Martin Shkreli is the cartoonishly evil capitalist who started a business which bought licenses for drugs with expired patents, and famously raised the price of one from $13 a pill to $750 per pill, which allowed him the disposable income to do what is called #ballin’. While #ballin’ Shkreli bought an album recorded by the Wu-Tang Clan of which they made only one copy to auction off to the highest bidder, which he was, for $2 million. This apparently angered several members of the Wu, yet it’s unclear who they expected to have $2 million in extra cash on hand. Clearly those kids in line at the sneaker store weren’t going to pool their bus money. These are the guys who always rapped about the purity of their music, and how they made it for the people. I’m not sure if the move to auction off their album was really #keepin’itreal. It almost seems capitalistic.
After he bought the album, Shkreli got into a social media feud with a few members of the Wu who apparently disapproved of his entire being, particularly Ghostface Killah. Shkreli dissed Ghostface, who hit back with a fairly tame yet dismissive video, calling out Shkreli for having a “Skeletor nose”, which he does. Shkreli then made a Youtube video thoroughly dissing Ghostface, calling him old and washed up, and talking shit about his personal safety in the traditional what is assumed to be tongue-in-cheek hip hop fashion. Then he went on a popular NYC hip hop radio show named after an aggressively white emo 80’s movie called The Breakfast Club and proceeded to talk more shit to Ghostface, such as:
“If he was here right now, I’d fuckin’ smack him in the face. I’m from the streets.”
While all outward appearances suggest otherwise, I’m going to make the case that Shkreli has possibly the highest gangster credibility in America at this point. Here’s why:
- He talks shit and doesn’t back down. See above. Gangsters have beefs all the time. Shkreli has a beef with Ghostface Killah. #gangster
- He’s from the streets. He’s from Brooklyn, and not an especially good part. Plenty of #truegangsters have come from his same hood. Rappers from Brooklyn mention it ad nauseam. So do gangsters like Shkreli.
- He’s trying to make paper. One of the undying tenants of hip hop is that one should make money, however possible, to better his circumstances and FUCK everybody else. How many tracks are there about guys slanging crack or participating in other seedy activities just to get by? Biggy, Jay-Z, name the true gangster, this theme is present. If you want to break down the ethics of selling crack versus procuring licenses to pharmaceuticals, it might be about even.
- He’s an entrepreneur. Name the rapper, if they have personal stake in a record label I challenge you to listen to one of their albums without being lectured in verse about the virtues of owing your own business. It’s a lot of shit about how nobody can tell you what to do and if they don’t like you, you can tell them to fuck off. This is Shkreli in a nutshell. Often times, if you listen to Jay-Z, for example, he’ll just rap about how he’s richer than whoever is on the listening end of his music. That’s gangster. Just like #Shkreli.
- He’s currently out on bail. Shkreli is out on bail awaiting trial for a myriad of financial fraud charges. This is the type of shit cornball rappers like Snoop Dogg traditionally idolize. Capone and Noreaga? The obsession with Scarface? Ring a bell? While out, he’s also behaving in an extremely #gangster fashion, by publicly talking about shit he’s not supposed to, and generally acting like a lunatic and destroying his credibility. In other words, #doesn’tgiveafuck. Tupac would be proud.
It’s not fair to claim Shkreli isn’t gangster just because he doesn’t look the part. He talks like he’s gangster, and that’s because in every sense of the word, outside of being sickly looking and not outwardly intimidating, he is. Sean Combs isn’t intimidating. Gangsters idolize status no matter the cost. I’m not a fan of capitalism, I’m not even a fan of gangsters. I don’t think songs about gang banging deserve more artistic respect because the subject is actually a gang banger. I don’t think gang banging is a cool activity. I wonder if the critics or general public would have responded well if Michael Jackson wrote an album about child molesting. But, you can’t have it both ways. Sign this asshole to Def Jam.