Ya Heard: Young rapper's death echoes rhymes of hip-hop great

"Murder is born of love, and love attains the greatest intensity in murder"

There is a saying that the late Notorious B.I.G. so accurately spoke when he rapped "You're nobody 'til somebody kills you." Perhaps this dictum comes from a far greater and older source than the hip-hop great, but over the years I have come to believe this. It may strike you as a bit naive or even ignorant as we know that it is not a requirement to be shot in order to be seen as an accomplished individual or a 'somebody' for that mat-ter. For example, prior to this week, many of us had never heard the name Roderick Anthony Bur-ton Jr., aka Dolla.

Burton was a 21-year-old hip-hop artist who was fatally shot in a mall while in Los Angeles this week. Hip-hop is my life and I had never heard of the guy. I learned of this young man's unfortunate demise from my father of all sources. He is the least likely person to know of anything going on in modern music.

Upon hearing the news, I was astonished to find the story on just about every major entertainment Web site. Unbeknownst to the rest of the world, Dolla was a somewhat accomplished artist who was signed to Akon's Konvict record label. In addition to his musical achievements, he was also a model for Diddy's Sean Jean clothing line. Diddy even took time out to post a mes-sage on twitter that read, "RIP Dolla. God bless his family! He was a good kid! You will be missed player. Don't take life for granted people!"

It's amazing because, all of a sudden, this kid is getting the publicity he would have…well, died for. My point is this: As far-fetched as the saying above might sound upon hearing it for the first time, there is a lot of truth in it. Of course we all know that it is human nature to want some-thing that we cannot have, especially after we've had it and then lost it, such as the life of a loved one.

However, history views death by way of illness slightly different than someone who is killed by another person. Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., John Lennon, etc. have all become mar-tyrs due to the fact that they were assassinated. Now these are significant people in history that had made astronomical contributions to society. But their violent deaths further engrained these individuals into our minds.

There is, and always will be, death…but death by another's hand is another thing altogether. We call it murder, assassination, capital punishment, and whatever else, but the truth is that when someone lives their life to the extent that somebody wants to kill them, then that person is etched in our memory for far longer than those of us who die of natural causes. No matter how great or how hideous a person's deeds may have been, if murder, assassination or capital punish-ment ends their life, we then subconsciously put an asterisk next to that individual's life.

Maybe B.I.G. was onto something…"You're nobody 'til somebody kills you"…'Til then, Peace!!!

Dennis Winn can be reached at 703-200-4928 or YaHeard40@gmail.com.