Houston rapper Sauce Walka is familiar with the brutalities of street life. Still, since his friend and collaborator Sayso P was killed on Nov. 1, he’s deciding to avoid the cycle of violence one would expect. Still, even with the immense pain of losing someone he held so dear, Sauce Walka has made it abundantly clear that there is no retaliation.
Sauce Walka reflected on Sayso P’s death with gut-wrenching candor in a recent interview with Wikid Films. While not getting into the specifics of what happened, he talked about the deadly nature of street life and the hazards егоa with that.
“All these people are willing to go to the extreme to pilfer from you,” Sauce Walka said, his voice laden with emotion. “Extreme. That’s the part you also have to factor in: these people are willing to do the extreme to take your stuff or your life.”
It was a sobering reminder that in the world from which many rappers come, violence isn’t simply about material gain but about survival, power, and, worst of all, killing.
Sauce Walka’s insistence on not seeking revenge is decisive, especially when revenge in other circumstances has become one of the few perceived paths forward. He has a reportedly 500-man militia standing behind him so that he could set things in motion and won’t.
So opting for peace over retaliation doesn’t mean Sauce Walka is without grief. It just means he realizes the more enormous ramifications of responding violently. In a world where beef and bloodshed come together in inexhaustible cycles of pain, this break is momentous.
“Sometimes people take [violence] to be always taking their things or to take their value,” he said. “But sometimes this is really about your life.”
Sauce Walka has always been known for his brash personality and blunt perspective on life, but now, he’s demonstrating leadership in another way. Instead of contributing to the madness, he’s deciding to take a moment, consider, and hopefully encourage others to do the same before making choices that will cause more pain.
The streets don’t forgive, and neither will Sauce Walka. Instead of falling into the anticipated narrative, though, he’s overturning it. And though many could see his actions as restraint, they’re something greater wisdom. They’re realizing that retaliating won’t bring Sayso P back. It only adds to the pain.
In hip-hop, which has seen too many of its artists killed by violence, Sauce Walka’s choice is an outlier in that it is rarely seen, though it should be. His words remind us that true strength isn’t about squeezing the trigger but about possessing the power to take another route. Sayso P’s killing is a tragedy, but his legacy should not be one of never-ending revenge.
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