Photo Credit: Drake/Instagram
Normally when people have benefit concerts, all proceeds go to a charity. That’s generally how that goes and it’s what people expect. So to hear that Drake and Kanye West would hold a benefit event and then go keep some of the money, when one of them is a billionaire is a bit off putting. Merch sold ranged from a hat, hoodie and jeans going anywhere from $60 to $400 and with price points like that, people assumed it was for a good cause, and the same cause the ticket money went to.
GQ reported on the matter saying, “While proceeds from ticket sales for the concert will reportedly benefit a number of criminal justice reform groups, profits from merch sales are not being earmarked for charity.”
The show had a budget of $10 million, was streamed for free on Amazon Prime and was shown in select IMAX theaters across the country. Given the huge production budget for this, is it reasonable for the two to try to recoup at least some of that money through merch sales?
As for the cause of the show, Larry Hoover is known for being one of the founders of The Gangster Disciples gang. But what isn’t spoken about is how the gang was created for community unity, Larry Hoover had a free lunch program for youth in Chicago, they marched ith MLK and they’re among many of the black unity efforts in the 60s, 70s and on that were demonized and targeted by the FBI to this day.
In fact, the FBI had said about Martin Luther King, Jr.’s death that they would make sure no other black savior would rise in the community and Larry Hoover was looked at as that given how he did work on helping the community of Chicago. The problem now is that the events that have surrounded Chicago’s crime have been blamed on the gang and he’s been behind bars for 50 years. Many believe that his power in the community is what caused him to be targeted and sent behind bars for as long as he has which is how the Free Larry Hoover movement began.
