I do understand that you can’t based other people lives on your own. Everybody has their own time to go, regardless of the circumstances. Nonetheless, I can’t help but to feel connected to some of these individuals. These artists were the soundtrack of my generation and spoke about the things I did. I was influence by a lot of their songs and applied it to my everyday life. Even though they weren’t that much older than me, I look at them as an example of what to do and not to do.
Does following the lead of these artists and overindulging in the vices of my era, lead to a premature demise? Or is the death of these artists in their 40’s isolated to entertainment? The obvious answer to the first question is yes. Overindulging in bad habits such as drinking, smoking partying and neglecting rest is a quick way to your demise or a rough latter part of your life. Like Greg Nice said, “too much of anything makes you an addict” Greg also talked about stress being a contributing factor to death. The daily grind of trying to maintain yourself, your children, a job and spouse can be stressful. Not to mention, some of us are under realization that our life is not what we planned it to be, which can be stressful. One day you look in the mirror and you don’t see the person you thought you was. You have a children by somebody you don’t like. You have a job that you hate and you not able to provide the type of lifestyle for your family that you envisioned. This is a reality that a lot of people encountered as they get older. Some of us deal with that reality and move forward; while some people dive deeper into things that they feel help them escape it. This may be magnified if you are an artist in the entertainment business. Professor Griff said in his interview he doesn’t want to attribute rappers dying in their 40’s to the “quote, unquote entertainment lifestyle.” Instead he said a lot of it has to do what you put in your body in general, not just the physical, but “the mental and physical.” I’m guessing this includes the stress of not selling records the way you used too. Also getting older in a industry that doesn’t embrace or promote maturity as equally as it does youth. This mental stress could be amplified a little more than the average person, because you are in the public eye. Which may lead to some of these artists to indulge in bad habits and an unhealthy lifestyle.
The bottom line is I want “us” meaning our heroes and the people they inspire to remain fly. I want us in the Hip Hop community to embrace and support getting older. Hip Hop was built on youth and the energetic spirit of originality. We fully haven’t comprehend how to utilize the wisdom that comes with experience. We fully haven’t showcased the flyness of our elders. One of the purposes of Blacktruth.net is to show a mixture of old and new. I want to blur the line that exists between our youth and elders. In writing this, I realized we have to more accountable for the positions we hold in life. Going into our 40’s, 50’s and beyond we have to accept who we are and continue to be better. In doing so, maybe we can be example of how our youth is supposed to be when they reach our age. And maybe they will respect it, accept it and praise it. Hopefully this will encourage us to live longer for them and in turn them living longer for the next generation. I didn’t want to get ‘preachy,’ but I want to see the best for us individually, collectively and as a community. What do you think about this subject? I’m interested in knowing, leave your questions, comments below.
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