“And I’m from the murder capital where they murder for capital…”

These are lyrics from Kanye West and Jay-Z’s 2011 song, “Murder to Excellence”. A Chicago native, West illustrates real world issues in the city known for it’s high murder rate and “black on black” crime.

But West isn’t the only Chicagoan that has spoke out against the high number of killings. In his 2016 debut album, Humble Beast, rapper G-Herbo (real name Herbert Wright) featured many songs encapsulating the high crime rates and murders in Chicago.

Most notably in his single “Red Snow”, did Wright provide a gritty and detailed look into life in the dangerous streets which he grew up on:

“The murder cap, closing your eyes’ll get you gunned down quickly”

These lyrics, much like West’s give listeners an in depth view of the murder epidemic in the heart of the Midwest.

Chicago goes by many names, Mud City, Chi-Town, Murder City and Chi-Raq. Chi-Raq (a mixture of Chicago and Iraq) was a name given to the city by the city and properly addresses reality in the city.

“I feel the pain in my city wherever I go
314 soldiers died in Iraq, 509 died in Chicago”

Another quote from “Murder to Excellence”, West makes the comparison between a city and a warzone. The fact that they are able to compare is frightening.

So let’s introduce some stats. In 2017, Chicago was the home to 625 shootings resulting in killings, 2936 shootings resulting in people being wounded, accumulating a total of 3,561 shootings. Now in the same year, “Chi-Raq” saw 681 homicides. New York was able to end the year with fewer than 300 homicides.

According to Towncharts, New York city has a population of 8,426,743 and the population of Chicago is 2,727,534.

Wow.

Chicago has little over a fourth of people compared to New York and yet still has double the murders.

The city has tried everything to stop the murders, from increasing police patrol to threatening harsher sentences for firearms violations.

A few days after moving into the White House, President Trump put the third-largest city in the country on notice: “If Chicago doesn’t fix the horrible ‘carnage’ going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the Feds!”

Chicago is home to some of the most beautiful sights in the world and the most dangerous areas.