Video Of Lil Reese Allegedly Beating Up Woman Is The Latest Affront To Chicago Hip Hop
By Jon Graef in Arts & Entertainment on Oct 25, 2012 9:20PM
Early Thursday morning, a video of Chicago rapper Lil Reese, best known for delivering a verse on fellow GBE crew member/lightning rod of controversy Chief Keef's monster smash "I Don't Like," allegedly assaulting a woman leaked. It's pretty terrible, and another example of "any publicity is good publicity" for Keef's 300 crew.
Viewer discretion advised: We're linking to, but not embedding, the video; the original was removed due to it quite rightfully violating YouTube's policy on disturbing content. While the video is barely over a minute, the violence in it escalates quickly from an exchange of words to a man appearing to be Reese full-on stomping a woman.
Once the video went viral Reese was on the offensive.
The haters tryna see a mf Dwn lol Dey gotta b broke and bored wanna upload sum shit from years ago damnn we winnin it's 2 late...#3hunna
— LilReese300 (@LilReese300) October 25, 2012
Stayin' classy, Chicago style!
This is why Chicago hip-hop, as diverse and multifaceted as it is, remains in stasis. Want to make a Back To The Future-themed mixtape with a creative video? Sorry. We're too busy watching Lil Reese's alleged battery of a woman.
Release a genre-bending single from your wildly anticipated debut record? Make a video with cute kids rapping about how they want to change the world for the better? Here's Chief Keef asking to have his Instagram account restored.
Okay: So what about a concept album about your suspension from high school? Or releasing a video for a track that's a rallying cry for ignored voices of color in your community? Or, fuck, just making a good time party record about girls and pizza?
Nope. None of it matters. Because there will always be chumps out there beating on women, laughing at deaths on Twitter, and possibly violating their parole, and they will get all the headlines, and all the coverage, and negatively indict the entire scene in the process. Also: they'll get multi-million dollar deals while you're out there hustlin' just to make a mixtape.
Will Chicago hip-hop ever have nice things? I hope so. But it seems unlikely.