WeOfficial: Dead Rappers, J. Cole, and A Media "Thirsty For Clicks"

Hey,

My name is Insanul Ahmed and I'm the Editorial Strategy Director at Complex. Every day at Complex, we have conversations about what we should cover, why we should cover it, and how we should cover it. In these dark days for hip-hop, one conversation we have way too often is how to cover the death of an artist.

Recently, on Lil Durk's hit song "All My Life," J. Cole rapped about the way the media covers the death of rappers. It's one of the best verses of the year, laced with Cole's typically astute observations and honest reflections. His accusations about the media being thirsty for clicks and only covering rappers when they die hit home for us. Covering a tragedy comes with the territory in this business, but we never make those decisions lightly.

To give more insight into how we make these decisions, I sat down with Complex's News Director Abel Shifferaw. You can read our conversation below in this exclusive newsletter only available to subscribers.

Insanul: What was your reaction when you first heard J. Cole's verse?

Abel: Yeah, it's something we for sure have talked about. Like, should we be posting about an up-and-coming rapper when they pass away or if they get into some type of legal issues without having posted their music before? We've gone back and forth. Complex has posted about rappers who have died that were up-and-coming. They never were on our radar otherwise, but they did get on our radar when a bunch of local news media outlets began covering their deaths. When I heard Cole's verse, it for sure sparked some reflection.

What were those conversations like?

I think it's split. I've seen half of the people saying it's a no, and we should not be posting rappers that we never covered before for their music, especially when it's something negative. On the other hand, the other half of people are saying that it's fair game because it's news. Other outlets are covering, like local media outlets, and it's no different from that. If another person died in a circumstance that is newsworthy for our audience, we would cover them. But because they happen to make music should we not cover them? So, it's split, and it's an ongoing discussion, as evidenced by this conversation right now.

When we do posts about people passing away, do they usually do well?

Yeah, they do. To be real, that's why we do any post, or at least the majority of posts that we do. We're in the business of getting clicks, right? So we'll report on things that will generate interest for our audience. And those types of subjects, for better or worse, generate interest among our audience.

Outside of hip-hop, just in journalism generally, writing an obituary is one of the most basic forms of journalism. When I first took journalism classes in school, one of the first assignments was to write an obit.

I mean, it's news, right? It's integral, and it's a core component of reporting. A lot of times, you're going to be reporting on when people pass away. The way that human minds work, when someone passes away in a situation that is violent, gruesome, or in a circumstance that's not usual, like someone passing away before their time or when they're super young, it's going to attract more attention. People are going to be interested in looking at that and seeing what happened.

Right. With Cole's verse, I felt like he highlighted the thing that he's also criticizing. He's basically saying, "I heard of this guy because he died, so now I'm checking out his music." I'm like, "Well, if the media hadn't covered his death, you probably would have never heard of this guy."

That's a good point. At least there's a highlight on the person's life and their art, and people like J. Cole and others might then check out their art. It's unfortunate that they won't be there to enjoy growing their fan base. So there's that for sure.

Cole was talking about rising artists, but a few weeks back, Houston rapper Big Pokey died. Not in a violent way, but in a dramatic way where he collapsed on stage. He's probably released a ton of music, I don't think we should be covering every single Big Pokey release, but him dying, especially in such a dramatic way, is certainly newsworthy.

Yeah, it's news. If someone releases a single versus them passing away, you can't really compare the two in terms of the gravity of the news in that specific situation. Someone who's an icon, a legend. So that definitely, I believe, was newsworthy and fair for Complex and similar publications to cover.

Were there any situations where you felt like we were covering an artist who had passed, but you weren't actually familiar with their music?

Yeah, it's definitely happened before. Then there's a thing like, there are rappers that have been killed that we have covered in the past. I'd say that's the case the majority of the time. So under at least J Cole's criteria of "if you never posted their music before," we would clear that. But to be fair, there have also been other ones that we haven't covered before. But that's for sure the minority.

