It is a shame that we live in a world where “keeping it real” is a way of life. The definition of keeping it real is as convoluted as Malcolm X’s “by any means necessary.” People often ascribe their own feelings to these phrases and use them as mantras to enact violence or to do other antisocial acts. What I find most disheartening is that we use these phrases out of context as sort of a justification of their dastardly deeds.  In lieu of Remy Ma coming home from her bid, I wonder what the affect her release from prison will have on the fans and for the Black community?

The trend in Hip-Hop seems to be the more “real” you appear to be, the more fanfare ensues. The qualifications for being “real” is never in terms of positivity like when DMX saved a church from being shut down in Yonkers, but 2Pac shooting two police officers is considered an act of “realness.” Recently Remy Ma was released from prison after serving time for shooting a woman who she alleges stole money out of her purse. When she first was charged with attempted murder by law enforcement, she was also simultaneously charged with “keeping it real” by those within the Hip-Hop community. The fact that her actions were viewed as an appropriate response to her money allegedly being stolen from her, speaks volumes to the psychosis that is “keeping it real.”  George Zimmerman was and still is a racist that stalked and executed a little boy because he was afraid, was he keeping it real? The 12 men who hijacked and flew commercial jetliners into the World Trade Center because of political and misconstrued religious ideologies, were they keeping it real as well? I guess they were keeping it real relative to their position within their situations and by the convoluted Hip-Hop use of the term.

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