The music is loud,
it drums,
slams,
bams
and lashes out
at the barrenness
of living in public housing.

the music is loud,
it makes your heart
pound,
pulse
and palpitate.

The rapper's voice
is like
staccato volleys
of gun fire.

To understand him
you gotta go
much deeper
than just knowing the words
you gotta have been
where he's talking about.

He is on the mike
selling his balls,
selling his run-ins
with the police
and his adventures
with the ladies.

The sounds
are coming
from an empty apartment
on the fourth floor
and crashes down
onto the people
in the asphalt courtyard.

It is their music.

It is their life's blood.

They call the high tension
and hard hitting tracks
"Hip-Hop."

They mouth the music
and imitate the phraseology.

They have seen the rappers
in their videos
a hundred times
and emulate their routines.

Their dance steps
are inspired by self-defense maneuvers:
running in place,
sporadic kick-boxing,
Kung-Fu fighting
and just throwin' their arms around.

Their moves are asking,
"Where's mine?"
and calling out for what's decent
and humane.

The people are excited
and laughing.

The D.J. is taking them
to a hot-blooded climax.
They make a circle
around one couple
that's really doin' it. 

Rasheb and Thelma are
too much into each other
to care who's looking.

He got a body
that the girls scream at.

She got a body
that the boys dream about.

They gettin' as nasty
as they wanna be.

Rasheb got his pants unzipped
and faking sex moves on Thelma

The crowd was pumping them up,
"Go 'head!"

A car pulled up
the trigger man
leaned out the window
brandishing a shot gun
and people started to ducking
and dodging.

On the "News"
they said the shootings
were gang-related.

They ran down the fatalities:

one Rasheb Jackson
was shot in chest- D.O.A.

one Thelma Wright
was shot in chest
and right shoulder-D.O.A.

The run-down
on the surviving victims were:

a 16 year-old boy was shot in both legs
and is at "Cook County Hospital";

a 17 year-old boy was shot in the face
and is in serious conditon at
"Little Company of Mary";

a 25 year-old man that was shot in the buttocks
is in good conditon at "Mount Sinai;"

10 others required
minor medical treatment
and were released.

The reporter said
the music should be banned
because it causes violence
and the manager of the buildings
said that if he caught
anyone playing it
above 10 decibels
they would be thrown out
into the street.

The place where
the shooting went down
was made into a basket ball court
and named after Rasheb and Thelma.