Chicago blogger: 'Chief Keef is just a minstrel show'

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The violence and murder rate in Chicago is at an all-time high and many point to the music industry as both a source of the problem and a possible voice for change.

Chicago-born rapper Chief Keef in particular is frequently chastised for the violent nature of his songs. He “celebrates this gun-happy violent behavior,” as HotNewHipHop describes it.

Keef’s debut album, Finally Rich, hit stores on Tuesday and a Chicago-based political blogger, Edward McClelland, says he will boycott the release.

In a recent column, McClelland labeled Keef’s album a “minstrel show.”

McClelland posted an op-ed piece on NBC Chicago 5’s site yesterday morning entitled “Another Reason I Don’t Like Chief Keef” where he says he chooses not to buy Keef’s album because of the Connecticut tragedy.

NBC Chicago is part of NBCUniversal, which owns theGrio.

“Since last week’s murders at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, though, I haven’t had the stomach for any violent entertainment,” McClelland wrote. “While I was watching this Sunday’s Bears game, ads for the movies Gangster Squad and Django Unchained came on TV. Both ads packed two or three shootings into 30 seconds. I don’t want to see either. A culture that glorifies the sexiness of the man with the gun is one reason we have 300,000,000 guns in America. I also don’t want to pay $14 for the minstrel show of listening to a real live South Side thug. I don’t want to support a scene that makes gangbanging a resume builder for music success.”

Follow Marquise Francis on Twitter @mKfly