COMMENTARY | Slim Dunkin became the latest rapper to fall victim to a senseless murder on Dec. 16. According to the Huffington Post, Dunkin, whose real name is Mario Hamilton, was gunned down as he was preparing to record a video in a city music studio in Atlanta.
Atlanta Police said he and the man who shot him were involved in an argument before the murderer fatally shot him in the chest. Unfortunately, as of yet, police have not been able to identify the shooter. They are continuing to interview people in the studio, and they were apparently as many as 20 people in the small office building when the horrific event took place at about 5:30 in the evening.
AllHipHop.com stated on its website that Dunkin was an emerging rap star and a member of Brick Squad a crew that includes Gucci Mane and Waka Flocka, in addition to having gained “a great level of notoriety on his own.”
In an interview on the same site, the Detroit native was said to be an up and coming talent that had “a unique lyrical ability and style all his own,” and the man who was only in his early 20s will not be able to live up to what he’d hoped his legacy would be after a lengthy career in the music business. Dunkin stated, “As a Emcee, I will be both respected and admired, leaving a legacy that will bring forth a Slim Dunkin.”
It’s a sad and tragic waste of another black youth who was trying to beat the odds and provide for his family. Why do so many similar senseless deaths occur in the rapping community, and the black community in general?
There could be many factors, including the high absentee rates for fathers in the black community. According to Reuters, the 2005 census showed an alarming number of children living without fathers, with one in four living in households without a male parent.
But what is really disheartening, is the disparaging statistics for blacks. 56 percent of black children were living in a single parent household in 2004, with most of those headed by mothers. In white households, the figure is just 22 percent.
In the Reuters report, the executive director of a Chicago project that helps children in mainly minority schools, Phillip Jackson, said, “It is literally decimating our communities and we have no adequate response to it.”
Until a solution is found, it’s likely that these kinds of senseless acts of violence will continue to haunt the black community. It’s only a matter time before the next up and coming rapper, or black youth trying to emerge from a difficult childhood will see the same tragic end.