Covering death is always going to be tricky, you want to be respectful. With hip-hop right now, there's just a lot of death. Pop Smoke, XXX, Young Dolph, all of them died in violent ways. You've been working in the news business for the last few years. How has it been for you covering death and writing these stories?

Yeah, I mean, it's hard, especially if it's someone that I was listening to or someone that we've been covering a lot. It's not easy. I think I've been able to desensitize myself a little bit, where you have to shut that off so you can work in this business, right? You're constantly writing about these really sad and horrific things that happen to people that I care about and are a part of my life in a way, in which I'm consuming their art. But it's definitely not easy mentally. You work through it, right?

I think that's something that could be said for most journalists, reporters, and people working in the industry. There are a lot of bad things happening in the world, and you're covering it in-depth, getting the gruesome details, and reporting on that.

Was there any particular artist that you were a really big fan of that passed away and you had to cover it?

Yeah, Nipsey Hussle, that was really shocking. That one was rough for sure. Just the circumstances of a violent, messed up death. Then on top of that, I felt like he was getting his shine right at that moment, going into the mainstream, and the possibilities for him were looking bright. He was taken away right at that precipice. As well as that, I'm Ethiopian, he's Eritrean, so there's that connection.

Outside of him, XXX. There were a lot of issues with him as a person—some really fucked up shit and his legal issues, but I thought his music was really good, and that was just shocking as well. And Mac Miller, that was pretty hard.

Yeah, for me, Mac Miller was the one just because I interviewed him so many times. I remember the day it happened, I was working at Genius and I was just exhausted. Then the news broke, and it's not only tragic, but it was also someone who I personally knew. Then it was like, I have to make an Instagram card to be like, "RIP," and it's just like, "Man, I don't want to do this." But, like you said, you're sort of desensitized. I remember powering through, getting the story up, but, yeah, it was very tough.

Yeah, it's hard to separate it, but it's something you've got to learn how to do. Push that initial reaction of sadness aside and get the work done of getting the information up and out to audiences.

I think death coverage goes hand in hand with crime coverage. The past couple of years, many rappers got arrested. We just saw Quando Rondo get hit with some charges, Sheff G and Sleepy Hollow, the YNW Melly trial is going on, YSL, Tory Lanez, etc. What is the hip-hop audience's fascination with crime?

I think people are fascinated with crime because they like looking at train wrecks or when something goes wrong. It's similar to why we watch gang movies or violent action movies. To see these artists living a lifestyle that mimics what is seen in an action or gangster film generates attention. Negative things, as evidenced by what people are clicking, show that people like negative stories at the end of the day.

When bad things happen to people or when they make bad decisions, it generates attention, controversy, and scandal, sparking conversations. People also like to judge, so when someone behaves badly, they like to criticize or defend that person, depending on their perspective. People love gossiping and talking about negative things, and they've been doing that for thousands of years.

I get frustrated with the phrase "the media" because it groups too many things. But there is something that has emerged that never quite existed before; the YouTube and social pages that aren't really journalists, but cover hip-hop. They're discussing deaths, analyzing court proceedings, making documentaries with claims like "King Von is a serial killer," without any real journalistic merit. Fans seem to eat it up. Have you seen that kind of stuff?

That type of content has exploded over the last 10 years or so. It's a perfect storm of social media becoming widely used and people's media literacy dropping to all-time lows, combined with certain political developments like the rise of the alt-right and figures like Donald Trump who reject facts and truth. People tend to believe whatever they see online without fact-checking it, and conspiracy theories are on the rise. It's interesting because there are many messed up things happening in the world, in government and politics, that are not conspiracies and can be fact-checked. However, other narratives are created to divert their attention.

