Death Before Dishonor: Rap, Realness and the Murder of Dolla

This much is fact. According to the L.A. Times, on May 18, 2009, Roderick Burton, better known as Atlanta-based rapper Dolla, and 24-year old Aubrey Berry, also from Atlanta, saw each other in a restaurant in Los Angeles' Beverly Center mall. Minutes later Dolla lay dead in the Beverly Center parking garage, shot four times, three times in the back, by Berry.

There is no question that Berry murdered Dolla, or how he did it. On its surface, Dolla's death is a tragic though sadly familiar story. Of course there is one question surrounding the murder of Dolla. Why? And it's a question that not only has serious implications for Berry's ongoing trial, but touches on one of hip-hop's core values; realness.

Berry readily admits he shot and killed Dolla. Instead, his defense hinges on the line between rap's often indistinguishable elements of reality and fantasy. In a tragically ironic twist, Dolla's music has now become the one thing that sets his killer Free. Using Dolla's lyrics and videos as evidence, Berry's lawyers are arguing that Dolla was a violent individual who was deeply involved in gang life and bragged about being constantly armed.



According to Berry, he and Dolla had fought previously in an Atlanta night club. During the fight, Berry claims Dolla was repping the Mansfield Crips, a Los Angeles gang. So when Berry saw Dolla again that fateful day in the Beverly Center, and Dolla allegedly told him, "You in my hood. You wanna die, huh?", the defense argues he has every reason to believe that Dolla was legitimately threatening his life. In essence, Berry says he was acting out of self-defense.

"I had a personal experience with the things they're bragging about," Berry testified. "They're not just talking about these things. They're doing it."

In rebuttal, the prosecution is arguing that Dolla's music cannot be held as an accurate reflection of his life, and certainly not as justifiable cause for homicide. Pointing out that everyone from Frank Sinatra to John Lennon has used violent imagery in their music, lead prosecutor Deputy Dist. Atty. Halim Dhanidina insists that, "What an artist does and what an artist creates does not reflect on reality," saying that Dolla was an entertainer only interested in selling music in a culture where violence sells. Ironically, the prosecution of Dolla's murderer hinges on proving that the one thing Dolla spent his professional life trying to prove was real, is a complete image.

"It's marketing," Dhanidina told jurors. "The lyrics of the rap song has nothing to do with this case.... An unarmed man was gunned down in cold blood from behind."

In the end, the jurors believed that Berry was justifiably afraid of Dolla, acquitting him on all charges .

What exactly happened that day, as well as truth behind Dolla's alleged gang affiliation, are well beyond my means. But on a larger level, this case has put on trial not only Berry, but rap's fetish with "realness." Violence and hip-hop have been intertwined since its inception, but violence as a prerequisite for rap respect truly took off in the '90s with N.W.A. Now, more than twenty years after Ice Cube rhymed that he was, "A young nigga on a warpath / And when I'm finished, it's gonna be a bloodbath", a rapper's ability to live the life he portrays in his music, or to at least convince the consuming public that he is living that life, can make or break a career.

As Dolla's case proves, distinguishing fact from fiction can extraordinarily difficult, if not impossible. How "real" is a rapper who buys a gun in order to back up the claims he makes in his raps that he stays strapped? How "real" is a rapper who then uses that gun when his claims of being willing to shot at anyone, anytime, are challenged? Either way, the consequences are the same, and as we know from Pac, Biggie, Dolla and countless others, those consequences can be deadly.

UPDATE: Today DJ Shabazz, Dolla’s friend and DJ, released the new track "Role Model" as a tribute to Dolla. Listen below.