Another day, another finger pointed in the gun violence blame game.
Last night (Dec. 20), NBC blogger Edward McClelland posted a highly critical piece on 17-year-old Chicago rapper Chief Keef‘s album Finally Rich. Entitled “Another Reason I Don’t Like Chief Keef,” McClelland placed Mr. “I Don’t Like” under fire, calling him and his group Drill “inextricably linked with Chicago’s gang violence.”
Chronicling Chief Keef’s legal troubles, depictions of violence and connections to the murder of a fellow Chicago rapper Lil’ JoJo, McClelland expressed an overall disdain for Keef’s image. He also made a point to separate Chief Keef from the likes of Kanye West and Common of Chicago rap’s “socially conscious tradition” by referring to his music as “pretty lunkheaded: unimaginative rhymes, simplistic beats.”
“But it’s also a window into the world that has made Chicago the murder capital of America, and that piqued my curiosity,” the NBC blogger wrote.
McClelland also took the liberty of relating Chief Keef’s violent lyrics to last week’s tragic shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, pointing to violence in entertainment as a contribution to “a culture that glorifies the sexiness of the man with the gun.” The blogger stated an overall disinterest in movies like Gangster Squad and Django Unchained, pointing to them as part of the issue with guns in America. But his harshest criticism remained in Chief Keef.
“I also don’t want to pay $14 for the minstrel show of listening to a real live South Side thug,” the blog post read. “I don’t want to support a scene that makes gangbanging a resume builder for music success.”
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