It was about a week ago that I saw the news that Nipsey Hussle had died.  I was always aware of him and his music however I really started to religiously follow his actions and his music in the last two years. What he represents and what he  was a proponent of is something that very few musicians, or people in the public eye, are. Independence and ownership of his art form.  Victory Lap is an amazing body of work for a debut album! And I was waiting to see how he would follow it up in his next project.

I’m writing this blog because I want to address something that has been eating away at me for a really long time and I really need to vent it. You may have already seen me slightly touch on the topic in the tribute I made to Nipsey but I will now go into more details on my feelings on the issue.

In America or the Western world as a whole, black and brown people are- in the most part- in the minority. For a range of reasons colonialism, slavery, immigration, war; a complete range.  As a result hip hop and overall urban culture has lead to the  creation of an industry for those ethnicities to thrive and be great.

So why do so many of them die in their home city?? I said it in my tribute on Instagram before- “The crabs in a barrel mentality.”

When I was in school.  I would play football with friends and sometimes in teams for actual competitions I found myself having this mentality- not proud of it! Whenever my teammate would run past two players and score or when someone was getting more attention from the crowd that I was getting, I would try to do more to impress or take attention from the teammate of mine in question and be the sole figurehead myself. But as I went to uni I realised this was a massive waste of time and had to graduate from this because it was hindering me, whether that be for the Uni team or just with friends. Instead I tried to become more of an assister to make others look good.

I’ve even had conversations with people, that I thought were my ” friends”, but all they would do is try to bring me down for my endeavours with this brand.

My point essentially is that the crabs in a barrel mentality is real and that everyone could go through at one point in time-especially if you feel like things are going shit in your own life. I am not exempt to it, it has happened  to me too. But that thought pattern needs to be arrested and halted in its tracks.  Because it is extremely ugly and can lead you down a very dark path.

When one crab is trying to climb out of the barrel as a community we need to help them to  fully climb out,  not pull them back down, because this helps nobody. Help them climb out because when they do, they will come back to not pull the other crabs out, but instead to destroy the barrel completely,  so no else can ever possibly get stuck.

That is what Nipsey along with Depzman, Young Greatness, Doe b, Chinx Drugz and Lil Snupe were trying to do.

I hope this will be the last time we hear of this happening.  Simply because black and brown people are already in the minority as it is, actions such as killing these young successful individuals does not help or assist the culture in any way shape or form.