People's media literacy is very low, and it's not helping with situations like Twitter's verification system. Anyone can get that badge, and people are falling for it, thinking it's a respected authoritative figure when it could be a parody account. Even ESPN fell for BallSackSports posts, so even journalists are falling for it.. This issue has gotten worse with the rise of the influencer journalist, who often doesn't abide by established journalistic practices who might report on things without double or triple checking their sources.

There is a distasteful aspect to the consumption of this content. I feel grossed out by it sometimes. Have you ever felt grossed out by the thirstiness to consume negativity?

It's definitely a valid concern. I think this issue is largely being proliferated by rap blogs, YouTube accounts, and social media platforms, where they focus on gang battles happening in certain neighborhoods. The reporting is often shoddy, and it offers an insight into gang life that puts a spotlight on it as if it's a TV show for people to consume. It can be too much. However, at least in terms of our coverage, we try to be more balanced.

As a News Director, when it comes to coverage on our site, where do you draw the line of, "I don't think we should cover this."

It depends on the situation, but there have been occasions where we've decided not to report on something because it was too negative. For example, we recently chose not to cover a story with a revenge porn angle that felt iffy to even touch. We're not going to do in-depth coverage on some super local rappers and their beef, especially if it involves violence. We're not going to promote that and put it out there on our site. It's a different situation when someone dies, but even then, we don't do that very often. It definitely depends, but there is a line, and when we get close to it, we recognize it and decide to take a step back and not cross it.

About 10 years ago, I was at Complex and we were covering a beef between Chief Keef and another Chicago rapper. A friend of mine from Chicago asked me not to publish the story, they were concerned about potential violence. It was too late cause the story was already published. But after that, I decided to back away from it in general. Looking back, I feel like that decision gave rise to people to cover the stories that Complex and others outlets weren't going to touch. Now we're in the world we live in today, where that type of coverage has become more common.

It's crazy to think about how that decision to take a step back from covering minor incidents on a national level in the drill scene led to a void being filled by people who wouldn't fact-check the situation as thoroughly as Complex would have. It's interesting to see how that has impacted the way these stories are covered today.

Were there any other points you wanted to touch on?

One random thought I had about this, going back to J. Cole and his lines specifically, is the idea of the media being thirsty for clicks. However, the things that he raps about are often stories of violence, drugs, and other similar topics, like in his album KOD. It makes me wonder, isn't that through the perspective of an artist who is also sharing these stories? What's the difference between the media covering these stories and an artist rapping about them?

It just goes to show that there is a similarity between the media covering these stories and an artist rapping about them. Why is J Cole not rapping about the story of someone who created a successful business, for example? Instead, he focuses on negative aspects like violence and drugs. In that way, both the media and the artist are bringing attention to these issues. It's not necessarily a bad thing, as it can serve as a cautionary tale for young people to not fall into these situations. But still, that's what all of us are talking about, right? That's what's generating the most attention.

That's a great point because what makes a good story? Cole makes his music the same way we make our content. It's compelling to tell a story of someone on drugs or a house being raided by the police, there's action, drama, and tension. Both the media and artists are drawn to these stories for similar reasons.

Going back to the topic of media distrust that we discussed earlier, as someone who is distrustful of the media and works in the media, there's a difference between a brand like Complex and mainstream newspapers like the New York Times. We're not advocating for imperialist wars or endangering Trans peoples' lives or anything like that. It's important to recognize the distinctions between different media outlets and their coverage. But, that's a larger issue.

When it comes to media, especially hip-hop publications and blogs or those adjacent to the culture, there are a lot of conspiracy theories on social media about being paid to write certain narratives. I find these theories fascinating and insulting at the same time. As a writer, I'm not getting paid to write a negative story about a certain celebrity. Not everything in the media is driven by some hidden agenda or payment.

I wish, man.

Yeah, we would be rolling in it. That's just not the case. The case is we're just reporting on what is of interest to our audience while occasionally trying to highlight issues that are impacting the youth, people of color, etc. Lots of fascist shit going on. We see you Supreme Court.