I was rewatching Joey Badass's freestyle on Power 106 from a year ago and was struck by how he'd aged, in a good way though; a distinguished wisdom. Survival Tactics dropped 6 years ago and still holds up as one of the best verses of the millennium. Joey Badass was only 17 at the time. There's no doubt he's done a lot of living since then, you can see it in his eyes, and I can't help but be reminded of Capital Steez.
Joey Badass and Capital Steez were both members of the Progressive Era, a rap collective Steez founded. They both started rapping in Brooklyn at a very young age and began gaining notoriety when they were 16, really breaking into the scene with songs like Survival Tactics, Apex, 95' to Infinity, and Free The Robots: all total fire. It truly was the Pro Era. Joey dropped his 1999 mixtape and exploded as the breakout star of the group. Steez wasn't forgotten tohugh, releasing quality tracks throughout 2012.
On christmas eve of that same year, he jumped to his death from the roof of a building in New York City. He tweeted "The End" right before.
The members of Pro Era were like a family, and were devestated. A death in the family changes people. The boys came from Brooklyn streets, they've seen death, but this was different.
Captial Steez was really into esotiric ideas and conspiracy thoeries. He was a self-proclaimed "indigo child" and sirutality was a big part of his life. These ways of thinking were a huge influcnece on his music, with verses often explicityly referencing the powers that be and the higher dimensions. The opening line of Free The Robots goes, "Illuminati tryna read my mind".
These "alternative" ways of thinking can lead to some great wisdom; the conspiracy theories, the ancient texts, the higher dimensions, the all-surrounding-loving-conciousness, its all for a noble cause and not without its merit. But its very easy to lose yourself to it. Its a rabbit hole that pulls hard and fast. There's also a lot of this kind of stuff thats just complete bullshit, but remains quite enticing to the untrained eye; a polished turd. The 2012 theory comes to mind as something the entire "spiritual" community was behind in full force. And then nothing happened. And no one tried to hold any of these "predictors" accountable, we just kept buying their books.
Its not the ideas themselves that are dangerous. I highly doubt that the Mayan calendar was the reason Capital Steeze did what he did. He was obviously wrestling with a lot of pain and confusion in his life. But when people dive in head first to this stuff, bad things happen. I've witnessed it first hand, many times. Young men like to rebel, and cling to ideologies that justify their actions. Consume as much conspiracy theories and ancient texts as you can, by all means, but think about it after. Because a lot of it is nonsense.
Today's political climate has attracted many lost young souls looking for something important. I think a lesson can be learned from Capital Steez, one that proposes moderation of all ideas, and rationality despite emotion, not because of it. Steez was a true genius, and could have done some real good against the evils he knew existed, but he never got the chance. Change happens in baby steps, one day at a time.
Captial Steez is honoured every year with a memorial concert held in Central Park by Joey Badass and the rest of Pro Era. King Capital, Steez's unreleased album, is said to still be floating around out there. Joey's said he'll be releasing it this year, and I couldn't be more excited.
So many have tried to do what Steez did with his music, but no one's ever had the same impact, and its a blessing from above we get t hear more of it.
Apex Predators
47 life.
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