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Who is behind the hip-hop blogs spreading fake news about O-Block on social media?
By Mark Braboy and Matt Chapman
SEP 28 2022
SEP 28 2022
For as long as Chicago has been on the map as a dominant cultural hotbed, the city’s Black population has been a target of lucrative exploitation and racist scapegoating from right-wing and mainstream news, gossip blogs, and fringe hip-hop media.
On Instagram and Twitter, for example, thousands of posts pop up when searching for any artist or buzzword pertaining to Chicago drill music. Varying from local to overseas-based accounts, each post contains tabloid-styled headlines that either sensationalize Chicago’s gun violence or spread unsubstantiated rumors and lies about the world of drill music as an extension of it.
Recently, hip-hop gossip blogs en masse circulated misinformation across social media about Parkway Gardens, a.k.a. O-Block, being sold and set for demolition in 2023. Consequently, this incited derogatory jabs against Black Chicagoans, particularly Parkway Gardens residents.
Public comments under each post were filled with anti-Black sentiments such as “Place is a shythole known for crime and murder” and “That’s why purge season is gonna start Oblock close in 2023 and in January Illinois has no bail for violent crimes it’s over get ya grips stay dangerous.” Another wrote, “Don’t die for the block yo momma renting,” invoking bars from Grammy Award-winning Brooklyn rapper Jay-Z’s 2017 track, “The Story of OJ,” in the name of cliché moralism.
Not only does the spread of online misinformation lead to real-world harm, but it also gives legs to fear-mongering tactics specifically aimed at Black communities — as we continue to see with the ongoing Republican-funded campaign against the SAFE-T Act.
Mainstream media is certainly not immune to irresponsible news aggregation, sloppy reporting or rushing to get stories out for clicks. But when it comes to hip-hop gossip blogs, the damage is intensified toward Black audiences as many of them, unknowingly or otherwise, play a role in the frequent misinformation campaigns against Black Americans.
“It’s hurtful because they already go through enough and they have enough going on,” Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20th Ward) told The TRiiBE, referring to the constant trauma experienced by Parkway Gardens residents and ongoing disinvestment in the community.
“I don’t think people understand that they’re used as people’s talking points. [Atlanta-based rapper] Soulja Boy was on his tour bus and wanted to see O-Block ‘cause that’s what they call it in rap culture,” Taylor said. The community is often referenced by local rappers such as Chief Keef and the late King Von. “But that’s home to some people. That’s the only home they know.”
Formerly a gated community, the Woodlawn-based Parkway Gardens housing complex was completed in 1955. It’s home to many esteemed Black Chicagoans including OTF Records general manager Ola Ali; former First Lady Michelle Obama; rappers Cupcakke, Chief Keef, Boss Top, Shoebox Baby, and the late King Von, who is painted in a famous mural in the neighborhood that is drawing global tourism but has drawn ire from some residents in the neighborhood. The area is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The neighborhood grew to infamy in the turbulent 1990s; the height of power and organization for Chicago’s most notorious street gangs and also the disastrous War on Drugs. The Black Disciples became the dominant gang at Parkway Gardens, marking their territory from the 6300 to the 6500 block of South King Drive as “WIIIC City (Wild, Insane, Crazy)”.
As a younger generation of kids who grew up in Parkway Gardens were born into the escalating gang war between the nearby rival Gangster Disciple factions between the late 2000s and early 2010s, WIIIC City would be rechristened by the younger BDs as “O Block” in honor of their slain member Odee Perry.
As soon as the rumors began to spread offline among Parkway Gardens residents, Taylor said she received dozens of calls from upset constituents. She informed Emerald South Economic Development Collaborative president and CEO Ghian Foreman, who also serves as president of the Chicago Police Board. She collaborates with him on issues related to Parkway Gardens and Related Midwest, as the realty company owns properties in the South Side neighborhood.
Taylor urged Foreman and Related Midwest to put out a statement to quell the rumors. Taylor shared the realty company’s message with The TRiiBE:
"It has come to our attention that there are rumors circulating on social media about the sale of Parkway Gardens and the relocation of residents. These claims are completely false and we want to make it absolutely clear that Parkway Gardens has not been sold. Any information about Parkway Gardens that affects residents will always come directly from Related and/or Related Management. We are committed to investing in Parkway Gardens and look forward to continuing to provide the best possible services to residents of the community.”
