๐๐ช ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ค ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐จ๐๐๐ ๐ฆ๐ก ๐๐ ๐ฃ ๐ ๐ฃ๐๐๐ค๐ ๐ ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฅ ๐ช๐๐ฅ ๐จ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ก๐ฅ!
In 2018 I posted a blog on an up and coming Toronto rapper, who since, has gained the love and respect of many a fan … to the tune of nearly 20,000,000 downloadsย on Spotify ALONE!ย His first album Hou I Am was pure fire!ย EVERY SINGLE SONG IS A BANGER!ย
He was chosen as Apple Music’s Artist of the Month, Hou Woulda Thought, took the #5 spot on Apple Music and was shown a lot of love from major playlists like Northern Bars. He was collabing with the likes of Tory Lanez, Killy and co-signed with Nav, in addition to his regular crew. ย He modelled for Off-White and they posted it to their Instagram earlier this month. ย He just launched his latest project,ย a five-track EP titled underGROUND, in March 2020.ย He was going places. ย He was the Don of the underground scene. ย He was one of the top 20 artists to watch out for in 2020. ย He was doing it – he was making it, getting out of Toronto – his fan base crossed international borders. Earlier this week, the blog I wrote on Hou was quoted in an article entitled “Houdini Dies at 21: Rapper Shot & Killed in Downtown Toronto”ย by Heavy.com and it landed traffic back to my interview with Houdini.
I wish I was blowing up for any other reason but this one ๐ญ.
As you well know Houdini (Dimarjio Antonio Jenkins) was shot and killed on May 26, 2020, in an act of brazen gun violence in the Entertainment District of Downtown Toronto.ย According to police, the suspects were waiting in a parked car for him, before they got out and opened fire on the rapper, who collapsed and later died from injuries.ย
Hou was back in the city after shooting his latest video in L.A. with Killy and from what I understand was back due to issues renewing his artists Visa and was unable to return to L.A. due to COVID-19 and travel restrictions.ย His targeted murder has been all over the local and national news. On TV, social media, paper press. ย There’s no escaping it and I’m still so shook. ย When I “interviewed” Hou he was living in Toronto. ย I use the term “interview” lightly … truth is, I knew him. ย He was dating someone in my family.
** I am not going to comment about gun violence in the city, ‘hood politics … that’s a whole bigger issue in society that I am not prepared to enter at this time. I am commenting about the person that I knew him to be. If you didn’t know him personally, if you’re just reading the dribs and drabs that the media or your privilege allow, I implore you toย look deeper – do some research and you’ll quickly see the truer version of who Houdini was … there are posts from ad execs, record labels, restauranteurs, fans, young up and comers for whom he was making a real difference. ย Watch his interviews online. ย Look at the man – not just the image or the circumstances. ย Please do the research before you form anย opinion on a life you knowย nothing about – that’s all I’m asking **ย
The last message I got from Hou was last July, he wished me a belated happy bday – we share the same – July 23.
What can I say? ย In the years that I’ve known Dimarjio (I always called him by his legal name), heย had an insatiable zest for life, the kid just wanted to LIVE, to make a difference. ย He was strong in his convictions, strong enough that he denied repeated record deals, choosing to stay in his own lane and have control over his music ๐ถI don’t need you all I need is myself, I wasn’t asking nobody for help๐ถ
“I stand on that, because when you’re signed, people expect way more from you. Like, your numbers got to be up there, you have to make sure you maintain the way you look, maintain just your whole aura. Everything. But when you’re underground, you’re more in control. You’re still kind of in the field and making music, so you could do shit. You could drop a tape and if it flops, no one really cares. But if you’re signed and you drop an album and it flops, that’s a big deal”.
~ INTERVIEW WITHย ALEX NINO GHECIUย FOR ย COMPLEX CANADA
He was an enormous talent, was full of love and loved to joke around. ย
At times he created lyrical genius while sitting at restaurants for breakfast or dinner. Once we were out for breakfast at Cora’s he grabbed a napkin, asked me if I had a pen in my purse and start writing lyrics to a track because something came to him while listening to beats he was sent. ย Or, the one time we were out for dinner at his fave Italian place in Vancouver and he’d sit there and listen to beats that he was dropped to try and figure out his next big blow up. When I was visiting them in Vancouver, he’d ask me to drop him off at the studio for hours and hours on end, then pick him up on the way back to their house.
