Controversial Vlog Site Takes Firsthand Look At Sights And Sounds Of American Murder Capital 

 

Hip-Hop culture, and more specifically rap music, has always been a barometer of what is happening in America’s most impoverished, neglected, and disadvantaged urban areas. The lifestyle, terminology, struggles, social and economic factors of the inhabitants of heavily minority-populated sectors has been spilling out through the medium of rap for more than 40 years. Whenever one looks to gauge the pulse of America’s most marginalized citizens, you can count on Hip-Hop culture to give you the raw and real.

WorldStarHipHop, a video blog site started in 2005 by founder Q, has come under fire in the past for shining a light on the more unsightly aspects of Hip-Hop culture. The website, infamous for its fight compilations, adult oriented content, and struggle rap music vids, has never quite flexed its journalistic muscle although, with an average of 1.1 million unique visitors daily, it maintains an influential sway on the perception of urban culture.

These perceived shortcomings are momentarily put on the back burner with the release of WSHH’s first documentary entitled The Field: Violence, Hip-Hop and Hope For Chicago. The doc depicts the United State’s third largest city, a municipality that charted an astounding 500 murders in 2012, helping it achieve the dubious distinction of “Murder Capital” when the FBI released its nation-wide statistics late last year.

As cameras get up close and personal with the city’s inhabitants in an effort to better understand what is causing all the violence, the leaders of Chi-Town’s young rap scene breakdown what it means to survive in “The Field” on a daily basis. Major label recording artists Lil Durk, Lil Reese and King Louie as well as highly-touted upstarts Katie Got Bandz, Lil Mouse and Lil Bibby, among others, explain the city’s volatile nature, as well as how it’s flourishing music scene, the Drill movement, is bringing attention to the city and providing a positive outlet for Chiraq’s youth.

Check out the documentary above.