A digest of Baltimore news from local sources.
Excerpts from Lawrence Burney's tribute in Vice: Remembering Lor Scoota: Baltimore’s Unsung Hero
"Yesterday evening [Saturday, June 25] around 7 p.m. after finishing playing in a charity basketball game titled Touch The People: Pray For Peace in These Streets at Morgan State University, 23-year-old Tyriece Watson a.k.a well-known Baltimore rapper, Lor Scoota, was fatally shot in the intersection of Harford and Moravia Roads— a three minute drive from the school campus. Scoota was best known for his 2014 catchy drug-dealing anthem 'Bird Flu' from his Still In The Trenches mixtape series. The song permeated through Baltimore like club music of the 90’s and 2000’s, being blasted out of cars on any given day, even in 2016. With its accompanying dance of the same name being acted out at family cookouts, block parties and impromptu dance competitions on the street, it arguably became the modern-day Electric Slide in the city.
"Since 2013, Scoota’s charisma, infectious delivery and refusal to change in order to appeal to a market outside of Baltimore served as inspiration to a younger generation of artists to have the audacity to launch their own careers in a time where local rappers getting outside attention felt like a pipedream. From his early freestyles to the release of 'Bird Flu,' Scoota’s music gave a proper voice to street life in Baltimore that didn’t have to be directed by David Simon to resonate with the public. It was from the source. And when you get it from the source, it isn’t always pretty, polished or positive. When you're coming up in a disenfranchised environment where over 65,000 children since Scoota’s birth year of 1993 have had dangerously high levels of lead poisoning and often grow apathetic in the face of murder, your surroundings aren't pretty, polished or positive. Nonetheless, it was needed. Being that voice and touching on topics ranging from apologies to his mom for putting her through unnecessary stress, to feeling the urgency to walk around with a gun to celebrating success with his friends helped his music gain the favor of Meek Mill and Diddy, who both posted on Instagram about their belief in Scoota’s gift to touch the people. His pull was magnetic.
"In late 2014, I booked Scoota for a party I was hosting with a friend in downtown Baltimore. Knowing my crowd— people who grew up in East or West Baltimore and migrated to the city’s small creative hub, mixed with art students— I knew we had a unique chance to not only bring 'the real Baltimore' we grew up in to the arts district but to also show Scoota that his music was touching way more people than he even knew. It was a beautiful event. The night before, he dropped his third tape, Still In The Trenches 2.5, and performed about half of it, getting the crowd especially hype when he performed 'My 40'. From his YBS crew on stage to the crowd, everybody jumped up and down frantically, appropriately surrendering their composure. Witnessing his energy and confidence, I knew Scoota was a bonafide star that night. About four police cars and a wagon showed up in paranoia of Scoota inciting a riot but, much to their disapproval, all he did after his performance was continuously thank the crowd and wish that everyone got home safe.
"Scoota’s death is a tragic one but he did not pass to a city that did not appreciate his contributions to generating a post-club music interest in what Baltimore has to offer. Even Tate Kobang, who most would view as the city’s most visible rapper, paid respects to Scoota by hitting the Bird Flu dance in his breakout 'Bank Rolls' video and even on his last tape, Lord Of Da Trenches, featured a 'Bird Flu' freestyle, signifying the track’s cultural value. Speaking to many of his fans last night, both local and beyond, it has left most in a conflicted place -- one that revisits old, worn down stereotypes of Baltimore’s culture of violent crime. There’s a lot of inertia tied in here, that feeling of being surprised yet not being surprised at all, due to circumstances. It’s that deep-seated feeling of a black body being so susceptible to being taken away and you not being able to do anything about it.
"Whatever the reason for what happened to Lor Scoota last night, he was a true gem to Baltimore City and from this day forward, you will not be able to discuss Baltimore’s musical history without mentioning his name. He gave family gatherings a breath of fresh air with the Bird Flu dance, he put people across the country down with our culture and he gave many a reason to be proud to be from Baltimore when many were searching for reasons to before him."
From the Baltimore Sun: Perkins Homes to be redeveloped under latest demo of Baltimore Public Housing
"Every so often, 60-year-old Roxanne German climbs up a step stool and wraps more packing tape around the ceiling light fixture in her apartment in Baltimore's Perkins Homes, to stop the roaches from crawling into her living room.
"'If I didn't tape it up, this house would be full of roaches,' German said. 'I try to live the best I can. My mother always told me, "I don't care if you live in an alley, make it as comfortable as you can."'
"It could be worse: Perkins Homes, a boxy, red-brick complex that sits on nearly 17 acres of prime real estate near Fells Point, is to be torn down to make way for a mix of privately owned housing designed to accommodate families at various income levels.
"German wonders if she will have a home in the new development.
"'All I ask is to allow me to move into another unit,' she said.
"Perkins, home to 1,400 people in 629 units, is to be sold to private developers. The land underneath the complex is perhaps more valuable than ever: It's wedged between the $1 billion waterfront Harbor Point development, the planned transformation of the long-distressed Old Town Mall in East Baltimore and the revitalization effort surrounding Johns Hopkins Hospital.
"The city's public housing stock has dwindled by 30 percent over the last 25 years to fewer than 12,000 units. Another 4,000 are being sold to private developers to generate millions of dollars for improvements — money that officials say is needed because federal contributions have declined dramatically over recent decades.
"Housing officials have shared few details on the Perkins redevelopment. They say planning is in the preliminary stages. Early proposals show plans to nearly double the number of homes on the property to 1,100, at a cost of up to $200 million over a decade.
"Housing activist Perry Hopkins said he worries Perkins residents will be displaced in an attempt to rid a ritzy part of the city of its low-income neighbor."
From the Baltimore Sun: Md. Juvenile lifers could be considered for minimum-security, work-release programs in policy shift
"Maryland inmates who are serving parole-eligible life sentences for crimes they committed as juveniles may now be considered for minimum-security and pre-release facilities under a new state policy — which means they could be allowed to participate in work-release programs in the community.
"Public Safety Secretary Stephen T. Moyer this month reversed rules that for two decades barred any Maryland lifer from being placed in a facility that is below medium-security.
"The change comes in response to recent Supreme Court decisions on juvenile life sentences, according to a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. The court has found that mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juveniles violate the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.
"'We are re-examining all of our policies as they pertain to juvenile lifers as a result of the Supreme Court rulings' spokesman Gerry Shields said in an e-mail.
"Maryland has 271 inmates serving parole-eligible life sentences for crimes committed as juveniles, according to the state parole commission.
"To move to a lower security facility under the new policy, an inmate would have to be approved by the parole commission.
"The ACLU of Maryland has sued state officials over Maryland's parole system for juveniles sentenced to life in prison, saying it is unconstitutional because they don't have a meaningful chance of release.
"The ACLU filed the lawsuit in April on behalf of three inmates serving life sentences and the Maryland Restorative Justice Initiative.
"Until the mid-1990s, the ACLU says, juveniles serving parole-eligible life sentences 'routinely received opportunities to demonstrate their rehabilitation by progressing through reduced security levels within the DOC.'"