The video for Late Nights with Burna Bandz was actually shot in my Land Rover,ย which I no longer own.ย I remember, I was so pissed at them because they had it for days to shoot the video and I needed it back so I could get to-from work … they sent me money for an Uber lol – seems like such small potatoes now.
Hou was clear that he had a target on his back. ย They wouldn’t have his rise – to get out of the city, to be the superstar he was destined to be. ย The city has hardly been accepting of its up and comers. There’s no need to look any further than the stats on rapper deaths in the city THIS year ALONE! ย Jealousy breeds hatred. ย Success breeds hatred. ย They wanted to take you out Hou. ย And they did *cry* ย Crabs inย theย bucket!
“๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ’๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ’๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต. ย ๐๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ณ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ค๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ, ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ข ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ต. ย ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ด๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต’ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต 3๐ณ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต’ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ’๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ. ย ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ. ย ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด. ย ๐๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ณ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฏ’๐ต ย ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ. ย ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ค๐ช๐ต๐บ.
~ Boosie in an interview with VLADTV
Hou was a natural and was taken from us MUCH TOO SOON! I’m ridiculously sad over this. He did notย deserve it. ย No one does. ย No one deserves to be stalked, targeted and taken out in the prime of their ย life/career. ย Shit Hou, you still had soย much to do fam ๐ญ
While the majority of the coverage/social media is largely supportive and is in shock (I just saw a video of his Houligansย ๐ฉย placing flowers and candles down at Blue Jays Way in memoriam) what’s eating me up inside (I’m an empath) is the negative press – the trolls – those who write with such conviction of what they don’t know. ย As if their presumptions are facts and they spew hate with such conviction. ย No matter the side of the coin you’re on, we can all agree that no one deserves to be murdered.
And then there’s this POS!
What the hell is this Toronto Sun? We all know you are trash media, but this is flipping sick. Making fun of his death? ย For headlines? ย To the great peoples credit, they took to social media to backlash this outrageousness. ย This shit from The Sun has to stop. ย For all media outlets and from everyone – violent death is not trivial. ย I posted my disgust to Instagram it was mentioned in two separate posts. ย I hope our collective disgust prompts action from The Sun (and since they’re a trash paper, I will not hold my breath).
From: Director X at wwetv_worldwide
“Houdini is a 21 year old rapper from the city who got shot dead the same day as George Floyd, downtown Toronto, beautiful sunny day, a 15 year old kid was also shot, apparently it was a friend of his, and a 27 year old woman that was just a bystander. ย Toronto is in a crisis of gun violence. ย There are young people getting shot and dying constantly in this city and a lot of bystanders. ย So I can understand Toronto Sun being the equivalent of your racist uncle at Thanksgiving. ย I can understand they don’t that they don’t care about a young rapper getting shot. ย But, you also don’t care about the innocent people just walking around? You don’t care about that? ย You don’t care that that could have been your daughter? You don’t care that that could have been your friend? That that could have been you? You don’t care about that either? ย It’s all a big funny joke to you because the person who did die was a rapper, a 21 year old? ย You can’t see past your own prejudice to see that a 21 year old kid losing their life as their life is really getting on track, you don’t see the tragedy in that? ….. Toronto Sun, whoever wrote that headline, approved that headline – the staff that works there that saw that headline on the front page and thought it was ok, that is sociopathic. ย You have an inability to feel compassion for people outside of your circle. ย It’s a problem. ย And, I wonder if I’m gonna hear something from the mayor, from the city, from the police … about a newspaper that thinks its ok to crack jokes about the gun violence crisis we have in our city”
I CHOOSE to ignore the haters – cause the haters gonna hate and post nothing but LOVE ย for Hou …. this is just a small snippet of the thousands and thousands of posts on social media.
This is a blog I never wanted to write, and I’m not sure I would have had all that traffic had not been redirected here.ย
My thoughts and prayers and deepest condolences go out to the entire Jenkins fam: his mom, dad, sisters, brother and rest of the fam for the loss of dadda. To his friends and Houligans ย — #LLHouย
Rest in power Dadda ๐ย Love you kid!
ย
