Local artist remembers murder victims with rap song

Posted at: 06/13/2012 5:50 PM | Updated at: 06/13/2012 8:32 PM
By: Christine VanTimmeren | WHEC.com

It seems like we hear about senseless acts of violence everyday; children being killed as a result from violence in and around the city.

The victims are on the news for a little while, and then they can be quickly forgotten. But if you live with the pain of that loss everyday, it is not forgotten. One young man has found a way for their memory to live on forever through music.

Forty-two people whose lives were cut short, 42 families who will never see their loved ones again, some will only ever remember the numbers, but 22-year-old Darius D-Dash Taylor will always remember the names.

Taylor said," Honestly, I felt I did it. You know what I mean, I feel like I actually kept these names alive."

Darius wrote, recorded and posted to YouTube a song called Roc City Obituary. In it are the names of 42 people murdered in Rochester.

Taylor raps in the song," Well November 17th, 2007 my little brother Christopher Jones, he was actually murdered in front of our house in front of me and my mother's face."

His brother, Christopher Jones was murder number 44 in 2007.

That was all the motivation Darius needed to write this song, hoping to end the violence, hoping to stop the numbers. Also mentioned in the song is 17-year-old Larie Butler. Butler was found dead in a swimming pool in Irondequoit earlier this year.

Karen Snipes, Larie Butler said, "He mentioned a lot of people in the song, but literally he just kept speaking about my child and I would never think anyone would make a song for me."

Darius says he also wrote the song for everyone, everyone who knows the pain of violence and who wishes it would stop.

Darius says he could have used more than 42 names, but he chose to stop at 42. News10NBC asked how many of those 42 names Darius knew personally, and he said probably about 15. Darius isn't a professional rapper, but this was his way of letting people know he is against all of the violence.

Darius and his mom are part of an organization called "Roc the Peace", which has an upcoming event soon, where Darius plans to perform his song in front of a crowd for the first time.

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