on takeoff

I am highly conscious of our/yall’s/my Instagram stories. In the false world of social media, stories are the easiest way to spread information. Think about it. What’s the first thing you do when you open the app? Do you start scrolling, or do you click the profile pictures of those you follow which are conveniently placed on the top of your screen? Instagram itself knows we gravitate toward stories. That’s why they put an ad in between every other story. 

I'm tired of the story posts for a rapper’s death. Make it a post if it really meant something to you. 

Here's a nuanced thought you probably didn't think about: the act of reposting “RIP Takeoff” or “Damn, RIP to the greatest </3” for it to disappear in 24 hours highlights the lack of concern shown towards black death. It shows the temporality a black body holds in society’s realm of care. 24 hours and it’s out of sight. I guess that's how much time society deems the black death relevant.

And I find it hard to believe that everyone’s “shocked.” You’d be shocked if Keith Urban got slain over a game of dice. You're desensitized to the death of young black rappers who produce your favorite party song.

It is a privilege to post a black man’s death, and maybe a nice picture from his life, and then move the fuck on. 

I’m sure Philando Castile’s family wishes they could post and move on. 

Tamir Rice’s family too. And most definitely Trayvon Martin’s family. 

I didn’t forget that yall posted them as well. But you probably haven’t spoken their name since. That story post is long gone (or maybe you put it inside the “BLM” highlight in your bio).

There is nothing normal about Black men, especially artists, dying young. It is not a trend. Nor is it a ‘way of life.’ Being an artist, black, and wealthy is not the equation for a violent and premature death. 

Their death means more than no more music for you. It means children lose their fathers. It means a lover loses the recipient of their love. It means parents lose their sons, 

and you reposting their picture on your story is not mourning or grieving their death.

Playing his music all day today arent condolences. 

If you want to grieve his death, call him by his name. His real name. 

Kirshnik Khari Ball.