LONG LIVE BANKROLL

"If you want anything you gotta go hard for it. It takes passion. Dedication. Being Real. Honesty. Focus. Trust and believe in yourself." - Bankroll Fresh 

Energy is interesting. You can be at your highest point and unfortunate news can bring everything crashing down and you just feel empty. Friday March 4th I just came from checking the homies "4Deep" show out. Great show. Always good to see good people and feel good energy. I get home to find out Bankroll Fresh was shot and killed outside the studio he worked at in his hometown of Atlanta. The best way I could describe reading that news is that I just went numb. Human nature is to start asking why. What was Fresh into? Who would want to do him harm? Who was that close to him that knew his place of business and schedule? What would've happened if he never went to the studio that night? Why do I feel crushed and saddened over a man I didn't know? Why didn't he have a team around him at all times to make sure he was safe? All these questions are running through my head and then I stopped and said to myself "None of that matters" no one deserves to go out like that. This isn't a child molester or a serial killer that died this way. This was a upcoming rapper and family man who took care of his people.

I first heard Bankroll Fresh on Gucci Mane songs but I didn't know it was him so I guess you can say I really heard of him around late 2014. The rapper Fatman Key spoke highly of him in a interview so I decided to check out his material and came across The "Money to die 4" ep. First thing I heard was "36" then "Bet It" and of course the song that really put him on "Hot Boy." He wasn't the normal trap rapper of today. He had the same subject matter of course but his style and delivery was different from his peers. The style he had was very distinct and set him apart from the bunch. I really admired him for that. He could've went with what's selling and rap like Future or Migos but he paved his own path. You could just hear that he was a country street guy with something to say. I used to play "Paper Tags" like crazy. I wore The "Life Of A Hot Boy Vol 1" thee fuck out. I would always tweet his lyrics and he would always retweet them and show love. 

It doesn't take trolls long these days to come out when you hear news like this. Same soup. Reheated. "Oh you didn't listen to Bankroll." "He was a thug." "Y'all acting like you care." The same people who seek attention. God bless those people. If you knew him or not, a man was viciously murdered. If people who aren't really familiar with him want to sympathize I have no issue with that. If his death makes you want to checkout his music he left behind that's cool. Bankroll would want it that way. He'd want us all to play those trap classics he created. Bankroll Fresh wasn't a stupid man. He wasn't a knucklehead with money running around in the streets. The company he kept wasn't really like that either. They were all focused on building Street Money Worldwide. When he got the opportunity to go legit he capitalized. You can argue that Bankroll was one of the hardest working artist in the game. He dropped visuals damn near every week. He made a damn movie just a month ago with visuals for all his homies at the end of it like Master P did with "I'm Bout It" The Movie. He was always working and touring he didn't have time to act crazy in the streets if he tried. 

Every interview I ever saw of Bankroll he was talking about working and helping others. I never heard him speak ill of anyone. He didn't start beefs to my knowledge. He was just a guy happy to be doing something legit despite coming from a past full of wrong. He acknowledged his past in interviews and he would always say he wouldn't want anyone to go through what he been through. In a documentary he made he was extremely happy to see people in the neighborhood he grew up in and they were happy to see him. He was begging one of his friends to come to the studio so he can help him out and get him out the streets. Handing out money to the kids. He was explaining how his grandma was the neighborhood candy lady and she taught him everything he knows. Extremely humble guy who was finally living out part of his dream. He once said he said he wanted to see every black man succeed, that was the kind of guy that was murdered senselessly at his place of business. 

The thing about leaving the hood that I've learned is that it's a catch 22. If you leave it and move to the suburbs you're a sellout and the upper class white folks there wont ever accept you and it's just as ruthless as the hood but just in a more subtle way. If you stay in the hood and all your family still stay in the hood you're staying with the wolves and have to be on point 24/7. It's like a full time job. Even if you're working a good regular job with no street activity or if you're there to help the community you're still prey to the have nots. There is no more honor in the streets. There is no more code. College students used to be exempt. People who weren't in the dope game the street dudes avoided them. Kids were left out of the bullshit. It's no rules anymore. Everyone is fair game. It's just the crazy world we live in. If you grew up there you'll always have a tie to it. No matter what. People who always say leave it alone and think it's easy to just leave never grew up in the hood. The fact that some people are blaming Bankroll's upbringing on his death is insane to me. He wasn't flashing guns like a lot of these artists. He wasn't acting crazy. He didn't bring negative energy around him. Firing over 50 shots at someone is more than hate. It's fear. Fear is the foundation of hate. Whoever committed this crime feared Bankroll. 

This the first time ever writing something while my mind is jumbled and I'm kind of speechless but I knew I needed to write something about one of my favorite artists to help me get through this tragedy. I never personally knew Bankroll. I know a couple guys from Atlanta who did and they all said the same things about him. A cool guy who always loved to help people and minded his business. It was something about his music and the way he treated other people that really made you appreciate him. You knew he was just being himself. All of us have to start standing up, speaking out and acting against evil like this not just for artists like Bankroll but everyone who are victims of senseless violence. Prayers to everyone in the world who were victims of violence. Atlanta lost a great one. I'll forever play Bankroll music and keep his name alive.

Long Live Bankroll! 

STREEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!!!!! 

- BENNY