and they say Chi City...

I'm a Chicago girl until I die. I love my city to death, and I love hearing about my city in music. When I listen to songs by Kanye especially, I just love knowing he's from when I'm from. Watch The Throne has been playing since I downloaded it, and one song really sticks out to be - Murder To Excellence. Kanye in Murder To Excellence >

The crime rate in my city is CRAZY high. Hearing about death, especially in the black community, isn't something shocking. It's so sad to here about people my friends were close to, losing someone they love. It's getting too close to home and it's just ridiculous. The fact that Ye acknowledged this is just... I'm not quite sure what words I want to use. I feel as if people from other cities don't understand how a Chicagoan feels listening to this song. It's just so relateable. I love when topics are real. I don't even know what to say...

When I was in 8th grade, my dance school's performing company put on a show called Generation Next which was dedicated to all the CPS students who had lost their lives in the past year. This is back in like March of 2009 and I remember it was maybe over 300 students that was named. My dad had to make a huge peace sign for the display and on it we wrote down each student's name and I remember still adding names up until show day. Which is crazy. We had the show at Percy Julian High School and I remember my dressing room was a class room that still had notes, pictures, and things like that dedicated to Blair Holt who was shot on a bus shielding his friend. People like him don't deserve to die so young.

It's sad to live in a city who's beauty is overcast by it's crime. This shit needs to stop, because Chicagoans have no reason to endure this type of pain.