Misinformation about O-Block being sold dates back to April 29, 2021. That’s when the Chicago Sun-Times first reported that Related Midwest put the apartment complex up for sale. The news crossed over to the hip-hop blogosphere when, during that same month, Englewood-bred superstar Lil Durk declared on Twitter that he wanted to buy the property. “I’ll buy it don’t matter how much it is,” he tweeted in his reply to Chicago-focused blog Kollege Kidd’s post on April 30, 2021.
Soon, Texas-based blog Say Cheese TV picked up the topic, but deeply misrepresented the issue with falsehoods. To an audience of 300,000 followers, Say Cheese TV tweeted on April 29, 2021, that, “O-Block will be disbanded and relocated,” without citing a source.
In May 2021, AllHipHop and Media Take Out ran with it, publishing on their websites that O-Block was sold for an “undisclosed amount” to “some mogul” or “hedge fund group,” but neither specified who. To make matters worse, some larger and more reputable hip-hop publications such as The Source, Hot New Hip Hop (HNHH), and HIPHOPDX further spread the misinformation by citing Say Cheese TV in their respective online articles.
The fake story about O-Block resurfaced again in September 2022, around the same time that the “purge” law misinformation campaign took off. This time around, Say Cheese TV and a litany of fringe hip-hop accounts such as RapTV and Daily Loud added an additional lie: that Parkway Gardens “will be set for demolition in January 2023.” Say Cheese has since deleted the tweet, but also shared the inaccurate news about the SAFE-T Act. The latter has not been deleted.
To this day, none of these outlets have circulated the June 2021 follow-up story from the Chicago Sun-Times, which reports that Related Midwest took Parkway Gardens off the market. As of Sept. 27, Parkway Gardens is still listed on Related Midwest as one of their properties.
TL, DR: Blogs misrepresented the situation regarding the sale of O-Block and even added their own spin and other Hip Hop websites picked up the misrepresentation. None did their due diligence.
thetriibe.com
It's an interesting story regarding the constant game of telephone these blogs are playing. Y'all should read the rest, one of the residents talks about how O-Block has become this place to be exploited for clout without any investment or help from those doing the exploitation.
By Mark Braboy and Matt Chapman
SEP 28 2022
SEP 28 2022
For as long as Chicago has been on the map as a dominant cultural hotbed, the city’s Black population has been a target of lucrative exploitation and racist scapegoating from right-wing and mainstream news, gossip blogs, and fringe hip-hop media.
On Instagram and Twitter, for example, thousands of posts pop up when searching for any artist or buzzword pertaining to Chicago drill music. Varying from local to overseas-based accounts, each post contains tabloid-styled headlines that either sensationalize Chicago’s gun violence or spread unsubstantiated rumors and lies about the world of drill music as an extension of it.
Recently, hip-hop gossip blogs en masse circulated misinformation across social media about Parkway Gardens, a.k.a. O-Block, being sold and set for demolition in 2023. Consequently, this incited derogatory jabs against Black Chicagoans, particularly Parkway Gardens residents.
Public comments under each post were filled with anti-Black sentiments such as “Place is a shythole known for crime and murder” and “That’s why purge season is gonna start Oblock close in 2023 and in January Illinois has no bail for violent crimes it’s over get ya grips stay dangerous.” Another wrote, “Don’t die for the block yo momma renting,” invoking bars from Grammy Award-winning Brooklyn rapper Jay-Z’s 2017 track, “The Story of OJ,” in the name of cliché moralism.
Not only does the spread of online misinformation lead to real-world harm, but it also gives legs to fear-mongering tactics specifically aimed at Black communities — as we continue to see with the ongoing Republican-funded campaign against the SAFE-T Act.
Mainstream media is certainly not immune to irresponsible news aggregation, sloppy reporting or rushing to get stories out for clicks. But when it comes to hip-hop gossip blogs, the damage is intensified toward Black audiences as many of them, unknowingly or otherwise, play a role in the frequent misinformation campaigns against Black Americans.
“It’s hurtful because they already go through enough and they have enough going on,” Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20th Ward) told The TRiiBE, referring to the constant trauma experienced by Parkway Gardens residents and ongoing disinvestment in the community.
“I don’t think people understand that they’re used as people’s talking points. [Atlanta-based rapper] Soulja Boy was on his tour bus and wanted to see O-Block ‘cause that’s what they call it in rap culture,” Taylor said. The community is often referenced by local rappers such as Chief Keef and the late King Von. “But that’s home to some people. That’s the only home they know.”
