Tricky blames hip hop for rise in gun crime
Tricky has attacked hip hop music
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Monday, 26, May 2008 12:19
British musician Tricky has attacked hip hop music for its role in fuelling gun and knife crime.
The Mercury Prize-nominated star told Uncut magazine: "I love hip hop. But it has to take some responsibility for the gun culture we've got over here. We're getting super-violent."
Tricky, real name Adrian Thaws, added: "You can walk around the Bronx for days on end and nobody bothers you. In England, you can say the wrong thing in a pub and, before you know it, you've got a bottle over your head or a bullet in your brain. English people have got quicker tempers."
The singer/producer, 40, said that youths today had no means of escape and that in his day fashion played a big part in avoiding trouble.
"What have they got to get them through hard times? We had punk rock and ska and bands that made you feel you could do anything," he said.
"We were into clothes in a big way. Anything to take our minds off the stress. They don't have to think about getting dressed. They get the baseball cap and trainers on, that's all it is.
"But they've got nothing to take the pressure off. That's maybe why they are more violent than we were. That and the fact they have access to serious artillery.
"We used to throw stones at each other. Now they shoot bullets at each other. Hip hop has got a lot to do with that."
Fourteen young people have died violently in London alone so far this year.