Hot 21 Radio

G Herbo has never been one to shy away from the violence that plagues his city of Chicago, and he always makes it a point to speak on it and raise awareness.

G Herbo experienced that violence firsthand growing up in his neighborhood, and hes shared those stories on several of his songs. During a recent interview with Hot 97s Ebro in the Morning radio show, G Herbo briefly spoke about what it means to survive in the gritty streets of Chicago by channeling some vintage Kanye Westlyrics. According to Herbo, people automatically become saviors if they make it past their 25th birthday. Im taking a responsibility to just let people know hey, look, life is real along these ends,' Herbo said. When I was 18, even before that, 15, 16, I used to call people from my hood that turned 25, Im like Oh, yeah, you OG status now, cause being outside, your life can be taken from you at any moment. Kanye West shared those same sentiments back in 2004 on We Dont Care, off his debut studio album The College Dropout. The lyric in question was, We wasnt supposed to make it past twenty-five/Jokes on you, we still alive, which symbolized the dynamic between the hood and the years it takes off Black Americans. Blacks who grew up in the inner city have a shorter life expectancy than their white counterparts due to several factors such as drugs, gun violence and inadequate health care. According to a report by the Chicago Sun Times in June 2021, Black Chicagoans are nowhere near expected to live as long as white residents. If they make it past 25, Blacks still have to face the ongoing threats that other races rarely face. Black Chicagoans on average live 71.4 years while non-Black residents live 80.6 years, the article read. While non-Blacks saw their life expectancy drop by more than three months in those five years, life expectancy dropped for Blacks by more than 14 months. Another report from Bookingssays the issue is even worse on a national scale. Their article from February 2021 claims the life expectancy at birth for white men is 6 years lower than at age 65, but for Black men, that gap is over nine years meaning they were more likely to die prematurely. Kanye West played into sentiments many Black Americans feel about their place in society via his Read more