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After previews of the segment last week, The Rap Up shares video of Anderson Cooper's chat with Cam'ron on 60 Minutes to discuss the "no snitching" rule prevalent in the rap community. Tupac, Notorious B.I.G. and Jam Master Jay are all examples of murders that have gone unsolved. More recently, Busta Rhymes bodyguard, Israel Ramirez, was shot and killed at a video shoot; out of the 25 people believed to be present during the crime - no one has come forward.
Even Cam'ron himself was shot twice, and won't say who did it. When Anderson asks him if there's ever a time when it's appropriate to talk to the police, Cam'ron says, "Sure. Say 'Hello, How ya feelin'?'" That's it, because there's a strict "no snitching" rule that's become a cultural norm in some communities, which leads to worries that criminals can wield more power. Take a look:
Part two can be seen here, and touches more upon the kids who look up to and listen to every word these rappers say. The kids, from a church-based organization, agree with Cam'ron - saying it's a crime to snitch. In the end everyone seems to agree that in the music world, there are "huge corporate profits" resulting from all of this. Makes one seriously doubt that Russell Simmons will be able to take offensive words out of hip hop lyrics.
And AllHipHop has "written '21 Questions' and situations in order to test the strength of the Harlemite's 'No snitching' policy."
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I have no respect for the "new school" major-label hip hop community. It's one of the most fucked-up side-effects of American capitalism and democracy one could imagine. Busta, 50 cent, Cam'ron are evil, greedy Uncle Toms and EVERYONE that considers themselves a fan of this garbage are pathetic, pitiful idiots.
meh, sounds like a process much like natural selection. if this sub-cultural phenomenon helps to weed out the more stupid people in our species, then so be it. there maybe even should be a special version of the darwin awards for retarded sociopathic assholes in the hip-hop "community".
this is a huge problem with the black community. it's a self-perputating cycle that they have fostered. They allow themselves to live in a climate of fear in return for a false sense of dignity that they feel by not ratting out people for drugs and violent crimes. It's really slitting your nose to spite your face.
They (the black community) by their own hands keep themselves down by letting the vocal minority keep in place the silent majority. it's sad to me to watch knowing that they are truly the only ones that can help themselves get out of this.
obviously i made the argument generic; there are more factors involved such as mistrust of police, access to jobs, etc. i am sure some will call me racist but i'm not. i am active in my community in bushwick to help clean it up and make it safer for the families that are trying to quietly carve out their own niche.
We have got to stop romanticizing the criminal subculture. From the Mafia to the motorcycle gangs.
It's not abour race, there's some crazy stuff in those kooky motocycle gangs, too. you should see how they treat their women.
Last time I looked the NYPD has it's blue wall of silence and I've yet to see any Republicans rat out their kind either. Hmmm, maybe this isn't a black problem, but an American one?
I just want to kick that little crosseyed punk in the second piece directly in the head. His ignorance annoys me almost as much as his lispy voice.
true Bucky, but at least the politicians have a clear motive for their deception. It's more like a game to them.
These black kids are perpetuating the slaughter of each other.
Excellent point Bucky Turco. Its the same thing with a different face.
The reason this situation exists nowadays is because of the absolutely horrible history of racism and non-responsiveness of white cops in the hood. I say that even coming from a family that's chock full of law enforcement and being a person that generally sides with the cops on most issues.
I just can't deny what has gone down in these neighborhoods in the past. Once a population loses faith in the law of the land, its nigh impossible to get it back and the masturbatory tendencies we have towards violence and misogyny..not only in rap music, but in media overall..makes the situation 100 times worse.
joey, be careful of making myopic statements. not all of "us" are undereducated jackasses like cam'ron and his ilk. poverty + undereducation beget violence, and violence begets silence. if something like this "stop snitching" bs gains enough momentum, there's no point in blaming Whitey for wiping out black america, it'll do it just fine on its own.
"this is a huge problem with the black community. it's a self-perputating cycle that they have fostered. They allow themselves to live in a climate of fear in return for a false sense of dignity that they feel by not ratting out people for drugs and violent crimes. It's really slitting your nose to spite your face.
They (the black community) by their own hands keep themselves down by letting the vocal minority keep in place the silent majority. it's sad to me to watch knowing that they are truly the only ones that can help themselves get out of this.
obviously i made the argument generic; there are more factors involved such as mistrust of police, access to jobs, etc. i am sure some will call me racist but i'm not. i am active in my community in bushwick to help clean it up and make it safer for the families that are trying to quietly carve out their own niche."
Bucky Turco,
Find me a Republican that wouldn't call the police if they knew a serial killer resided in 4E :)
well, one can only hope like all fads this one will come and go with time - albeit with today's fast online media yeah a fad like this spreads like a crazy virus - but yes hope it gets old sometime, life is cheap in the ghetto already enough as it is, or will stop snitchin's popularity keep the inner city african american community in suspended adolescence forever?
A minority that oppresses itself. How strange. Maybe Cosby was on to something.
PLEASE STOP THE AUTORELOADING! The page reloaded in the middle of me watching the video. Annoying.
Cooper is in love with this dude, it's so obvious.
Not only would the cops not snitch on their own, they'll kill their own mother if they had to. Or, their grandmother, didn't you guys see how these cops treat elderly and female protesters?
As a fan of old-time gangster movies, there's nothing new in all this. Gangsters of the Jimmy Cagney era said the same thing- that people shouldn't snitch to the police. You can see that in movies like Dead End, where there isn't a single black face. Lots of Irish, Italian, and Jewish faces, though.
Minorities often 'oppress' themselves. Quit the racist nonsense. Whenever people feel alienated from society their will be lawless people who try to make up their own self-serving legal system.
As for whether Republicans would snitch- maybe some of them would snitch on a serial killer. But quite a few didn't snitch on a guy who shot one of his best friends in the face, and lots more didn't snitch on people who killed old people by taking their pensions and leaving them in poverty. And in the past, there have been plenty of Democrats who kept mum when crimes were being committed by people in their own party.
Serial killers only take one victim at a time in most cases. The greedy and the evil take many at a time, and they are often abetted by the silence of others who are traitors to their nation through their lack of respect for the Constitution, common decency, and fair play. As we all saw in history class when WWII was discussed, treachery is often as much the result of seeing evil and doing nothing while pretending that your own hands are clean, as it is in actively wielding a meat axe against an innocent person's head while claiming to only have been following orders. In the end, both the actively and passively wicked go to Hell.
Everybody snitches- hell, it's a race to see who can snitch first, because the first snitch walks and the rest do time.
I've had guys with not even felony weight snitch out their entire crews.
It's true that people tend to preserve the boundaries of whatever group of people they currently recognize as their community, but remember those kids (in the projects, in queens) the other day, who caught the hamilton heights rapist—they called the police. Why?
By all means, be concerned about the kids; just don't fool yourself that you have any clue what all the kids think. About anything.
Rap no longer has talent, its all gimmicks.
michele- this can't be compared to "old gangster movies". these are CHILDREN who are being taught (actually pressured) to live in a state of lawlessness.
Why is everyone so shocked by "don't snitch"? Like you haven't seen it before?....like during Gonzalez's testimony about the attorney firings. Cam'ron's statement of "Hello, how you feeling?" sums up the entire Gonzalez testimony. Do you really believe that Gonzalez has the memory of a goldfish? It's "don't snitch" at the highest levels of government.
Where are the Al Sharptons and the Rev Jesse Jacksons now ? Hmmmm....
I'm here asswipe.