F
or over twenty years, rappers have been telling stories of selling drugs and everything that goes along with it: the best cars, the finest women, getting shot, making more money than any of us can imagine, doing time in prison, killing enemies, or being killed. Our grandfathers could’ve been street thugs when they were young. The option has always been there. I’m from East Oakland, California, and what I saw coming up in the 80s and what I see right now today is basically identical. In some cities like Los Angeles or Chicago, a youngsta from the hood is given the opportunity to join a gang when they get to middle school or even while they’re still in elementary school. People say “that’s just the way it is,” but I don’t think that’s true. I know what it was like in the hood before crack cocaine turned us into a bunch of Tony Montanas. With the invention of crack cocaine and the introduction of automatic weapons into the inner cities, the government was able to put new laws on the books to lock up crack dealers and users for several years even if their case involved only small amounts of the drug. I’m in my 40s now and a lot of my homies that went to prison when we were in our 20s are just now coming home. Ask them to tell you about their cases. They say the Feds, the state, and the local authorities lie to get convictions; they’ll interpret laws any way they want to be able to convict you. Once they get you in the system, it’s hard to be free again. When you come home, you’re on parole or in a halfway house and any minor run-in with the law might land you right back in prison. People who have been through this process can tell you that it was a set-up. Hustling and having a lot of money for a few years is not worth doing 30 years in prison. I truly respect a hustler who comes from nothing and is still able to get a taste of the good life. I like to see you at the club pulling up in a new Benz with a female that looks like a video vixen. I can’t hate on that. But what I do hate is the fact that a lot of street hustlers don’t invest in the hood before it’s too late. How many drug dealers can you name that never fell off, never went to prison, and never got killed? I don’t know the answer to that question. I can’t even tell you why a youngsta would even pick crack dealing as his occupation, unless he doesn’t know that it’s a trap. But if he says, “I’m selling dope in the ‘trap,’” he must know exactly what it is. It doesn’t make sense why anybody would become a crackhead for the first time these days, now that we’ve all seen the results of smoking crack. The point I’m trying to make is this: Do you know why you’re a thug? It’s because you’ve been brainwashed and programmed for self-destruction so you can fill the prisons, which are modern-day slave warehouses. You’re a thug because it’s easier for us to kill each other than for America to personally wipe out the undesirable descendants of African slaves. What’s the difference between a serial killer and a lil’ homie in the hood who kills over and over again in the name of holding down his gang and being a real thug til the day he dies? Not much, in my opinion. We call ‘em “riders.” I don’t blame rap music, but I do understand how we got brainwashed. I’ve been raising lil’ pimps for over twenty years in the name of entertainment. For me to be in a studio and not rap about pimps and hoes is like a crackhead having a pipe and a rock but not smoking it. But I can’t even tell the lil’ homies that all this time I’ve been rapping about pimpin’, I really treat my women good. I admit to being a player, but I don’t call the women around me “bitches.” A lot of rapping “thugs” never sold drugs and never will sell drugs. It’s entertainment.
// OZONE WEST
Do you know why you’re a thug? It’s because you’ve been brainwashed and programmed for self-destruction so you can fill the prisons, which are modern-day slave warehouses. You’re a thug because it’s easier for us to kill each other than for America to personally wipe out the undesirable descendants of African slaves.
I see the lil’ homies disrespecting females and looking over to me for approval. They talk openly about violence, just like their fathers did in the 80s. Many of our youngstas have already accepted death, prison, and the thug life as their only option. I think that as the community’s loudest voice, rappers need to tell the truth: KIDS IN THE INNER CITIES OF AMERICA DO HAVE CHOICES. It’s okay to be “square.” It’s okay if you’re not a “thug.” It’s okay to go to college, and it’s okay to chase your dreams. // Photo: D-Ray