Newsflash my guy. Most hood nikkas ain't "notable" figures so I don't even know what that means. The city is too big for shyt like that. I could tell u nikkas I know personally who was wild af but wasn't nobody in the grand scheme of things. But anyone who knew Styles knew that nikka wasn't playin. Simple as that. nikka this my ex girl. She got songs with both Kiss and Styles. This is just a sample of how close a vantage point I know what I'm talking about my boi. Lol.
I already said I'm not dismissing your experiences or closeness to the situation, so there's nothing for you to be defensive of.
I also know you are closer to my age than theirs, and the people who told me about these guys are in their age range. I spoke on this years ago on this site when I spoke on my time in NY. So I'm also not dismissing the accounts of people in they age group who also said they knew what they were talking about.
I don't care enough to say that anyone is lying or anyone is telling the truth, my brother. I recognize that people can have different lenses they view the same image thru....looking at the exact same thing but see something different.
You and I have had conversations in years past and our experiences aren't the same so I also understand that what is considered "street shyt" to you isn't always gonna qualify to me, and its all good. Ain't nothing to be upset over.
My experiences give me a relatively unique view, one thing I've mentioned before, is I believe an ability to read the body language. You can say literally anything....these guys have given thousands of interviews over the course of what, going on 30 years?
I never ever thought to myself, "these some gangstas", never saw it on em. And years later I meet people who confirm what I thought about em. Which, I'm neither a fan nor hater of the click, I liked some stuff, didn't like others, they weren't a big presence in my musical upbringing. But not viewing them as g's never made me look at em crazy, I thought some things were obvious, thought they were always a little overrated musically, but respect their legend. So whatever I thought of their persona didn't affect how I viewed the artistry.