright mean! And you know, driving mom's Lexus really is hard when your brother's driving dad's porsche. Ouch.
By
Anonymous, at 2:32 PM
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