CHAPTER EIGHTEEN Excerpt from THE BULLIED

Insubordinate hadnt known that he had personal protection until the mid -1990s. He was a polished Rapper who was sharpened by underground or street steel and had just started to get radio airplay. The radio station WOWE 98.9 (FM) in Flint had even played one of his jams and WOWE was an oldies but goodies radio station. Insubordinates music right from the start had an old school feel with a new school appeal. He was a crossover Rapper because back then few people could even understand what most Rappers were saying even after listening intensively to their angry or speedy blurred words. It turned out that Insubordinates attackers were a young up and coming crew of Thug Life Rappers who didnt possess the art of Anger and Deflection that Tupac once possessed and that Ice Cube harnessed and built a career from. It also turned out that they had been leaving for quite some time threatening comments and anti-snitching tirades through hastily produced demos and mixed tapes. That was done along with rants from the stage during their underground concerts and Rap Battles. Leading up to the physical urban attack, Insubordinate possessed a rather divisive view when it came to snitches and snitching. To Insubordinate there were two basic levels of snitching. A Level One Snitch was when two or more criminals were linked to a crime and one or more of the criminals turned states evidence when some or all of them were caught. Such a person was a pariah, they were prosecutorial prostitutes and karma would have them tossed into a cell with a sexual sadist. Their reduced sentence for unmanly cooperation with the prosecution should more often than not be rewarded with a reduced possibility of living a pain free life. No such reward should be handed to a Level Two Snitch, though. Not just because a Level Two Snitch was what Chance or Insubordinate was when he was a Soul Rapper but also because it was level with his ground rules for keeping the community safe. When a Level Two Snitch saw someone robbing a neighbors home, snatching a purse, carjacking or spraying a crowd of nosey but innocent bystanders with bullets Insubordinate said from the concert stage and in his lyrics that he would gladly tell on the guilty in those circumstances. And furthermore if others
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were afraid to tell then they should tell him and he would tell and not tell on whoever told him. Insubordinate was pissed but so were the anti-snitching campaigners. Now this was during the time of Crack, AIDs and a continued legacy of inner city police abuse. It was also when Gangsta Rap careers were built around lyrics about when they put a doughnut sized hole in the brain of even the casual snitch let alone a prosecutorial prostitute. Times were hard then for a snitch. Insubordinate had reasoned that if a Thug Punk tried to kill him because of their own warped mind and twisted ghetto tales, which had nothing to do with making the community stronger and safer; well then in that case he would pray beforehand that all of their anti-community action plans went to hell along with them. That was his prayer. The last part angered a bunch of preachers, the middle part about the levels of snitches angered a bunch of television activists, and the whole concept enraged millions of short fused Thugs and their small minded followers. Then in a tempered version of that rage Insubordinate was street tested with a bunch of What ifs during his social encounters with critics. What if you see someone shoplifting, would you tell then? Thats between them and the stores security cameras. What if you see someone on the corner selling dope? Sell all the hard loss of hope dope that you want and dodge the police and that 20-year sentence for as long as you are desperate. But if I catch you selling to children, or hooking a woman with small children I will probably beat or shoot you myself. If not its because Im pretending to be passive and dialing 911. What if someone is robbing? Stop right there. If you are robbing anyone other than another robber or dope dealer, Im dialing 911. Believe that. Insubordinate went on to explain that no one could make him tell anything on anyone unless he wanted to tell. He had ground rules and they should have some too. He had shared his ground rules and they were all more than welcome to share theirs also. That snitching controversy was meant to be a weight around Insubordinates neck and then drown him in the court of public opinion. The beauty of the Rap
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game was that there was room for just about everyone. Still Insubordinate was researched and seriously investigated by Rap and Hip Hop fans as a result of his position. That meant that his music and lyrics were studied and dissected and were judged to be mostly street worthy and mainstream ready. The fact that the controversy was pushed into the media archives of until further notice and since his music sales had quadrupled during the fiscal quarter of that controversy, all of those combinations solidified Insubordinates position. Insubordinates Rap success was the result of the product that could not be manufactured, respect. But haters hate respect and the more respect Insubordinate received the more respect that the Haters hated. Theres no doubt that they were just as determined to kill Insubordinate as the Asian Sistahs were to protect him. He would meet both at his second most favorite place a concert. A bookstore was his most favorite place. http://www.scribd.com/doc/195421542/THE-BULLIED