valentin

Saying "Not all rap music is about violence, here are alternatives" is not helpful, because the violent music ALSO has meaning.

When Biggie Smalls postures about his gang connections and packing heat, he isn't doing it because wow violence is so edgy, it's a powerful statement. Youth in urban areas where gang activity is heavy are often treated as lesser than by default, especially compared to black people the same age from a wealthy background. There's a reason that the "wholesome and respectable" black-lead entertainment of that era was stuff like the Cosby Show, with doctor-lawyer parents, or Family Matters, with a cop dad. There's a reason why the big joke of Fresh Prince is someone with a more unstable upbringing moving in with one of these model black sitcom families.

Standing up and saying yeah, I came from the mean streets, I was molded by this violence and yes, I did what I had to do to survive in a world that refuses to acknowledge my existence as meaningful or worthy of protection. I protected myself, I made my own way, and fuck anybody who tries to stand in the way of that.

Refusing to demonize that environment and wearing it like armor in a way that protects from the authority that wants you to see them as sub humans incapable of only violence and hatred, and saying HEY. I'm here, I lived this, and there is love and there is pain and there is ART in this.

That is powerful. That is the essence of gangster rap.

It isn't about hurting people for fun, it's about holding a mirror up to a society that does the hurting and then calls you a monster for what it's made you. Its about validating the experiences of the disenfranchised and biting back at authority. It's about turning a pain that the world say you deserve being one of those people from those places into POETRY. Into ART.

And thats why it matters.

vv process & close up vv

stop payment processors from censorship by calling them and expressing your distaste & discontent with their restrictions on not only adult content but also queer art - show proof of call and peg or get pegged by a big buff woman

Reference by lironeini!

I couldn’t decide on whether I wanted to draw fem or masc G so I did both lol

They’re not even my fav ro but they’re def my fav to draw argggg

vv close ups & progress vv

I saw this eve of destiny pic and I immediately felt the need to draw Kazuo in that scenario 🔥🔥

First time drawing Rowan and I’m not really happy with the result but I’m sure it’ll work out better next time 💔

vv close ups vv

Reference by lironeini!

I couldn’t decide on whether I wanted to draw fem or masc G so I did both lol

They’re not even my fav ro but they’re def my fav to draw argggg

vv close ups & progress vv

A little @infamous-if Orion and mc drawing for Valentine’s Day hehe 😋

It’s not quite Valentine’s Day yet here but I’m sure it is somewhere lol

Hope everyone is going to enjoy their Valentine’s Day!! No matter if you spend it with a significant other, friends it on your own :3

vv process and reference pics vv

“You burned everything else out. Salted the ground. But the eyes remained. A sign of what you had become.”

the band that's totally winning botb yahooo

A little @infamous-if Orion and mc drawing for Valentine’s Day hehe 😋

It’s not quite Valentine’s Day yet here but I’m sure it is somewhere lol

Hope everyone is going to enjoy their Valentine’s Day!! No matter if you spend it with a significant other, friends it on your own :3

vv process and reference pics vv