All Eyez on Me

 

So you’ve finally made it, your mates think you’re the G, your dealing with bare yats on the go, and you rule your manor. Or at least this is what you dream of. After all this is what life’s about.

 

So where do you start?

 

First you bust out with the tunes, so you’re down with the lingo, and watch the latest 50 Cents video to know what garms to buy. It’s a mission and it takes serious squids but it’s worth it because at least now your mac’d out with da bling bling chains and da heavy cut. Now you need to deal with a buff yat, preferably a score of them but one will do for now. So you go down to college to pick up your new girl. The image is taking shape nicely all you need now is to roll with a crew. So you begin to flex it in front of the right people and they begin to give you respect, but maybe you need to get into a few rucks before your bigged up in the manor and you finally earn your rep as the number one G in your crew. Suddenly more yats begin checkin you out and now you are da playa you always wanted to be. Now you’re living the ghetto dream, with your garms, your yats and your rep.

 

So, what next?

 

So here you are where you’ve always wanted to be. But then you realise that you are nothing special and that every boy in college is on the same level as you. There are older manz out there, who are more G than you. They roll with a sicker crew, have phatter garms and their yats and rep spread across all East London manors. More than this, they ride on heavy wheels fully kitted with a blairing sound system. Suddenly the garms you wear are not G enough and the yats you deal with are nuttin compared to some you’ve seen with the bigger manz. You want to be with the big boys now and to do this you need to be doing the serious things. You suddenly realise to do what So Solid Crew chat about needs you to take it to the next level. You need to be the real hustler, to be making the serious dollar. You start with jacking the younger youths, if a boyz got a buff phone you jack him. You need to prove you are not scared of the other big manz, so you start chirpsing next manz yat. You need more dollars to buy that fine set of wheels, fully kitted, so you start dealing. You recruit younger soldiers armed to the teeth ready to rush your rivals. Your rep gets around and manz begin to take notice, ‘there’s a new big daddy in town’.

         

So was it worth it?

 

However, being the Big Daddy is not what it’s cracked up to be. Your boyz are holding out on you, as they don’t have your back when the situation turns bad. You don’t know if your yat, you dealt with the other week is keeping your baby or not, or if she has moved onto the next man. You’ve got suppliers chasing you for unpaid debts, ready to kill you. You’ve got beef from the 5O looking to bang you up, as you prepare your life for prison. You’ve got new manz wanting to juk’s you up and run your manor. Seems like a lot of worries to have for somebody that is supposed to be living his dream! To ease your pain you start smoking your own supply, now you’re hooked and can’t live without it; you’re an addict. And soon your life becomes about visiting rehab clinics and getting thrown into prison cells for re-offending. Your dream has turned into a nightmare. 

 

You’re a victim

 

The truth is, this dream is nothing more than a lie that some man, somewhere has invented to exploit people and shatter lives in the process. It’s easy to see how such a life style can seem so appealing, I mean who wouldn’t like to have stylish clothes, or make big money or be surrounded by beautiful women? All this makes you the centre of attention and respected by those that matter. All you need to do is follow the image and do what these rappers and mc’s tell you to do and everything will come to you, isn’t it? But what they fail to mention is the misery that comes with living such a life and what was portrayed to be a happy existence is nothing more than a lie. The fact of the matter is, these rapper’s and mc’s claiming to be the top G’s in the ghetto are nothing like what they say. Just one look at ‘MTV Cribs’ will show these so called drug dealing, car jacking gangsters, who are not scared at pulling the trigger to shoot someone, are nothing more than rich actors, who live far, far away from the ghetto life. I mean would a big time gangster from the ‘Hood’ live in Beverly Hills next door to Tom Cruise? So what’s with this fake image that these nobody’s claim to have?

