Kidz

Album: Who Needs Actions When You Got Words (2006)
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Songfacts®:

  • "Kidz" is not to be confused with the far more melodic track of the same name, and to the uninitiated, may appear to be typical hip-hop trash talk littered with gratuitous profanity and violence:

    Break a bottle over some boys head
    Stab a broken piece in to the poor c--t's leg


    Alas, it is actually a song that has both a tragic inspiration and a serious message.

    Damilola Taylor was born at Lagos, Nigeria, and came to Britain in August 2000; his parents, who had met in Britain, had emigrated to seek quality medical treatment for their daughter, Damilola's older sister, who suffered from a severe form of epilepsy. The family were living in South London when on November 27, Damilola left Peckham Library on his way home. Exactly what happened next will probably never be known, but somehow he suffered a severe gash to his left thigh, and bled to death within minutes. He was 10 years old.

    While it's unclear if the death of Damilola Taylor resulted from any sort of malice, he became symbolic of the malaise of gratuitous violence and the knife/gang culture in Britain.
  • Damilola's mother, Gloria, died in 2008 aged 57. In 2011, her widower Richard, Damilola's father, was awarded an OBE for his services to the prevention of youth violence, which includes setting up the Damilola Taylor Trust.
  • In a BBC interview, Plan B said the thought of a 10-year-old boy being killed over a mobile phone - which may or may not have been the case - made him feel sick. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Alexander Baron - London, England, for above 3

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