I personally never understood the hype over spending large amounts of money on a pair of sneakers, let alone purchasing them just so they can sit in its box and be “put on ice.” And while I do respect the hustle for those “heads” who are lining up in front of Footlockers and mom-and-pop boutique sneaker stores up to days at a time, only to flip them for insane prices on eBay, I would much rather invest my money into the simpler things in life: like food and every once and a while, the odd vinyl or comic book purchase.
Yet, according to a 2015 report-video from GQ, over 1,000 people die annually over sneaker purchases. It’s fucking ridiculous and heartbreaking to be frank.
Killa Kyleon is also fed up with the nonsensical violence and bullshit, and decided to address the epidemic on the appropriately titled single “Killing Over Jays.”
More importantly, the Houston, Texas rapper recently released his conceptual Lorraine Motel EP, honoring the late Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. whom was gunned down at the motel (where the National Civil Rights Museum now sits) on April 4th, 1968.
The Lorraine Motel project is directed at what’s going on in today’s society within the black community as a whole. It’s not a one sided commentary, it deals with the treatment people of color have been receiving from law enforcement and how we are programmed and influenced by social media, television and the culture of Hip-Hop to treat each other as well. As a race and culture, we need to stand together, but also take accountability for our actions. I feel the black American dream and ideal died when MLK was murdered in Memphis (at the Lorraine Motel). So I created this conceptual project as an analogy of today’s climate in America. We all (African Americans) died that day at the Lorraine Motel. Barack Obama is the last of one of our strongest black leaders to lead us as a race. The Lorraine Motel project focuses on events (both past and current) that have taken place since that fatal day.
