Steve 'Flash' JuonIn a cutthroat rap scene like Chicago’s drill music, G Herbo (f/k/a Lil Herb) is a success story just by surviving. I’m not trying to be overly dramatic or sensationalist, but it’s well documented by this point how quickly beefs in ChiRaq escalate. It can be difficult at times to tell the difference between rival rap crews and rival gangs, and the overlap leads to a lot of dead rappers. As morbid as it might be to say I’m just happy that G Herbo is still here making music after over a decade on the scene.
In the video for G Herbo and Skilla Baby’s “Shoot” off his new album “Big Swerv,” Herbo briefly attempts to get away from the violence by going to Miami for the hook and the video. Even there the specter of death is never far away. “They outside, you know what to do/Backseat, hop out, in the streets, pick a group/Niggaz hoes, post tweets, they see me, what he do?/ So I must say, ‘see you’ you see me? Nigga, shoot.” His cohort Skilla is no less amped up about self defense. “They want to see me? You better shoot/What you think I’ma do?/If I see you, if I see you, I-C-U.” It’s all machismo and testosterone here. “How you ‘posed to beef with me and you a ho?” Nuff said.
If any of this comes as a surprise to you then you haven’t been following drill in the Chi. In a collaboration with long time friend Chief Keef on “No Pics,” both rappers profess they wanted to put the violence behind but found it impossible. Herbo: “I don’t wanna hop out drillin no more, I got kids/Said I wasn’t gon’ tote no pistols no more, but I did.” Keef: “Niggaz said they drillin well ChiRaq invented that/I got my click it clack, a nigga try to chit a chat/These young niggaz will take your life and go see what they can get for that.” It’s grim like the reaper when you listen to drill’s top spitters. The only relief they feel from that pressure is getting high as hell or “Drunk AF.”
You may have surmised I have mixed emotions about this… and you’d be right. Chuck D famously said “rap music is the CNN of the ghetto” and when you listen to drill you’re getting a first hand news report of what ChiRaq is like. I’m troubled when the rappers are not just reporting on the violence but active participants in it, and regrettably G Herbo is no exception. I’m not condemning him for being a product of his environment, but when he says he wants to rise above it on songs like “Candyman” I sincerely hope that he can. Listening to him you know this music is his form of therapy.
“I can’t trust nobody with my life, I’m type scared
Told my momma can’t get rid of my trauma, I gotta wear it
Ain’t ashamed of talkin about this shit, I gotta share it”
“Big Swerv” is a bleak 41 minutes and it’s not for the faint of heart, but even in the darkness swirling around G Herbo there are signs of light that poke through. He even acknowledges on “Candyman” that the young’uns in ChiRaq look up to him and call him the GOAT, and at 28 he is now (for better or worse) an elder statesman of the drill scene. If he continues to live and make music he can truly be a role model for those kids. If he shows them that you can be a success at whatever you put your mind to and work hard at, that’s a huge positive in a place where there are far too many negatives. Hidden amongst the gunplay G Herbo has a message — it’s better to talk about it than to be about it.