With the news of recent shootings, Fabolous has cautioned that the rap profession is one of the most perilous in the United States.
After the shooting of Zoey Dollaz in Miami, Florida, the artist shared through an Instagram story on Dec. 10 his thoughts on the well-being of those in the rap industry.
“Respectfully… being a rapper has become the most dangerous job in America,” the post read.
“Black men are surviving the trenches, constant battles in a war zone environment… make something of themselves as artists, become famous, make millions of dollars, change their lifestyle.. and somehow still end up dead or in jail,” he wrote in a second message.
While reportedly Zoey is in stable condition, he is just one of many rappers that have been the target of shootings this year, including Megan Thee Stallion, Boosie and Benny the Butcher, who all recovered. The fate proved differently for emerging artists such as Pop Smoke, King Von, Mo3, Tripple Beanz and BandGang Paid, all of whom did not survive their encounters with gun violence.
Rapper The Game, also has been vocal about preventing more tragedies in the hip-hop community. He tweeted on Dec. 7, “10 rappers shot & killed this year alone & n—-s wanna know my advice for up & coming artists. STAY THE F–K IN THE HOUSE. #F–k2020.”
In a Nov. 20 tweet, he also sent out a cautionary message to aspiring rappers, writing, “Young rap n—-s, stop showing off all ya money on social media… for every dollar you floss it’s a hood n—a out there loading a clip for you….. #iBeenWhereYouAtAndSurvived.”
Additionally, Fat Joe has spoken out about the ever-present danger he said rappers face. In a discussion with Maino for REVOLT’s “The Fat Joe Show,” he said, “We seeing rappers getting murdered every day. We’re seeing rappers go to jail for big shit. This ain’t little shit, Maino, right? How have you managed to stay out the way, like to get caught up with these things?”
Maino mentioned that it wasn’t difficult for burgeoning emcees to fall back into old habits, but that as a collective they needed to do better.
“When you working toward something, you’ve got a purpose,” he said. “You set these goals for yourself, you got somewhere to go with that. The problem is that we losing focus in what is important and what’s not. Like I said before, music was a way out. That’s a door to something different. The opportunities is endless. We don’t have to dodge street n—-s. How? I don’t want to die there. That’s counterproductive.”
Joe expressed a desire to encourage and inspire talented rappers, hoping their testimonies would be a catalyst to steer them in the right direction.
“Boom, I moved on and never looked back,” he said. “I said, ‘Alright, I’ma do it in this rap s–t like you did. I’m gonna do this rap s–t and that’s it.’ It’s gotta go here.”
