Pill - Trap Goin' Ham (video) | Straight Gangsterism

Pill – Trap Goin’ Ham (video)

June 24th, 2009 › Hip-Hop › Langston ›

Pill “Trap Goin’ Ham”

There seem to be two types of responses to this video…

People (like me) who yearn for grit, grime, realness, and honesty in their music seem to love it. I truly feel that Pill is giving us that in the video. Over the last few years, hip hop has gotten more PC. The bright colors, “interesting” dances, and swag has taken the music in a different direction. The song isn’t much different than a lot of whats out, but the video reminds me of what initially got me into hip hop. I give Pill props for that. This video was unscripted and no actors were used (read). This is about as real as you can get in popular music.

Others were shocked by its graphic depiction of ghetto life. You see the explicit use of crack and marijuana, illegal activity, folks with mental issues, and more. This video is additional fodder for those who criticize hip hop for its portrayal of the African-American “community”. I somewhat understand that argument given how important representation is. The election of Barack Obama has placed African-Americans in a different political and social plane, but at the same time, we still struggle for respect. In many people’s eyes, videos like this and its surrounding culture do harm to our position in the American socio-political landscape.

Here’s a statement about the video from the Educated Villains (who have something to do with Pill):

We hope that this video shocks your conscience. If it does, we have succeeded in our goal. The fact that this video is nearly terrifying in its graphic nature means that it is doing exactly what it is supposed to do – terrify. These conditions that our people live in are terrifying, and we seek to expose what so many have forgotten.

We are essentially reporting live from neighborhoods and communities long forgotten, and, in Atlanta, recently torn down. It seems as though our city and our people place no importance on our community any longer. These are the places you never visit. These are the places that hip-hop claims to care about. These are the people that most of gangsta rap music fraudulently portrays. This video is one hundred percent real and unstaged.

You can try to chock this up as exploitation – it will not work. Nobody was put up to any scene in this video. As a matter of fact, everybody in the video volunteered themselves, for the sake of our mission.

The song has an upbeat and happy tone. When you’re in these situations, you do not feel as though what you are doing is wrong. When you are making money in the underground economy, it does not feel wrong. Our goal is to reflect the psychology of someone who turned to drug dealing as a means of survival, and got caught up with the addiction of making money in the underworld.

Pill still lives in this situation, and we will continue to kick, scream, and make music until we can provide a better way. Until then, we will continue to expose our truths.

Our mission is to bring REALITY back to street music. I hope this a first step towards accomplishing our goal.

Sincerely,

The Educated Villains

The song bangs and I do like, and support, the video. It’s one of the best videos I’ve seen in a while. I I like the Educated Villain’s statement. It’s the artist’s right to present the world in anyway he or she sees it. I do the same thing everyday. What do you all think about it?

Props to Cocaine Blunts for putting me up on the video. Checkout Pill’s myspace site here.

*Chunk Deuce*

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