Hip hop artist Common says rappers can help curb violence

CHICAGO (AP) — Grammy-award winning hip-hop artist Common, who has openly worried about the violence  in Chicago, was in his hometown Friday to help celebrate the city’s music scene  when he was confronted with a brutal reminder of what he’s been talking a story  about a hail of gunfire that wounded 13 people.

“It makes me think I got to do more; we got to do more,” he said in an  interview with The Associated Press after giving a speech as the keynote speaker  at the Chicago Music Summit, a conference to help local musicians and music  professionals with their careers.

Police say Thursday night’s shooting appears to be gang related. For the  41-year-old Common, that underscores concerns that the edgy rap music of the  generation of rappers that came behind him is not only providing the soundtrack  for gangs, but might just be helping to fuel the fire of gang violence.

“To decide to take someone’s life, I don’t think they let a rap song  determine that,” he said, adding that rap artists simply reflect the violence of  the streets, and don’t cause it. At the same time, he said, fans of young  rappers, whose music provides a window into a violent lifestyle, are “influenced  by that energy and take it the wrong way.”

Common has thought about it enough to once suggest a “peace summit” with  Chief Keef, a younger Chicago rapper whose music includes references to weapons  and who was arrested after pointing a gun at police officers and after a video  showed him firing a semi-automatic rifle at a gun range.

In fact, rap music made its way into Thursday’s shooting. A relative of a  3-year-old boy who was shot in the face said the child’s uncle was an aspiring  rapper who was fatally shot in Chicago this month.

Such a link is not surprising to Grammy-winning rap artist Che “Rhymefest”  Smith. He said he believes that at the very least aspiring rappers who are  living in poor neighborhoods see the display of a violent gang lifestyle as  their route to riches and fame.

“What you get with a lot of young artists is if they gang bang on YouTube, pull guns and threaten someone else, this will give them a million YouTube views or 80,000 Twitter followers overnight,” said Rhymefest, a Chicago resident who once ran for a seat on the City Council. “They see it as a check, a way to get paid and this way out of poverty.”

Common said the key to ending the cycle of violence that rap music has been  linked to for years is more educational programs and other initiatives, and that  rap artists should help those programs in any way they can.

At the same time, Common, who has his own foundation that exposes  disadvantaged young people to the creative arts, said that while he still  believes a “peace summit” would be effective, it is only a first step.

“There has to be a consistent follow through,” he said. “Young people …  some of them may not be in a place where they can say, ‘OK, I’m going to stop  (violent behavior)’” he said. “It may be a process. You have to deal with  that.”