Chuck D has addressed the ongoing issue of gun violence following the murder of Takeoff in Houston, Texas, earlier this week.
The Public Enemy frontman spoke to TMZ about his generation’s ability to focus its attention on reminding people that the “music and art form is beautiful,” which he suggested those who have come after him have failed to do.
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“This is not normal behavior,” Chuck D said about the gun violence issue that’s plaguing Hip Hop. “The circumstances in the United States of America is just dealing with abnormal situations that people think, through culture, it’s been normalized over the years.”
Chuck further explained his generation and the Hip Hop Alliance — which includes its chairman Kurtis Blow and KRS-One — assists in taking attention away from gun violence and focused on reminding people that the “music and art form is beautiful.”
He also explained Takeoff’s murder is a tragedy and people need to revere the peace, unity and love aspect of the culture if the genre wants to survive. Chuck D blamed the “industry” for absorbing Hip Hop culture and “normalizing” behavior such as gun violence.
“In any other walk of life, it would’ve been addressed far earlier,” he said. “You have people who’ve grown up in this thinking that a Hip Hop death is a normal thing, where it was so odd and unique whether it was from old age or young in the ’80s and ’90s. Now you got a thing where the older people in the art form there’s health issues having people pass away in their 40s and 50s.
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“The younger issues it’s an area of drugs and murder by gunshots. People are not stabbing each other to death and they’re not wrestling and choking each other out. This is gun violence.”
Chuck D’s comments come hours after Takeoff was shot and killed in Houston, Texas, in front of 810 Billiards and Bowling, and police are currently looking for witnesses to assist in the investigation.
According to a police report, at least 40 people were standing outside the venue before the shots went off. Video footage from the incident’s aftermath showed people scattering for safety and leaving the scene.
Another clip shows Quavo engaged in a heated conversation over basketball before a scuffle broke out, leading to the shooting. Over 10 shots were fired, with TMZ speculating they came from more than one weapon.
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At least one of the bullets struck Takeoff “either in the head or near to his head.” When police arrived, he was pronounced dead at the scene, while two other victims were taken to nearby hospitals. Quavo escaped the shooting unharmed after initial reports said he was hit too.
