A video of a young rapper who calls himself Krispy Kreme has gone viral, presumably for its comedic value. But at least one aspect of the parody grants it a note of seriousness.
In the video, the aforementioned aspiring rapper, who looks to be in his early teens, fumbles his way through almost four minutes of slow-witted rhymes about beating up people in jail, getting girls, and owning 400 guitars and 400 cars. The subject matter might not differ greatly from some lower-grade rap lyrics, but its execution is abysmal at best.
Add to that the fact that these lines are delivered by a kid with a deer-in-headlights gaze and an upper lip that glistens with un-wiped mucus, and you have a video worthy of its 15 minutes of fame.
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But then there are the guns.
Both Krispy Kreme and his mute hype man, who sports a Mac Miller t-shirt and looks even younger than the emcee, spend a lot of the video posing with guns and pointing them at the camera. The kid in the blue t-shirt sports a pellet gun (the hinged pump is visible in some shots), but the prominence of the would-be armaments beg a few observations.
Granted, this a parody, so it's meant to be funny. Naturally, you can argue that these kids look ridiculous, and that the video is poking fun at teens that would take their middle-school thug image so seriously as to wave guns around on camera.
But then again, this is the post-Columbine era, when police have mistakenly shot kids carrying toy guns. Especially in this day and age, the idea of a gun in the hands of a child carries a lot of political baggage, whether it comes from home or abroad.
There's also the idea that guns lend a degree of power and legitimacy to those who aren't deserving of it. Would anyone give these kids one second of attention if they weren't packing? How many lame rappers hinge their credibility on a history of violence?
Is this parody potentially harmful? Let us know what you think.
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