For the Culture: Young Rappers and The Court Systems

With numerous young rap stars finding themselves on the bad side of the law in past months, the general consensus from what can be seen from my peers as well as social media is that they want to see their rap icons released, as indicated by the numerous #FreeSuchAndSuch hashtags on social media outlets everywhere.
First, let’s make an established point that artists such as NBA Young Boy make objectively aesthetically pleasing music, and as musicians, they should be respected for their craft.
That aside, when you have generational icons such as Young Boy, Kodak Black, and Tekashi 6ix9ine being abdicated of taking responsibility for their actions because they made a song or two that you like speaks a lot about the character of those defending them.
On the other hand, you must also take into account the reputation that law enforcement has amongst the black community, and by extension, the hip-hop community.
If you were to ask a random student from Southern if they were bigger fans of Young Boy or the police department, the latter would be the obvious answer from much of our university’s populace.
Corrupt police officers are going to be corrupt officers at the end of the day, and that fact is sadly an unchanging one at the moment. They are going to have power and authority that we don’t have, and until the government as a whole deems it worthy enough to be acted upon, there is nothing we can do but allow our voices of displeasure to be known.
What we can control, however, is what our rappers represent and how they reflect who we are as a people.
Hip-hop, at its core, has always been a reflection of what those in the black community value and appreciate as the culture. For years, that has been drugs, women, and sheer disrespect that has given our culture meaning, when it could be so much more.
Imagine a world where a figure like Boonk is doing community service in underprivileged neighborhoods, on his own volition, or figures like the Migos, on the forefront against the battle on depression.
For too long, we have let our shortcomings determine the path we had to walk as individuals and as a people.
This is our opportunity at this very moment to rewrite the values of our culture. Let’s see our black superstars promote and lead changes on something that is beneficial to the culture, not detrimental to it.
The other part of this is holding these individuals accountable as well, which has not been the case in recent history.
The message being sent to our youth is that if you have a certain amount of money and a certain amount of talent, then the rules don’t apply to you.
If we want to help artists like Young Boy and Kodak, then we need to support their rehabilitation into society when they return, rather than promoting the release of unchanged, angry kids back into the public.
If we truly want to live better as a people, then we have to want better, be better, and inspire a better message to the youth, and to the world as a whole, outside of the hip-hop community.