These are our heroes?

Mad(e) Men

"I never prayed to God I prayed to Gotti"

-  Jay-Z, “D’Evils”

Rick Ross has recently stirred up some beef.  No, not with another rapper but ironically with the family of a real life gangster that he chose to make reference to.  Carmine Gotti, the grandson of crime boss John Gotti, lambasted Rick Ross for naming his album "Teflon Don", his granddaddy’s nickname.  Carmine felt that Gotti earned the moniker through actual crime and Rick Ross didn't have the resume to live up to that name. 

This is the first time in my memory that actual gangsters and their hip-hop counterparts clashed.  For years, rappers have paid tribute to crime bosses to seemingly add credibility to their music.   The mutual acceptance of these “shout-outs” always seemed expected.  But if you really think about it, the admiration probably isn’t very mutual.  Most of these “famous” gangsters would quicker call these rappers niggers than friends.

So how can you idolize someone who probably doesn’t respect you?

For example, Ross named his recent mixtape, "The Albert Anastasia EP", after a gangster from New York during the 1950's and Queens rapper Capone, literally took his name from Al Capone - an organized crime boss in 1920’s Chicago.  I didn't know the men, but I highly doubt civil rights were a priority and that they supported diversity in their organizations.  Adopting an image based on a man that wouldn’t see you for more than an errand boy is as surprising as it is sad.  Is the Hip-Hop community so scarce with role models that it’s relegated to worshiping possible racists?

Pablo Escobar and Manuel Noriega - guys who's names have been mentioned so much that they should get royalty checks - might not be racists, but I highly doubt they would invite Nas or Young Jeezy to dinner.  Even when you think about classic "gangster flicks" like Goodfellas and The Godfather, blacks were always portrayed as ignorant ghetto thugs who are inferior in all ways, including crime.  We can pretend that rappers are just making a harmless analogy, but you wouldn't see a Jewish artist publically paying homage to anyone with ties to Nazi Germany or anti-semitism.

This phenomenon speaks to a visible void in the black community when it comes to identity. In the midst of fatherless homes and neighborhoods riddled with negative images, young black males are desperately looking for something to hold onto.  There are examples of rappers paying tribute to black gangsters; Jay-Z based an entire album on Frank Lucas and Rick Ross' own name is an actual Los Angeles drug lord.  But even if rappers make a pact to reference only minority or equal opportunity gangsters, that only fixes one of the problems.  It needs to be asked why gangsters need to be glorified in the first place? People need to have more respect for their own and idolize their real heroes.

"... Martin and Malcolm, this is bigger than the album."

- Jay-Z, “Best of Both Worlds”

Yes Jay, it is more significant than that.