Tragedy Khadafi:
The Life of an Intelligent Lyricist… So Far
by: Desiree Salas
“I always knew I was intelligent, and I came from
something greater than what the schoolbooks taught us… I wanted to inform
people like me about what I learned. That's why I will always relate my music
to a hood perspective. It's for those kids in the dark like me. I have an
obligation to reach those kids. I am of you, you are of me. I keep in tune with
them. You shouldn't get to a point where you forget them. I'll never forget the
pain of being physically hungry and doing things out of straight desperation.”
– Tragedy Khadafi, Village Voice interview
That quote pretty much sums up what the artist
formerly known as Intelligent Hoodlum is all about. But that’s not all there is
to the man – he’s as multifaceted as a superbly cut diamond.
Let’s take a closer look at “one of the last of a
dying breed” of hip hop artists who’s influenced a good number of other artists
and rappers like Mobb Deep, Cormega, Nas, and Capone-N-Noreaga.
Percy Chapman IV came to this world on August 13,
1971 in Queens, New York. He is eldest of 5 children, son to a heroin-addicted
mother and a father who’s been absent for most, if not all, of his life.
From an early age, he had to find ways for him and
his siblings to survive. “I had to feed my siblings because my mom was a heroin
addict. I had to get out and get money,” Trag said in a previous interview.
His efforts to help his family thrive involved
activities that were against the law, aside from tending to a fledgling career
as an MC. Ultimately, at 16, he got detained upstate for a robbery charge.
It was during his stint at the Elmira Correctional
Facility that he acquired this “knowledge of self” that he refers to every so
often. It influenced his music and lyrics, including his own name.
Image
courtesy of Mashable
and Jay Shells
Previously, he broke out into the hip hop scene when
he was 12 or 13 years old as MC Jade and the other half of Super Kids. His
first single. “Go, Queensbridge,” was released in 1985 and got the attention of
producer Marley Marl, who produced the Super Kids’ next single “The
Tragedy(Don’t Do It)” in 1986.
“I did the song ‘The Tragedy’, which was like an
emanation of my life at the time, growing up with my parents being on drugs and
so much of that being a part of my culture, in terms of growing up in
Queensbridge. I depicted the story as if it was someone else, but it was really
myself,” he revealed in a 2010 interview with Unkut. It was this song that also
influenced him to later name himself “Tragedy.”
From there, he started becoming part of the Juice
Crew, which consisted of the likes of Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane, and MC Shan.
With his participation in the group, Tragedy became “one of the youngest MCs
ever” at that time. “I was the first kid rapper! A lotta people don’t know I
was the first kid MC – before Kriss Kross, Bow Wow, Lil’ Romeo and all that,”
Trag declared in the same Unkut interview.
Indeed, it seemed that he was destined for great
things in the world of hip-hop. But his upward trajectory got cut short by his
robbery conviction at age 16.
While in prison, he thought of never coming back
home and making music again because he was “bitter with the game.” But it
changed when he heard Big Daddy Kane came out with a solo album and became
successful with his solo venture. He describes this moment with the following
statement:
“I see all this success, and I’m like, ‘Damn, man! I
fucked-up! I shoulda listened to Marley.’ Marley kept telling me, ‘Chill,
chill. Stay out of trouble’, but it was hard for me to concentrate on music
when I’m like 14, 15 years-old and I don’t have no place to live. I’m basically
living everywhere – anywhere I can lay – I don’t have no money. It was hard for
me to concentrate on music without a stable home. So now I’m away and I see all
my friends – they getting big record deals. I see Kane on the cover of Long
Live The Kane and he’s got the Roman Caesar garb on, he’s got the women feeding
him grapes, and I’m like, ‘Damn, he did it!’
When he ended his incarceration, he got back with
Marley Marl and Joe Fatal, who he credits as putting back that “spark” for hip
hop music and performing in him. He then went on to record through the 90’s,
named himself “Intelligent Hoodlum,” and became a Five Percenter.
It was in 1997 that he changed his name to Tragedy
Khadafi, the last name referencing that of the infamous Libyan dictator Muammar
Gaddafi.
Trag, as he is also called, continued to work with
other hip hop artists and mentored a few others well into the 2000’s. He
recorded “L.A L.A” with Noreaga, Mobb Deep, and Capone in response to Dogg
Pound’s “New York, New York.” He also collaborated with good friend and fellow
Queensbridge resident Michael Butler, also known as Imam T.H.U.G.
Tragedy released a number of albums, such as Against All Odds, Still Reportin’…, Thug Matrix,
Blood Ballads, and Thug Matrix 2 in 2001, 2003, 2005, and
2006 respectively. He also released an album as part of Black Market Militia in
2005.
Late in 2007, Tragedy was incarcerated again for
selling narcotics. His original prison sentence of 4 years was later reduced to
3 because he got a grant for early parole. He was released in June 2010.
In 2011, he churned out a digital version of Thug Matrix 3. This year, 2013, he
released Golden Era Music Sciences
with hip hop group 7 G.E.M.S.
Currently, Tragedy Khadafi is back in the game and
rolling out new music like he used to. Will he be able to notch that success
he’s seen his former peers achieve? Will he be able to avoid personal landmines
that have kept setting him back from the commercial acclaim this rhyme master
deserves? Only time can tell. At present, his life story is still unraveling
through his unique brand of lyricism and musicality.
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