31 Comments - Oswego Willy - Monday, Aug 3, 15 @ 4:27 pm: Art in any medium; music, dance, paint, books, movies… The value of an open society is how much that society is willing to pay for expression, and how much art is willing to compromise to add to society as a whole. In many ways, it’s like those saying, singing, dancing, writing or acting a way and society rejects the art. People are free to express themselves, but be ready for a reaction from society that may not be at all favorable. - A guy - Monday, Aug 3, 15 @ 4:27 pm: Certainly not the most scholarly thing I’ve ever heard… - sal-says - Monday, Aug 3, 15 @ 4:27 pm: Oh, please. Back then, that was a time when we didn’t weren’t inundated with daily street handgun violence and daily killing deaths. And, I don’t think that the ‘man’ in the song was an innocent kid 6 or 14 years old. Do today’s ’songs’ that glorify violence make it worse? Don’t know, but guessing it doesn’t help or reduce it. - The Muse - Monday, Aug 3, 15 @ 4:28 pm: Yeah, but have you ever met the people from Reno? - Formerly Known As... - Monday, Aug 3, 15 @ 4:31 pm: Mr Rhodes writes well, but Father Pfleger was right. - 47th Ward - Monday, Aug 3, 15 @ 4:33 pm: I was somewhat amused that the reason he chose the “hologram” concert idea was because there is a warrant out for his arrest if he returns to Illinois. Failure to pay child support iirc. It’d be nice if the news reports mentioned that angle more prominently. The dude is an alleged dead beat dad too, which is a better reason to chastise him. In fact, he should be forced to play a concert so the proceeds can go to his child(ren). - Rich Miller - Monday, Aug 3, 15 @ 4:33 pm: ===Back then, that was a time when we didn’t weren’t inundated with daily street handgun violence=== 1955 homicide rate (per 100,000) 4.1 2013 homicide rate (per 100,000) 4.5 http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0873729.html - Anonymous - Monday, Aug 3, 15 @ 4:38 pm: Also, which songs from today refer to shooting an innocent 6 to 14 year old? - 47th Ward - Monday, Aug 3, 15 @ 4:40 pm: People like Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese have done so much more to “glorify” violence than a nobody like Chief Keef. Let’s try to keep this in perspective. We shower one group of artists with awards and accolades, ignoring the body counts of their films and the damage it does by desensitizing its audience to violence. Chief Keef is a piker next to those guys. - Wordslinger - Monday, Aug 3, 15 @ 4:47 pm: JC shot a man in Reno just to watch him die in 1957, he took a shot of cocaine and shot his woman down in 1968. Shades of Richard J. with Emanuel deciding when he can suspend the First Amendment and decree who can perform in the city based on content. What happened to that humble little fellow in the Mr. Rogers sweater we saw on the TV right before the runoff? I guess Emanuel isn’t tuned into the lyrics of Young Thug, who played Lolla last Friday night. If Chief Keef is banned in Chicago, Young Thug must be upset he wasn’t honored the same way. I mean, there couldn’t be a reason why Emanuel would stick his nose into one show, but give Lolla a pass, is there? - mcb - Monday, Aug 3, 15 @ 4:50 pm: Thank you Rich. Might add that according to that page, 1955 was a lull for homicides. It was 4.5 before and after that, on a climb to a peak of 10.2 in 1980, and then steadily declining since then. I’m not much of a Michael Moore fan, but he makes a good point in Bowling for Columbine, crime is going down while news reports of crime go up. For those who remember the 50’s as a much safer, less violent time, we have virtually the same homicide rate today. - Anonymous - Monday, Aug 3, 15 @ 4:54 pm: Before I comment further, I’ll need to look up this Chef Keef to find out who he is - Wensicia - Monday, Aug 3, 15 @ 4:54 pm: I wonder about the react to the Beatles’ “Happiness Is a Warm Gun” if released today? Would they ban McCartney from Lollapalooza? - walker - Monday, Aug 3, 15 @ 5:02 pm: If I ever heard that someone wanted to ban him, must have gone in one ear and out the other. - 47th Ward - Monday, Aug 3, 15 @ 5:06 pm: Ironically, the Mayor of Hammond is helping to make Cozart a folk hero among the rap audience. He’s now been banned in Cicero, Hammond and Harvey. He’s on Chicago’s “do not attend” list. For a young rapper, that’s about the best free publicity you can get. Keef must be laughing all the way to the bank (because he sure isn’t using any of his money to pay child support). - Wordslinger - Monday, Aug 3, 15 @ 5:12 pm: 47, it’s a brilliant p.r. strategy for a rapper. Maybe Ari Emanuel is going to sign him and cooked it up. - Jake From Elwood - Monday, Aug 3, 15 @ 5:17 pm: Sounds like the uproar with Ice-T and Body Count and the “Cop Killer” song. Nowadays, Ice-T appears on Jimmy Fallon as a huggable celebrity with a talk show. Everything is relative and Nothing’s Shocking. - Keyser Soze - Monday, Aug 3, 15 @ 5:19 pm: Does display of the hologram equate to shouting fire in a crowded theater, thus allowing its censorship as a matter of public safety (i.e., as an excuse for violating the First Amendment)? Music about gun play is nothing new. Two of my favorite oldies are “El Paso” by Marty Robbins and the “Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” by Gene Pitney, both shoot-em-ups from the early 