Shyne may officially be better known for his religious conversion and Twitter rants than his music career. There was the recent bashing of Kendrick Lamar’s debut album and his weigh in on Meek Mill.
Now the former Bad Boy artist has set his social media sights on an even higher target. Yesterday, Shyne sent a series of tweets directed at President Obama, asking the Commander-In-Chief to confront the ongoing violence engulfing the streets of Chicago.
“Dear @BarackObama there has to be something the former US senator from Chicago can do for his former constituents! The genocide must stop,” tweeted Shyne.
Shyne then turned his attention to another fellow emcee and Obama supporter, Jay-Z. “Dear @BarackObama call Jay-z to fly his private plane Down to Chicago & u fly yours the same way u called in the stars to win Ohio #help.”
Chicago’s murder rate soared 16% in 2012. There were 506 recorded murders in the city last year which was the highest rate since 2008, and 2013 is already starting off on horrid pace with 22 reported murders in the first 13 days. A large portion of the violence is attributed to gang warfare involving minors. Since 2007 over 250 victims of shooting deaths in the city were under the age of 17.
[SEE ALSO: Chicago Violence Continues: Rapper Johnny Boy Da Prince Gunned Down, As Career Was Taking Off]
Many youth advocates believe one of the major factors that fosters this level of violence is the lack of youth development programs and poor educational options for young people in certain sections of inner cities. Shyne goes on to addresses these issues in a later tweet saying, “My comrades in Chiraq need opportunity! They need education & hope! @barackobama declare a war on poverty! Declare a war on lack of education.”
The Obama administration has not gotten directly involved in the violence in his hometown, but the President did comment on the situation in an interview with MTV’s Sway in October saying, “what I know is that gun violence is part of the issue, but part of the issue also is kids who feel so little hope and think their prospects for the future are so small that their attitude is, ‘I’m going to end up in jail or dead.’ And they will take all kinds of risks.”
While Obama has had mostly overwhelming support from the hip hop community including stars like Jay-Z, Ludacris, Common, and Young Jeezy, Shyne isn’t alone in his criticism of the President. Killer Mike called Obama a “talking head telling lies” on his song “Reagan”, Lupe Fiasco called him a “terrorist”, and Big Boi revealed that he voted for Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson in the last election.
Even though Shyne was not eligible to vote he did publicly endorse Republican nominee Mitt Romney for president in 2012. The Belize born rapper took issue with President Obama for not helping to prevent his deportation in 2009. Shyne was deported back to his home country after serving a ten year sentence in prison stemming from a club shooting in 1999.
