I grew up on the south side of Chicago hearing guys say “I swear on Larry” or “on GD” or guys say “on David” or “on BD” as if swearing by your gang puts more belief in what you are saying. The hip hop community watched the beef play out between Lil JoJo a GD and Chief Keef a BD which ended with Lil JoJo being murdered. I wondered if Larry Hoover could speak to the youth right now what would he say? Is he proud that they are still screaming on GD or on his name? They are still tattooing six point stars on their body, changing their Facebook names to Lil G BDK nation, posting pictures throwing up the forks. Can we as the black community blame Larry Hoover for what is still going on in Chicago? He may have created this monster but our crabs in a barrel syndrome has led to our youth believing that gang banging, shooting pistols and doing drugs is the norm. I don’t blame Larry for the everyday violence in Chicago. I blame us because it takes a village to raise a child. In Chicago the streets are raising our kids or rather perpetuating their self destruction. I wonder how does Larry Hoover sleep at night. Is it like a baby without a care in the world or does he toss and turn at night haunted by nightmares that show him the vision of how what he created has snowballed into the destruction of so many families and so many lives. If I could I would ask him every thing that I said in my spoken word letter. I think his answer would be “it’s not my fault. I’m not out there. What are you doing out there to help them see the error of their ways?” Watching another teen murdered as the top story on the news my only answer to his question would be : “obviously not enough.”