1960’s. Censoring the Chief could actually be counter productive. “Louie, Louie” by the Kingsmen gained in popularity in the mid-sixties as soon as public officials started to ban it from the radio. It might be altogether more effective to publicly poke fun at the Chief for being such a creepy lowlife. That is, unless his audience also aspire to be creepy lowlifes. - Wordslinger - Monday, Aug 3, 15 @ 5:34 pm: Word on the street is that Chicago Shakespeare Theater is considering putting on “Hamlet.” Talk about a blood bath! Wait til the mayor hears. And don’t even think about bringing that freaky-deaky “Oedipus Rex” to town. That dude was no role model. - Anon - Monday, Aug 3, 15 @ 5:34 pm: It’s tough to accept that. Two innocent civilians were gunned down in a missed shooting targeting a now deceased rapper whose every song was dissing or calling out specific individuals or gangs. I think there’s a difference. - Under Further Review - Monday, Aug 3, 15 @ 5:39 pm: Johnny Cash sang “The Folsom Prison Blues,” but when listened to in its entirety it was clear that the fictitious criminal in the song was doing hard time. - a drop in - Monday, Aug 3, 15 @ 5:45 pm: I think the only appropriate response from Chief Keef would be to post a picture of Rahm in women’s underwear. - Wordslinger - Monday, Aug 3, 15 @ 5:46 pm: UFR, thanks for clearing that up. - Amalia - Monday, Aug 3, 15 @ 5:53 pm: how’s that staff member of the Chief Keef crowd doing from the shooting? How do the people of Northbrook/or is it Northfield feel about the shooting on their streets courtesy of the Chief Keef house and his crowd up there? what is Chief Keef’s case status? you know, his guns and whatever else nonsense he was into case? IRL. this is not about his music and violent imagery. this is about him. and his thug life. in the for realz. - Filmmaker Professor - Monday, Aug 3, 15 @ 6:11 pm: Jon Stewart played the same Johnny Cash card on Bill O’Reilly about five years ago when the Fox nuts started going crazy because some rapper was visiting the White House. - CardinalsNation - Monday, Aug 3, 15 @ 6:42 pm: Bruce Cockburn wanted to shoot someone with a rocket launcher, Eric Clapton shot the sheriff, Guns ‘N Roses told someone they were going to die, The Dead Kennedys killed children, Ozzy Osborne advocated suicide ( even though he said he didn’t ). I don’t like advocacy of violence or even many other things, but the allowance of free speech says that if i want my sometimes not so popular voice allowed, I must allow others. - Michael Westen - Monday, Aug 3, 15 @ 7:11 pm: Ok how about we just ban all those artists who glorify violence who are also on the lam and are also deadbeat dads. - ArchPundit - Monday, Aug 3, 15 @ 10:01 pm: Crime was always lower in the past. Kind of like when that 20 year old black kid was labeled as the criminal of the century in the 1930s and people wondered what was happening to the world. It’s always worse now than before even when it isn’t. - Rich Miller - Monday, Aug 3, 15 @ 10:44 pm: ===Sounds like the uproar with Ice-T and Body Count and the “Cop Killer” song.=== Yeah, but that was a lot more national. I met Ice T at the Kentucky Derby. We kept seeing this woman who looked like an adult movie star. Couldn’t figure out who the heck she was. Finally, the person I was with realized what was going on. It was Cocoa. “See?” she said after I came back inside after taking a pic of a very old Cyndi Lauper (and being chided for being way too close to take her picture) “That’s Cocoa in this photo I just took. And Ice T is standing right behind her.” Wait, I said. Ice T is here? Right now? He was all smiles and super friendly and collegial and even seemed grateful for my gushing comments about Body Count. Then we posed for a photo together and he went all gangsta for the pic. I was still smiling like a goof. It’s on my FB page somewhere. Turns out my friend’s uncle is Ice T’s neighbor in Los Angeles. I’ve had a hard time forgiving her for not bringing that fact up when we met him. Go back and listen to that stuff now. They made Metallica sound like bubble gum pop. They were the real deal. - CrazyHorse - Monday, Aug 3, 15 @ 10:55 pm: ==1955 homicide rate (per 100,000) 4.1 2013 homicide rate (per 100,000) 4.5== Very true Rich. It’s the media coverage that has grown rather than the actual numbers. I mentioned this to a friend of mine a while back saying that when we grew up in the 1980’s there were actually more murders but the reporting on most was non-existent. The awareness level has gone way up. - Anonymous Redux - Tuesday, Aug 4, 15 @ 8:55 am: Humans create Art in their image. Our Culture creates images/messages. Our culture is a culture born of glorified images of violence…Rockets red glare…Bombs bursting in air…Right now!…bombs are bursting somewhere. Art imitates/depicts human behavior. Humans are always potentially violent in a variety of circumstances…some are natural responses to danger…others are learned behavior. Violent cultures make for violent Art. The artist is simply the reporter on the bloody scene. Ghetto scenes are particularly relevant as their reports seem to be lost in Mass Media. The human voice/cry will always be expressed through song. Can’t stop The Music!…can’t blame the Artist/Musician. Blame the violence on violent Humans. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.