Nasty leftovers?
Covers of bad songs?
Well, it seems that the biggest names in rap love them. Just like Hollywood likes to churn out tacky remakes of crappy horror movies every two months, multiplatinum rappers apparently love jeopardizing their careers and freedom for the sake of carrying an unlicensed weapon.
This past spring, we watched as one of the biggest stars in hip- hop — Atlanta’s Clifford “T.I.” Harris — began serving a one-year sentence for a felony weapons conviction. Well, in October 2009 — Lil Wayne, arguably the biggest rapper in the industry under 30 — is set to star in his own prison drama. Weezy was sentenced to one year after pleading guilty to a 2007 weapons charge in New York.
The reality of being a celebrity that comes from a sketchy background is that sometimes you find yourself in situations that are dangerous — maybe even life-threatening. But does it have to be this way?
Think of most of the biggest celebrity scandals involving young, black men in the past few years — T.I., Michael Vick, Plaxico Burress, Lil Wayne — and they all involve some variation of “I did something stupid because of A) who I was around or B) where I come from.”
But being from a dangerous place doesn’t mean you are trapped in a certain lifestyle. Life is about choices, and you have a choice to not put your freedom and success in the crosshairs of the American judicial system. If you are so afraid for your safety that you feel you need weaponry — then carry a licensed gun. If you can’t get a license because of your criminal history — then hire some people around you who can.
You can protect yourself without breaking the law. Stop trying to prove how hard you are. You have too much to lose and there are enough black men in prison who were forced into criminal lifestyles because of their economic situations — we don’t need millionaires in jail.
After two mulitplatinum rap superstars have gone to the Big House for gun charges, can we expect that the industry will wake up? Can we expect that there won’t be more MCs putting their careers at risk just for the cachet of carrying a weapon illegally? There’s too much money to be made and too much at stake to just trash it for stupidity. We off that.
–todd williams
