West Coast hip-hop legends Earlington Stevens, known as E-40, and Todd Shaw, known as Too $hort, are calling for an end to hip-hop violence. In a joint text that is about “The Atlantic” on Tuesday (November 15), they drew attention to the increased murders of rappers. Both rappers currently form the group Mount Westmore with Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube and plan to release their debut album on December 9th on the usual streaming providers.
“Jazz musicians were not routinely murdered in the streets at the height of their careers. Neither were rock stars. We just want the same reality for our young superstars”, the two artists wish and therefore wrote their text. After the death of XXXTentacion in 2018, at least one well-known or even very prominent rapper was murdered in the USA every year – most recently it was Takeoff from the Migos.
E-40 and Too Short see a problem with increased violence on platforms like Instagram. “Rappers try too hard to show off online, which hurts their safety. These guys are making money faster than we ever did. We were in a strip club where a rapper was sitting with walls of money – really walls: each pile was three feet high. How can you spend that much money in one night? We have no idea,” they write in the text.
The two do not see the problem in money per se: “We love it when people earn a lot of money. But with success comes jealousy and anger. Social media reinforces these feelings.” According to them, Instagram fuels disputes among themselves, because “a dispute can start because of a harmless Instagram like.” People liked, then the other one is mad at you because they think you would take sides.
“Rap has become a pretty dangerous profession compared to when we started. We need an intervention,” say Stevens and Shaw. They are therefore calling for more talk again and for the industry to change. “Artists need to be more careful and strategic. Labels and music managers need to invest more in education to protect the artists they work with. Managers need to hire skilled security teams that can efficiently defuse tense situations. Rappers need to limit their social media activity and be more vigilant when away from home.”