"Gangster rap" is art imitating life. The idea that suppressing it will reduce the violence of the narcotic trafficking underworld in Toronto is an example of the mainstream society's inability to connect cause and effect.

Getting real in Toronto

About"Get rich or die tryin'","Real Toronto", and a bit about our societies 'leaders'.

There has been a rise in deaths by gunshot in Toronto due to the rise of the cocaine trade around Toronto's poor neighbourhoods and social housing, especially the oversized American style 'projects'. This leads every type of official from police bureaucrats to clergymen to talk nonsense in the hope of appearing to be 'in control' of the situation.

There was an failed attempt to ban "ganstah rapper" Curtis ( 50 cent) Jackson from entering Canada to perform in Toronto. Jackson stars in a movie loosely based on his own life called "Get Rich or Die Tryin' ".

Currently a hot 'underground' video in Toronto is "The real Toronto," by "Madd Russian." It is handicam interviews with people who claim to be gangsters, gangster rappers, or gangsters and rappers.

It's mostly "Die Tryin'".

One would conclude this if the film were taken as truth value. As a gangster movie, it is not the best or the worst. It uses most of the language of the genre in a contemporary context. It nods to the original gangster flick; "Little Caesar", from the nineteen thirties. "America's disgrace" is still it's perpetual underclass; the recruiting pool for criminal organisations.

So little boys grow up not knowing who their daddies are, their mommies get killed when they are twelve, they have no one to "look up to" except the drug dealers and other crooks hanging around, many of them related to him, and he is soon enrolled in the "family business".

But the kid has talents, in addition to retailing narcotics and shooting people, for writing and performing chants, they are not songs, about it. He will find a love interest and she will redeem him before the credits roll, and mommy's murder is avenged. He does not find out certainly who daddy is; it is hinted at. Along the way, he must be cut up, shot up, deceived, and betrayed.

Truth in Fiction.

Three important points are wrapped in the Hollywoodism of "Die Tryin'." The same three points are made more powerfully in another gangster film, "City of God", which came out of Brazil two years back; another movie-ized memoir by someone who managed to leave all that behind.

One; somebody is making a lot of money out of narcotics, and it is not the people doing the killing and dying on the front line. Two; "enforcement" is as likely to stop the rain as to stop narcotics trafficking. Three; "enforcement" can accelerate the violence in at least four ways.

One is that police will keep trying to push drug "gangs" out of areas, which increases conflict among them. Second is that they will try to eliminate the more senior traffickers, leaving no one to keep order among the younger and less experienced ones. Third, police often expect their own cut of the action. Fourth, especially in the picture drawn by "City of God", police may seek to create conflict between individuals within crime organisations, or between rival organisations.

The real Toronto

This DVD is very underground; contact therealtorontodvd@hotmail.com. Try the shop near the downtown Toronto YMCA. Measures incorporated in the disc to make it hard to copy also make it hard to take notes from; forgive my inaccuracies. The quality is poor. And it is a significant social document.

At issue is whether the violent behaviour described in gangster rap and now in movies is real and not a macho fantasy, whether these violent images are causing people to try to act out the behaviour, and whether this entertainment glorifies violence and criminality. The answers are "yes", "no", and "so what?"

"Everything I rap is real life, know what I'm saying?," says one Toronto gangster/rapper. Their rap is a catharsis for the violence, paranoia, stigmatisation, and the material and emotional want of their lives. They glamorise the life, they "write their own narrative", in order to balance themselves mentally. There is a market in people who want to live this life vicariously, through the rap, much like the market in those who want to block out their pain with cocaine.

A medium as a message.

Madd Russian's merit is to silently run the cam and let them tell their story in their own way. He is careful to avoid creating evidence against his subjects; faces and firearms are not seen together. He must be a bit "Madd"; he had pistols pointed at him several times and threats, if he "slips" or "fucks around"' to "eat his food".

Once they loosen up, the crack boys are eager to explain what they do, how they do it, and why. Many of them have rap going constantly in the back of their minds. Some of them think rap will be their escape from the trafficking life. Only one of them has potential to give "fifty cent" some competition. Much disdain was expressed for what mainstream society has to offer them; "like tryin' to get nutrition from a chocolate bar."

They gave guided tours of their 'hoods,' the social housing tracts that were such lovely places to grow up in; including the tree they climbed down to sneak out at night. They described the repulsive methods of police, who will look for ways to arrest every twelve year old on the street so they can keep a file on him, labelling him for life. They introduce us to "the hater", who disapproves of them, and the cam follows as they chase her up a stairwell.

reppers and rappers.

"If you are not a baller, you are a repper, if you aren't a repper, you are a rapper". A baller is a basket ball player. A repper means a representative, as in 'sales representative'. Those, plus rapper, are the career options. If a rep's hustle is right, he succeeds. The career path is much like the NBA; once you hit the big leagues, it is one or two years to make your money, and then out.

Most of these people are black, with some white kids trying to look and talk black. The frequency of the word 'nigger' is sad; everyone is 'nigger'. That is really Toronto in the background, and these people were born and raised here, but they speak so differently they might as well be from another country; they are often barely intelligible.

The tour of the hoods includes shots of broken basketball courts and padlocked recreation centres. The kids are indignant that now all there is to do now is "sling that crack, drink Jim Beam, and smoke hash". But one smiling interlocutor stood before a basketball court which was repaired, repaved, and recommissioned, implying it was done with drug profits.

"...Black Creek, all day, every day, forever..."

We are introduced to the big leaguers, one of whom is "the five star general" around there, and "all I have to do is give the word, so when you see me, calm down". The arsenal is waggled in front of the cam, and the different types of "burners" are explained; here is the "heck", this is the "twin", and that is the "forty". As a finale, someone pulls a mini-UZI out of his shorts. Some of these people claim to have 'Kevlar' as well as guns underneath their baggy clothes.

We hear a couple of times about mentor figures, who "'grew up' everyone who is around here now...took us to the island, to the falls, got us all burners...rest in peace Nicko, we love ya." In one case there were smirking allusions to what happened to the party responsible for the demise of the mentor.

Some of them seem haunted by what their eyes have seen. One very young one described in great detail where the bodies dropped one evening, and how the brains drained down to the curb, because of "the kind of dumb shit people get into."

Prohibition

The last time a large section of Canada's underclass became armed and dangerous was in the roaring twenties, during prohibition of alcohol. This time, it is taking longer for the fear of an armed 'counter-public' to overcome elitist compulsion to try to control other people. The incomprehension about narcotics markets is shown by the recent effort to pass legislation to 'decriminalise' cannabis products for users while increasing penalties for growers and dealers. This would enlarge the market, while raising the stakes and pumping the violence.

The latest federal election has occasioned foolish statements from politicians at all levels. Some have disgraced themselves ranting about a ban on handguns, which are already banned in this country. The mayor and chief of police of Toronto have money from somewhere to hire more police to deploy in 'gang violence' hot spots. This will increase harassment of the poor, who unlike the crack slingers cannot quickly move elsewhere.

In a recent radio interview, a clergyman from one of these 'hotspot' neighbourhoods proposed a plan for ending the problem. He wants the army to occupy 'his' neighbourhood for a full two years. He wants lots of money from somewhere to put into recreation and 'job training' and 'life skills' programs. The second part of this plan should be done regardless of the crack slingers, most of whom would approve of it, though they would laugh at the first part.

To understand a problem is to solve it. To end prohibition of narcotics is to pull the plug on the narcotics underworld. Otherwise, it goes on all day, every day, forever.