Another futile attempt to explain why Black people kill each other

The local media haven’t done a decent job in follow up but recently The Pitch published a definitive rundown of the murder laden Kansas City rap scene.

Chiefly, the exhaustive article detailed the rise and fall of recently murdered KC rapper Fat Tone.

And now I’m at a crossroads. I could have linked this article a few days ago with a few bad jokes and maybe a quote or two BUT it just isn’t worth it. Writer Kendrick Blackwood does a commendable job in documenting the facts surrounding Tone’s death but in the end he perpetuates the same idiocy that motivates KC criminals chasing a career in the rap game. The tagline reads: “Weren’t you listening?” but the article reads like the text of an especially hyperbolic episode of E! True Hollywood Story.

“The success of both Rich (the Factor) and Tone went gun and holster with their reputations as legitimate gangsters,” Blackwood writes.

This is clearly incorrect because both of these guys were obviously more successful as thugs than performers. KC gangster rap/underground rap is not a sub-genre or an alternative variety of music it is simply a name for wannabe performers that have failed to find a significant audience. Put simply, even the most successful “underground” act is making peanuts compared with a run of the mill mainstream performer. I’m not an expert when it comes to rap music but I do know a little bit about capitalism and the latter is far more cut throat and cruel than any rapper could ever comprehend.

Rap, like all art or (for that matter) any endeavor is nothing more than a business. Blackwood gushes over a few CD racks and a poster at 7th Heaven featuring local thug/rapper Rich the Factor but in terms of the worldwide distribution, an audience of billions and heavy rotation on corporate owned airwaves all over the country garnered by someone like 50 Cent the so-called King of KC rap is simply small potatoes.

The KC “gangsta” rap scene, as far as rappers like Fat Tone and Rich the Factor are concerned, is nothing more than a pastime for local criminals. This fact in and of itself is nothing to lose sleep over. However, Blackwood seems to almost subconsciously celebrate the entrepreneurial spirit of local gangster rappers and those who peddle their music. “Tone may have been on the verge of something great,” Blackwood writes. And then again maybe not, the article notes that there were at least 108 KC rappers to put out CDs last year and none of them, NONE OF THEM, registered anything more than a blip on the radar of mainstream (read: lucrative) audiences.

Nevertheless, Blackwood chronicles the antics that led to the murder of Fat Tone with the investigative skill reminiscent of Bob Woodward but in the end he misses the point when he slams The Star for not taking notice of the possible connection between gang related killings and the KC rap scene. Categorizing local law breaking thugs as rappers rather than just criminals may be more informative and entertaining for readers but it not only denigrates the commercially successful mainstream rap that this entire nation has come to love but also elevates local scumbag wannabes to something more than just hobbyists.

Year after year bright minds west of Troost try to figure out why all so many of the black people in town spend the summer killing each other and so far nobody has come up with any answers or solutions. Poverty, drugs, guns, and most recently (and stupidly) “the lack of civility” have all been named as root causes of violence in this town. Meanwhile, KC gangster rap may be the soundtrack to the death march that’s going on in this town but it’s not the reason. The details of this Pitch profile are captivating but also seem to be a little prurient in their zeal. The death of Fat Tone and the carnage that surrounds KC gangster rap is not an unexplained phenomenon that plagues this town but rather it’s merely a symptom of the violent behavior that emanates from this city’s east side and just might make this a record setting year for murders in KC.