 

The fact is that these so called gangster’s are no different from the actor’s and other musicians looking for fame and fortune, the only difference is that they know how to chat the street lingo. Big record companies take these wannabe losers looking for fame, dress them up in the latest designer wear, which these fashion companies need to market and tell them to chat rubbish, while half naked women are dancing around them. They are portrayed by the media as having a bad boy background and that they are only chatting and representing the ghetto’s and violent areas in America and Britain, so that they can relate to the youth in these areas. They have now found their future record buyers that will give them the fame and fortune they wanted, and will also give the record company the huge amounts of money that they want. These same record companies give them the gangster image so that they can be a promotional dummy for all the other big companies. So da bling bling chains that 50 Cent wears are nothing but free handouts given by jewellery companies, not because he jacked them. The phat cars that Puff Daddy rides in are nothing more than a promotion by BMW and Mercedes, not because he is the biggest dealer in the area. So while these wannabe losers are living the high life with free hand outs by Big companies, the image they portray affects the youth in a serious way.

 

So, while they just chat about shooting someone to get their money, Abdul Hakim from Ilford is actually doing this serious act, getting a life sentence in the process, just to live the image of these fake losers. While they just talk about dealing drugs to live, Ahsan Uddin from Whitechapel is actually dealing to the other youth thinking this is the only way he can get serious money. So in the end, you come to the conclusion that you are nothing but a source of income for these big companies that promote this culture, and that these so called bad boy gangsters are nothing more than money making tools who in reality are not so bad, because they are nothing but slaves to these big companies who tell them the image that they should have.

 

How do we get real respect?

 

As you begin to realise that your dream is not a real dream, it’s a life that has been designed for you by some other person, claiming it will lead to your happiness, when in fact it leads to your misery, while they benefit from your difficulties. You should think deeply about what will really get you respect in this life, and from whom!

 

To want respect is a part of human nature and that is why people want to become gangsters, film stars, pop stars and footballers, because this is what this society tells them, will earn them respect . But who are these people to tell you what respect is and what is not, and what will make you happy and what won’t, when they are in fact in the same boat as you, trying to find the same things in life that you are. Do they know something that you don’t? The truth is they are as clueless as you are. This is why pop stars like Mariah Carey and Michael Jackson have lived weird lives with suicide attempts being a regular thing. Even the street hero 2 Pac talks about the lack of happiness and respect in his life many times in his records. Are these the people that we follow to get respect?  

 

The only one who is able to tell you what life is truly about and who can show you the things that will bring you respect is the one who made you, as well as the gangsters, the film stars, the footballers and everyone else. He knows us better than we know ourselves; He laid down the purpose of our life before we were even made. He knows everything because He made everything and he will never die, unlike these fakes who will one day die like you and me. So who dares mess with him?

   

So the respect of the Creator is what we should work for and not that of other humans. This is easily done by following his guidance to achieve our purpose in life which he has given to us.

 

This simple idea of getting ‘respect from the Creator’ led to the success of many Muslims in the past. The companions of our blessed prophet (saw) were the lowest of the low before they became Muslim. It was when they turned to Allah (swt) that they did great things for Islam and mankind, whether it was ruling over people with justice and fairness, Muslim and non-Muslim alike or winning battles against armies that were much bigger then their own. They made technological advances that amazed the world and became the example for today’s modern technology. Even after the companions, this same idea of ‘respect from the Creator’ made youths like you change the face of this world, like the companions of the prophet (saw) before them. It made a seventeen year old youth by the name of Mohammed al Fateh, as the leader of the Islamic state lead the Muslim army into battle against the Roman army, the so called greatest power of  it’s time. His bravery and leadership forced the Roman’s to give up their greatest city to Islam.

 

So let’s compare today’s heroes to yesterday’s heroes. Let’s compare 2 Pac, the man who claimed to be a street soldier and leader but never fought in any battle whatsoever, and died because he had a big mouth, to Umar ibn Al- Khattab who was the leader that put fear into the hearts of every other leader of his time, so much so that the Roman Emperor said, “If there was 2 Umar’s then the whole world would be Muslim”. Let’s compare 50 cent and Ja Rule who could only battle each other on a microphone using big words, but not doing anything, to Khalid ibn Walid who led an army of 3,000 Muslims into a real battle against an army of 200,000 and came out victorious, with his enemies running scared. This amazing achievement as well as many others earned him the title ‘The Sword of Allah’.

 

So who should earn our respect, who is the real Gangstar??