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RealToonTv speaks with Abdul Chappell, Founder of the First Texas Based Crip Set
Abdul Chappell discusses how western hip hop music influenced the culture and brought colors to Texas. When he was around 14 years old, Abdul stole his mother’s car and drove to California to meet Easy E from the rap group NWA. While there he didn’t have the opportunity to meet with Easy E or NWA, however he was introduced to the Crip Set in Grape. What he saw there was a brotherhood and not traditional gangbanging. His desire was to become a Crip, so he came back to Fort Worth and started the first Texas based Crip set on the Las Vegas Trail. Around that time, there was more structure to the city of Forth Worth as it related to street hustling. Everyone wasn’t in the streets; this was due to a certain street code that was understood throughout the communities. Due to mass incarcerations and the introduction of the confidential informant, the street code was lost. There was no longer any etiquette or principle, no council amongst street life and it created chaos. Snitching has become a part of the game whereas before when dealing with the judicial system people didn’t worry much about prosecution do to a witness’ statement. Confidential Informant were proposed to the community by the government as a way to fix the crime issues. However, it allowed for criminals to be in the street and continue to sell drugs and commit other crimes without any consequences from the law due to them giving statements on other criminals. It was hypocrisy and it taught young people that there were loopholes within the system to engage in criminal activity which was a big hindrance to the community.
Abdul believes the influences of rap groups such as NWA, poverty, the need for familial structure, and the glorification of gang culture in Hollywood caused the widespread introduction off colors around the country. He goes on further to say that gang sets are comparison to tribes such as Mandingos and other African tribes, because naturally people of color are tribal people. He encourages people to embrace their tribal roots however, in a positive aspect that doesn’t cause the destruction of their own communities. He hopes the future generations learn from his generation’s mistakes and are able to build the communities again. He speaks on gentrification of the communities as something that is a necessity if the correct social constructs are in place to ensure that people are able to thrive. Abdul is currently an active supporter to the youth in the community, in which he feels is a role he is obligated to perform, due to the fact that he didn’t receive the same support growing up. Furthermore, he takes responsibility for soliciting crack to parents in the communities which resulted in broken homes. The circumstances cause destruction of our neighborhoods and caused a generation of ‘beast and savages’. Children from broken and improvised homes without a gateway out of these circumstances are not the blame for the drastic actions they take towards self-preservation. He would tell a younger version of himself to always weigh out the consequences vs benefits.
