Some rappers are clearly not as "hard" as they claim to be. Ice Cube almost became an architectural draftsman. Rick Ross used to be a corrections officer.
That's not to say there's anything wrong with embarking on a rap career if you didn't grow up in a gang. If anything, that's a positive. But when a Canadian child actor like Drake raps about keeping a knife on him at all times, it's hard to really get behind him lyrically.
It seems up-and-coming Pompano Beach rapper Kodak Black, however, really is writing about his real life: Last week, he was arrested for the second time this year.
According to an arrest report obtained from the Broward Sheriff's Office, Black had been out on bond after he was arrested in 2015 for robbery, false imprisonment, marijuana possession, and driving without a license. But after Black decided to take police on a high-speed chase last month, the state revoked Black's bond. He was arrested last Wednesday and is being held in the county's main jail. #FreeKodak.
Black, who is 18 and legally known as Dieuson Octave, has lit the internet on fire in the last year. His biggest hit, the flakka-referencing "No Flockin'," has been viewed on YouTube more than 18 million times. Drake has filmed himself dancing to Black's music. The New Yorker, bastion of all things hip-hop, even included Black in a retrospective of "young" artists last April. The magazine basically called him a mirror-world version of Kanye West, in that Black seems wholly unconcerned with lyrical dexterity or even the basic concept of "melody":
Eighteen-year-old Dieuson Octave, who raps as Kodak Black, expresses teen skepticism even more bluntly. On his song “Skrt,” he raps, “Fuck my school and fuck my teacher, too.” Certainly rock stars and rappers have said this before, but Octave’s manifestly youthful voice makes it especially effective. “Skrt” lurches along to a minimalist, bottom-heavy beat, and Octave is sparse and repetitive with his phrasing. He spends the bulk of an eight-count chorus chanting the word “skrt”—a fashionable rap ad-lib that mimics the sound made by a screeching tire. It’s a primal declaration of forward momentum. With this hook, Octave joins other young rappers who have rejected an old-school emphasis on lyrical variety, individualism, and personal catharsis. (Remember how he feels about school?) These are the devices that helped turn Kanye West and Eminem into stars; Octave and peers like Silentó and Desiigner have been castigated by some music fans for falling short of the genre’s traditional marks. But these artists seem steadfastly uninterested in their elders’ idea of rap. Even within hip-hop, one of the most defiant musical movements of our time, teens are finding rules to break.
But Black also can't keep himself out of trouble. In October 2015, he was arrested for robbery and false imprisonment.
Six months later, the New Yorker's name-drop should have been a PR highlight. Instead, Black was arrested again the same week the story went live. On April 21, Hallandale Beach Police say they observed Black and a friend named Wisdom Williams buy a bag of marijuana from their car. After police approached, they say Black zipped away at 60 mph (in a 30 mph zone) only to be ultimately arrested in Hollywood. The cops also said Black chucked a Glock pistol into a dumpster along the way.
Though Black was released that time, the car chase apparently caused a judge to revoke his bond from the October 2015 case. Barring any unforeseen changes, he'll sit in jail until the initial robbery case wraps up. So yeah, bad week for Broward County hip-hop.
With Black out of commission, all we can do is wait for Sandman Da Black Ghost's "Fort Flakka-Dale 2."
Meanwhile, Kodak would apparently love some fan letters.
Send ya letters to Dieuson Octave #381600836
— Kodak Black (@KodakBlack1k) May 24, 2016
Main jail P.O. BOX9356
Ft.LAUDERDALE, FL 33310
