I Spit Gats In My Raps
Words: Low
December 10th, 2007

I don't spit gats in my raps because I can't rap, but it seems that the majority of the rap community does. For almost two decades the content of a huge percent of hip-hop music have contained gun references. You all know exactly what I'm talking about. It doesn't matter if the rapper is underground or if he or she has reached cross-over status, a large percentage of them have at some point rapped about guns. How may ways can a artist rap about shooting someone in the face? I assume over six million because that's about the amount of times I've heard such reckless lyrics.

If I were to ask a rapper why he or she rap about guns? They'll probably say, "that they're reporting what's going on in the streets, that it's simply entertainment, or they're just gangsta like that." Yeah, right... This ish is out of control and it needs to die just like any other played out fad that the hip-hop community has embraced over the years.

I really don't think that a rapper's ability to express their love for their 9mm, nickle-plated 22, AK-47, or AR15 within their lyrics is impressive. Especially when young men and women are loosing their lives everyday to the epidemic of gun violence within every major city or rural town in this country.

I believe nationally, the murder rate for African-Americans is more than three times the average: 19 black murder victims per 100,000 people versus five for the general population. The reason I'm focusing on the murder rate for African-Americans is because the numbers are too damn high and the majority of rappers are African-American.

Rap music is the most influential music on this planet and young people are easily influenced. Young people look up to rap artists and many of them follow rapper's lead. This means that the rap artists who continue to 'spit gats in their raps' are actually contributing to the epidemic of gun violence.

You don't think so? Run DMC rapped about their Adidas and had millions sporting Adidas all over the world. Jay-Z rapped about rockin' button up shirts at a time when everyone was rockin' throwback jerseys; a few months later button ups were on a lot of backs. And now, 50 Cent raps about fully loaded clips and poppin' them thangs. This too is influential!

I believe in freedom of speech but I also believe in the freedom of life. Gun violence is very serious and we (rappers, fans, record labels, magazines, radio stations, websites, etc.) all need to work on addressing this issue.

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