• Forums
• Watch Videos
• Contact Us
• TK Store

Calling all hip hop practitioners, it’s that time again! Gangsta-gangsta read all about it. Remember when people use to ask, “is it life imitating art or art imitating life?” Well meet the life it’s really based upon. The powerful Mexican drug Cartel known as La Familia just killed 12 federal agents in a drug war attack. You can say it, “DAMN!!!!!” The Cartel went all out apesh** on the FEDs! Some of you may recall the first introduction of La Familia when they were throw into the spotlight in 2006 when a member walked into a bar and threw five severed heads on to the dance floor. I bet the dance floor cleared like a Young Berg album started spinning.

How many times do we find our favorite homeboy rappers spitting gory tales of how they did someone in? Well the next time you hear such a fable tell them that the bodies of a dozen federal anti-drug agents were found on a mountain highway in Michoacán, the home state of Felipe Calderón, on Monday. The killing of the agents was the worst loss of life in a single attack since President Calderón took office in 2006, taking the war between the narcotics gangs and the Government into uncharted territory. Their murders were the boldest of at least ten reprisal attacks since Arnoldo Rueda Medina, nicknamed La Minsa, was arrested on Saturday. He is reputedly the second-in-command of La Familia cartel in Michoacán. The surge in violence marks a potential shift in Mexico’s drug wars, which have claimed 11,000 lives during the presidency of Mr Calderón, who ordered the army to intervene. Then you can ask the rapper how does their experience compare to that, because it certainly will not.

In no way am I championing this killing spree. What I’m saying is that when rappers gloat about grabbing a gun so quickly because it sounds cool what about those who are picking up their piece because it’s a tragic life or death scenario? Michoacán, on the Pacific coast, has become a battleground because it controls routes into the United States. It is also one of Mexico’s main producers of marijuana, opium poppies and synthetic drugs. Mr Rueda was arrested in the Michoacán capital, Morelia. He is allegedly the right-hand-man to the reputed boss, Nazario Moreno Gonzalez, known as El Mas Loco, or the Craziest One. Within hours of the arrest, gunmen from La Familia, armed with rifles and grenades, ambushed federal forces in seven cities. Some of the attacks took place near tourist sites such as the arts-and-crafts centre of Patzcuaro and Zitacuaro, which is famous for its monarch butterflies. In the most brutal attack, eleven men and one woman agent were abducted while off duty. Their bodies were found stacked on the highway with death threats that read: “La Familia, join its ranks or leave” and “Let’s see if you try to arrest another one”. Basically this is real life and if you don’t live it don’t rap it!

Every year Mexican cartels smuggle illegal drugs worth about $40 billion (£24 billion) into the United States, the world’s biggest market for narcotics. Mexico is a major source of heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana and a key transit country for the vast amounts of cocaine that are transported over the border. The majority of the killings were carried out using firearms from the US. Most of the drug violence takes place in a few cities near the US border, with drugs and people being trafficked to the north, and weapons to the south. Now make a song about that and see if it goes platinum in ringtone sales, the sad thing about the recording industry today is… it probably will!

Written By Sha'Linda Jeanine

Sha’Linda holds a M.S. and B.S. in Mass Communications. In addition to The Koalition she is also a journalist/author for HipHopDX, AllHipHop, Yo Raps, HHW, etc. Her focal point is Hip-Hop the genre and lifestyle. This examination is her concern, responsibility, and cultural investigation.