Ballad of the Bullet by Forrest Stuart

Author:Forrest Stuart
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2020-02-24T00:00:00+00:00

One of Gio’s most popular memes took direct aim at a rival driller known as “Boss Roc.” At the time, Boss Roc was one of the best-known members of a gang faction located about a mile from Taylor Park. None of the Corner Boys had ever met Boss Roc, but their dislike (and jealousy) seemed to grow by the day. His popularity had skyrocketed over the previous two years, and now surpassed that of the Corner Boys. Boss Roc was receiving attention from international music blogs and hip-hop magazines on the heels of a series of inflammatory diss tracks and music videos that insulted several mainstream rappers based in Los Angeles and New York. The Corner Boys complained that Boss Roc’s sonic assaults, as well as his drug kingpin persona, were highly disingenuous. It was easy to pick fights with out-of-town rappers, they criticized, because Roc would never be forced to back up his words.

Amid the Corner Boys’ disgust, Gio devised a plan to put Roc’s inauthenticity “on blast.” Gio spent an afternoon searching through Boss Roc’s various social media profiles, looking for evidence that might prove CBE’s contentions. He soon found what he was looking for. It appeared that Boss Roc had grown careless as he uploaded Instagram and Facebook photos that depicted him hugging women, flashing gang signs, and generally posing for the camera. Gio noticed that many of these, which had been taken over the course of multiple weeks, showed Boss Roc wearing what looked to be the same pair of boxer shorts. Gio used his phone to take screen- shots of a half dozen of these photos. He quickly cropped, resized, and assembled them in a collage using a photo editing application on his phone. He uploaded the finished product to Facebook with the following caption:

Dis fu Nigga got one pair of boxers How he a drug lord

Gio’s message is straightforward: If we were to only listen to Boss Roc’s songs, watch his music videos, and look at his social media uploads, we might imagine that he is swimming in profits from robberies and drug sales. Yet, at least according to Gio’s meme, it appears that Boss Roc can only afford a single pair of boxers. If this is true, then Boss Roc’s claims of a lucrative criminal career are fabrications. Boss Roc, it would seem, is a fraud. Gio knew that Boss Roc was likely wearing a single pair of boxers, day in and day out, precisely because Gio and the rest of the Corner Boys do exactly the same thing. Throughout my time with the Corner Boys, most members of CBE owned only three or four outfits. Despite how they may appear on social media, these well-worn “fits” were often stained and threadbare. When it was time to perform for the camera, they’d slip on their prized sweatshirts, luxury brand jeans, and glittering pieces of costume jewelry. When those weren’t available, they’d simply go shirtless. There’s a popular saying on the streets of urban America: Real recognize real.

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