Hulu has released a series, Tone Death: Loss & Hip-Hop recanting the recent slew of murders in hip hop.
I remember the pain I felt when my mom woke me up to tell me Biggie Smalls had passed away. I was 17-years old and felt like my world came crashing down. Hip hop raised me. I deemed the Notorious B.I.G. the greatest by my standards. He was capable of steering the hip hop community with his flow, style and presence. I rode the train for hours that day with Gimme The Loot and Everyday Struggle blasting through my headphones. This monumental tragedy in hip hop forever changed how I judged hip hop, and I was never the same again.
Fast forward to today and not much has changed. It seems like rappers are still being murdered at a rapid rate.
In the new Hulu series, the mothers of slain rappers and rapper G Herbo talk about grief, trauma and why gun violence deaths are so prevalent in the rap community.
Since Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G.’s death, more than 90 rappers have been murdered. Rapper Pop Smoke’s mother revealed she’s never been angry at the teens who took her son’s life.
“I was never angry at the 14-year old or the 17 and 16-year old , I was never angry at them….I don’t hate them. I can’t hate that little boy. Because his mom didn’t raise him to go kill Pop Smoke. She was probably a mother having issues trying to raise a 14 year old boy.”
Watch the clip below.
