The Death of the Dope Boy (Say It Ain't So Clifford!)

[Mumbo Sauce]

Note: The following comments do not condone criminal lifestyle or behavior, they are only used to explain and provide the logic by which street individuals live by.
If you don't know the difference between snitching and being a responsible citizen then read below for some insight.
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In a slap in the face to all dope boys and street dudes who grew up on the music of TI, rapper T.I.P. records a commercial for the police encouraging calling into an anonymous hotline to apprehend criminals.

Implied Meaning

The law is verrry smart on this one. TIP has BEEN known as the "Poster child for the Dopeboy Movement" for 10 years. To have the poster child stand up on television and promote the anonymous tip line, he is actually condoning 'snitching' for street individuals. This does not apply to people who don't live and die by morals, ethics, and codes set forth by street individuals.

Why Snitching Originally was a No-No

Snitching, informants, and conquer and divide has long been an effective tactic to break up grassroots organizations within urban communities, largely black and brown. By planting an informant, the law was able to gain valuable information on these movements and ultimately dismantle them.
The majority of major street organizations today originally started as spin-offs to these grassroots movements and became criminal enterprises during the introduction of crack cocaine to the communities that they inhabit.



Analogy

This is like Home Run King Hank Aaron filming a commercial with current Home Run King Barry Bonds, on the benefits of sports supplements and physical enhancement drugs. Why wouldn't Hank Aaron do it?
Because he knows Bonds cheated and drug/steriod usage is against everything he ever stood for.
For an individual that has earned his record company tens of millions of dollars embodying and gloriying the drug dealer lifestyle, this is definitely reaching a new low. Please understand, If it wasn't for T.I., people in New York would think a TRAP is something to catch mice in, seriously. He was one of the first rappers from Atlanta to bring the world to the trap.
Some readers may say "He's doing this as terms of his community service" but anyone who has served community service will tell you that you have options in which you serve your time.

This is NOT referring to people working 9-5, college kids, and old ladies witnessing a crime and calling the police. The law is set up for those individuals. These are called citizens, and they have the right to protect their neighborhood. For a person who abides by street codes, the reality is different.

Once upon a time, when honor amongst theives actually had a meaning of some sort, street dudes would police themselves. If a criminal attacked you or someone in your immediate circle, it would not be handled by the police because YOU wanted to exact revenge on that individual.

If you were involved in illegal activity and the police apprehended you and you volunteered information on a fellow criminal to lessen the blow of your own sentence, you were labeled as a snitch or a rat, which is the lowest form of street individual.

This is about a dude whose music was the soundtrack to the lifestyle of the dope dealer turning around and doing a complete opposite to lessen his time. T.I. openly bragged about being a '7-time felon' and if he still didnt make it rappin, he's got cocaine to fall-back on, and now its all about the CrimeStoppers.

New York rapper Mysonne breaks the situation down with clarity. Being an individual who served 7 years for a crime, I'm glad he made the distinction between citizens and people who profit off the streets.


The reality is that our rap heros are starting to be exposed for something other than what they claim to be and we continue to support them because they are talented and millions of dollars are spent on marketing these characters they portray. The problem exists because people are DYING behind Dope Boyz in the Trap, Just Doin My Job, Rubberband Man, and many other songs that T.I. put out and now can turn a new leaf because of "the terms of his case".

For the teenager sentenced to juvenile hall or the young adult locked in a cycle Prison and Parole and back to prison for weapons possession, the choice to walk away isn't that simple.

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