Death in Rap Culture

Death in Rap Culture: Rappers’ deaths are very well-known in today’s society and tend to spread like wildfire on social media. 

The average person spends over 960 hours listening to music yearly, according to headphonesaddict.com titled “100+ Music Statistics in 2023.” As a result, many genres of music are  found circulating throughout teens’ heads, whether they’re catchy lyrics or a song blaring through headphones. Undeniably, music is a big part of individuals’ lives, so the passing of artists is bound to affect us. 

 Since 2018, one rapper has died yearly due to gun violence, according to NBCnews.com. However, 2022 was different: 12 rappers passed due to firearm-related violence.  In today’s society–as well as in the rap community–gun violence has posed a big issue;  newspaper headlines are filled with obituaries of late rappers killed due to gun violence.

The abundant amount of gun violence that goes on in big cities is starting to get more and more attention. Gunshot fatality cases like Tupac and Biggie Smalls that happened in the 1990s are still discussed today. Rapper Ice-T posted a tweet in early 2022 stating that if anyone was coming to the Super Bowl, they needed to play it safe due to LA’s some 50 thousand active gang members. On November 1, 2022 Takeoff–a member of the hip-hop group Migos–was shot and killed outside of a Houston bowling alley. At just 28 years old, his life was taken over by an altercation breaking out during a game of dice. Offset, Takeoff’s cousin and group member, was recalled as hysterical after finding out, according to his wife Cardi B. 

While not all rappers’ deaths are related to gun violence, it poses to be a significant issue in the community and is only getting worse. The major cities that artists reside in are becoming more and more dangerous with the spread of drugs and gangs. Whether or not the death of artists affects you, individuals should feel for the increasing amount of brutality not only in the nation; but the rap community.