Formerly a gated community, the Woodlawn-based Parkway Gardens housing complex was completed in 1955. It’s home to many esteemed Black Chicagoans including OTF Records general manager Ola Ali; former First Lady Michelle Obama; rappers Cupcakke, Chief Keef, Boss Top, Shoebox Baby, and the late King Von, who is painted in a famous mural in the neighborhood that is drawing global tourism but has drawn ire from some residents in the neighborhood. The area is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The neighborhood grew to infamy in the turbulent 1990s; the height of power and organization for Chicago’s most notorious street gangs and also the disastrous War on Drugs. The Black Disciples became the dominant gang at Parkway Gardens, marking their territory from the 6300 to the 6500 block of South King Drive as “WIIIC City (Wild, Insane, Crazy)”.
As a younger generation of kids who grew up in Parkway Gardens were born into the escalating gang war between the nearby rival Gangster Disciple factions between the late 2000s and early 2010s, WIIIC City would be rechristened by the younger BDs as “O Block” in honor of their slain member Odee Perry.
As soon as the rumors began to spread offline among Parkway Gardens residents, Taylor said she received dozens of calls from upset constituents. She informed Emerald South Economic Development Collaborative president and CEO Ghian Foreman, who also serves as president of the Chicago Police Board. She collaborates with him on issues related to Parkway Gardens and Related Midwest, as the realty company owns properties in the South Side neighborhood.
Taylor urged Foreman and Related Midwest to put out a statement to quell the rumors. Taylor shared the realty company’s message with The TRiiBE:
"It has come to our attention that there are rumors circulating on social media about the sale of Parkway Gardens and the relocation of residents. These claims are completely false and we want to make it absolutely clear that Parkway Gardens has not been sold. Any information about Parkway Gardens that affects residents will always come directly from Related and/or Related Management. We are committed to investing in Parkway Gardens and look forward to continuing to provide the best possible services to residents of the community.”
Misinformation about O-Block being sold dates back to April 29, 2021. That’s when the Chicago Sun-Times first reported that Related Midwest put the apartment complex up for sale. The news crossed over to the hip-hop blogosphere when, during that same month, Englewood-bred superstar Lil Durk declared on Twitter that he wanted to buy the property. “I’ll buy it don’t matter how much it is,” he tweeted in his reply to Chicago-focused blog Kollege Kidd’s post on April 30, 2021.
Soon, Texas-based blog Say Cheese TV picked up the topic, but deeply misrepresented the issue with falsehoods. To an audience of 300,000 followers, Say Cheese TV tweeted on April 29, 2021, that, “O-Block will be disbanded and relocated,” without citing a source.
In May 2021, AllHipHop and Media Take Out ran with it, publishing on their websites that O-Block was sold for an “undisclosed amount” to “some mogul” or “hedge fund group,” but neither specified who. To make matters worse, some larger and more reputable hip-hop publications such as The Source, Hot New Hip Hop (HNHH), and HIPHOPDX further spread the misinformation by citing Say Cheese TV in their respective online articles.
The fake story about O-Block resurfaced again in September 2022, around the same time that the “purge” law misinformation campaign took off. This time around, Say Cheese TV and a litany of fringe hip-hop accounts such as RapTV and Daily Loud added an additional lie: that Parkway Gardens “will be set for demolition in January 2023.” Say Cheese has since deleted the tweet, but also shared the inaccurate news about the SAFE-T Act. The latter has not been deleted.
To this day, none of these outlets have circulated the June 2021 follow-up story from the Chicago Sun-Times, which reports that Related Midwest took Parkway Gardens off the market. As of Sept. 27, Parkway Gardens is still listed on Related Midwest as one of their properties.
TL, DR: Blogs misrepresented the situation regarding the sale of O-Block and even added their own spin and other Hip Hop websites picked up the misrepresentation. None did their due diligence.
Who is behind the hip-hop blogs spreading fake news about O-Block on social media? • The TRiiBE
Recently, hip-hop and culture blogs en masse circulated misinformation across social media about Parkway Gardens, a.k.a. O-Block. The TRiiBE investigates what’s going on behind the lies.
thetriibe.com
It's an interesting story regarding the constant game of telephone these blogs are playing. Y'all should read the rest, one of the residents talks about how O-Block has become this place to be exploited for clout without any investment or help from those doing the exploitation.
