The Sean Bell Tribute Effect

By now I'm sure mostly everyone that follows Hip-Hop has heard their favorite artist shout out Sean Bell; The young man that was mercillessly gunned down in New York City in a hail of un-warranted gunfire. 50 shots were sent toward the new bridegroom and his two friends,none of whom had a weapon. Needless to say Bell was murdered by neglectful and racist police officers, but the New York District Attorney didn't seem to see it that way and acquitted all three of the Queen's officers of any wrong doing. What was left in the aftermath of this heinous miscarriage of justice was a community and a family in tremendous pain and shock.

There have been some small steps taken in the wake of that verdict. The Reverend Al Sharpton among others led a protest in Queens, many people voiced their outrage via the internet and radio talk shows, people in high places have expressed their displeasure. Even Hip-Hop has gotten involved. Countless rappers from far and wide have taken it upon themselves to shout out Bell's name on their tracks. Some have even dedicated verses and songs to Bell's memory. Everyone from The Lox, Papoose Game and 50 Cent have shouted out Bell's name in a record, but is what they're doing actually helping? Is everyone's heart in the right place, and is everyone yelling this young man's name out of genuine concern?

I don't have a problem with any artist that takes time to speak on this atrocity from the heart and in the appropriate manner. What I do have a problem with is rappers, who are as ignorant as the day is long, using this kid's memory and his untimely passing as a means to seem "political" or "socially aware". Face it, shouting out Sean Bell in your intro and then going on to drop verses about and promoting shooting people your damn self is as ironic and hypocritical as it gets. Violent lyrics and hip-hop have become too much of the accepted norm as it is, now it seems like they've become so routine that rappers aren't even connecting the dots when it comes to when it's the right time to employ them. Rappers are really beggining to miss the point. When you try and memorialize someone for wrongly and cruely being killed, and then continue to profit directly off of glorifying the same type of disconnected "gun busting" mentality your officially on the same level as those policemen. Most of the rappers who are shouting Bell's name asking for a change need to stop and look in the mirror. What will saying his name on a record really do if within the next 4 bars you spew the same hatred and the same backwards mode of conduct that possessed those cops? You know there was a reason that Martin Luther King was non-violent in both his actions and his words; it was because he knew that hatred never gets you anywhere, it only distracts you from your goals and leaves you short of breath. If you want to change things you must resist the urge to become what you are fighting against. So calling on the streets to take up arms or making a silly video where you perpetrate violent acts against police officers will in all likelyhood get you nowhere. I'm glad that some rappers are truly speaking on the matter out of genuine concern and empathy, truly I am, those brothers are the best it gets and I'm very proud to say that they are artist's within the culture and genre that I support. But for every guy that only hollers Bell's name out because it's what everyone else is doing or because he knows it might make him seem more "down", shame on you. Please just stop fooling yaself, cause' you ain't foolin' us. The real heads can see who's done their homework and who's just jumping on the bandwagon. And while I believe most of the artist's who have given Bell a shout on a record did it out of genuine love and were doing the same thing when the NYPD did Diallo the same way, I also know there's a handful of guys that are doing it solely for their own gain. To them I say fuck you! Your low, your confused and you need to chill. Someone lost their life in this, and someone's parent's lost a son. There's no excuse for trying to gain from someone's mortal loss, none.

In closing I just want to say that I think what happened to Sean Bell was awful. The worst of the worst actually. A young person violently ripped away from so many that loved him and expected to see him the next day, only to be notified that their worst nightmare had occurred. I truly feel for that man's family and his child. A child that will have to face this unforgiving world minus one good father, that should have been and would have been there. Unfortunately brutality like this has become all too common in our society and has reached pandemic levels. I don't know if there is an answer, it seems like the more we cry for justice the more we go unheard. Maybe the answer is in legislation, maybe it's in judicial reform, maybe it's in activism...until we know I think it's important for us to all get out there and follow any of those paths til' we do find a resolution. Maybe we will have closure on this, maybe not, one thing is certain though, Bell's family will not. There is now an unfillabe hole in all those that were close to him and that is why we can't keep letting this happen.

R.I.P. Sean Bell


-BIG D O