A new study conducted by a professor at the University of Sydney has found that murder is the leading cause of death among rap artists. Dianna Theadora Kenny looked at the deaths of 13,000 artists from all genres, finding that murder accounted for about 50 percent of the deaths among hip-hop performers. The study was released yesterday, March 25, on the 18th anniversary of The Notorious B.I.G.'s Life After Death, Vibe noted.
"Murder accounted for 6.0% of deaths across the sample, but was the cause of 51% of deaths in rap musicians and 51.5% of deaths for hip hop musicians, to date," Kenny explained. "This could be due to these genres' strong associations with drug-related crime and gang culture."
The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac Shakur and Jam Master Jay are just some of the rappers who have been murdered over the years. Shakur and Biggie were killed in drive-by shootings in 1996 and 1997. Jam Master Jay was shot at a recording studio in 2002.
"It's a cautionary tale to some degree. People who go into rap music or hip hop or punk, they're in a much more occupational hazard profession compared to war. We don't lose half our army in a battle," Kenny told The Washington Post.
According to Kenny's findings, accidental deaths like drug overdoses and car crashes accounted for 36.2 percent of deaths in the metal community. Accidental deaths also hit 30 percent in the punk genre while 32.3 percent of deaths in the folk sample group were caused by cancer. Suicide accounted for 19.3 percent of deaths in the metal genre as well.
"These figures likely represent a combination of factors inherent in the popular music industry (such as the ubiquitous presence of alcohol and other substances of addiction, irregular hours, touring, high levels of stress, performance anxiety) and the vulnerability that many young musicians bring with them into their profession from adverse childhood experiences," Kenny added.
