The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

YAPHET Newton, the country’s latest shooting victim, rapped about dreaming that he had been shot — years before police believed one of his own accomplices accidentally killed him during an attempted hit in Wilson Tract Monday night.

He rapped about guns and retaliation, betrayal and police, depression and drugs. He rapped about a childhood that forced him to grow up too quickly, a mother he believed he had disappointed and a young son in whose face he saw his own. Again and again, the 22-year-old rapper known as ESN Phetty returned to the same tension: the street life he described in unflinching detail and his desire to survive it, make money and become something more.

On Monday night, Newton was killed in what police believe may have been a hit gone wrong.

Officers were called to Wilson Tract shortly after reports of gunfire around 10.30pm. A group of people had been gathered outside a residence when a small Japanese vehicle pulled up, and three gunmen reportedly got out and opened fire.

Two men in the group were shot. A 17-year-old was struck in the lower back, and a 20-year-old suffered gunshot injuries to his right buttocks area.

A third man was also shot. Police identified him as Newton and said he was believed to have been one of the gunmen. He was wearing a mask, a grey hooded jacket, black shirt and black pants and had been shot in the upper body. He died at the scene.

Police have not disclosed how he came to be shot, but sources told The Tribune he was allegedly hit by one of his accomplices by mistake. Videos appearing to show him lying lifeless on the ground later circulated on social media.

His death brought a violent end to a life Newton had spent years documenting through music.

The young father had more than 50 songs on a YouTube channel with more than 1,000 subscribers, where he described himself as a voice for the streets and the overlooked, “bringing raw island reality to gritty drill and pain-driven melodies.”

Some of his most-viewed videos — “Reloaded”, “All I See” and “Forgive me” — dated back as far as five years, when he was still a teenager. The videos frequently drew on dark images of gun violence and retaliation, while the lyrics ranged more widely across loss, survival, family, ambition and the pressures of street life.

“Reloaded”, viewed more than 50,000 times, dealt with betrayal and the dangers Newton associated with that world. Its video showed groups of young men smoking, and Newton handling a firearm and passing it to another person.

As that scene played, Newton rapped about people moving “grimy” and a man pleading for his life.

“I had him on his knees screaming out ‘just bly me dawg’,” he rapped. “Click clack. Boom Doosh. He shouldn’t have tried me dawg.” The same song contained Newton’s conflicted account of wanting to leave that life behind. He said he would not tell others to stay away from drugs or guns “because niggas moving grimy”, and offered his own rules for survival: do not allow people to take advantage of you, choose money over women and praise God.

He described gun violence as a spiritual battle and said he had dreamed about being shot.

“Until I reach to the top, no, I’ll never stop,” he rapped.

Away from the threats and bravado, Newton’s music turned intensely personal.

In “Sipping and Tripping”, he reflected on growing up too quickly and described himself as a devoted father who regularly told his son he loved him and tried to be present in his life.

“I look at his face, and I see myself,” he rapped. “Trying to be there for him even by myself. I remember them days when I ain’t had no help.”

He also recalled being held in a cell and refusing to speak despite pressure from police. His lyrics described encounters with officers and accused police of labelling people like him killers while, he claimed, some of the real killers were within the force.

“I swear to God I been through hell but that s**t turned me into a devil,” he wrote.

“The s**t what they saying, I did it. Everything what they rapping, I did it. Standing on business till my time finish still feel like something missing,” he said.

That sense that something was missing appeared alongside repeated declarations that he wanted more from his life. He acknowledged the dangers surrounding him but wrote about continuing to push forward.

“One, two, three on the dash. Just pray I don’t crash. About to do a fast on the mission,” he rapped.

Some of his most revealing lyrics were directed towards his mother.

In “Dear Mommy”, Newton acknowledged putting her through a lot while saying he, too, had been going through difficult times. He called her his number one lady.

“It ain’t your fault mummy,” he said. “You raised a good boy. It’s just the streets (expletive) me up and leave my heart destroyed. Your probably thinking I’se a killer. I won’t say that I ain’t and I won’t say that I am cause you won’t understand.”

He acknowledged regretting things he had done and wrote about depression and loss. He recalled his mother warning him to stay away from drugs, but said they had become the only thing helping him cope.

His frustration extended beyond his own circumstances.

In “All I See”, he rapped about distrust, his struggle for success and what he regarded as the unfairness of life. He contrasted government wealth with people struggling to make ends meet and questioned a world in which hard work did not necessarily produce financial security.

He was blunt about betrayal. He portrayed himself as calm but dangerous and said that when other men talked “s**t”, he would call on younger associates to act.

“A whole team full of shooters and I was one of them,” he rapped. “Demons in my rear-view. I don’t know why they stalking me.”

He kept casting success as the destination. He wrote of wanting to provide for his people and of refusing to give up.

“I won’t leave without a war,” he rapped. “Rapping, stacking and snapping my a** off. Just call me Phetty Shakur.”

His most recent song, “Sticks and Dollars”, was recorded last December.

In it, he said that before becoming a rapper he would be in the streets “trying to catch a kill”. He derided men he considered all talk and no action, called himself a “demon”, spoke about cutting off friends he regarded as haters and apologised to his family.

“It aint had to be this way,” he said. “I guess I just reaping what I sowing.”

Less than a year later, Newton was dead at 22.