We remember Capital Steez, one of hip hop's genius souls that died young.
Courtney Everald "Jamal" Dewar Jr., otherwise known as Capital Steez was a self-proclaimed Indigo Child and free spirit who died far too soon at the age of 19. He was the founder and leader of successfull american hip hop group Pro Era known most famously by the rise of Joey Bada$$, currently one of America's most famous rappers, who was a student to Steez.
Joey, two years younger, met him in high school and once described how "You know we started our spiritual journeys together. My whole life I was a leader, I didn't follow anyone, but when I met him I knew he was someone I could follow. Our main means was that we wanted to change the world through our music. We became the change we wanted to see in the world". They wanted to ascend, and it was Steez's mantra in explaining his actions, "that's part of my ascension g."
The label Pro Era stands for many things and to Steez, it represented the paradox inherent in life. He shared, "You can't really have a progressive era, we wanted to be productive and progressive and professional, and procrastinators and we ended up here."
The symbol of Steez has turned heads, symbolizing the swastika. He shared that it represents, "a Buddhist symbol for peace and happiness, people gonna be ignorant so why not play with their brains." The symbol has been a part of Buddhism for more than 1,500 years. Originally, 'swastika' is sanskrit and comes from the meaning of well-being or good fortune.
He was a visionary, cracking open hip hop and the third eye of his listeners whether they were ready or not. He spoke to the poison in our culture, that there is a deep virus within our system we need to fix in this new age. "They still can't explain why birds fly, I can tell when words lie to my third eye"
In Free the Robots he shares, "Illuminati tryna read my mind, with an eagle eye, and the haze got me thinking why? We killed Osama and plenty innocent people die, we should see the signs, but we Stevie blind."
Even inside his collective he was an outsider, plagued by the psychosis of a human who has seen beyond the veil. It was common for him to be so above and beyond his friends that they no longer knew what he was saying.
He was an alien too his peers and had a perspective that went beyond which was his demise. He is not alone, how many great artists have we lost by the disconnection between the nirvana of the astrals and the heaviness living a human life. He poured his heart and soul into intelligent rhyme schemes to blowback the corruption that he saw present in our world.
Unlike so many of the rappers of his time, he consistently proved himself to be a man focussed on ascension. He was always trying to uplift the people around him and allow the music collective to fulfill their complete potential.
When He appointed Joey as the leader of Pro Era,
Joey said, "Nah, you the leader man.",
to which he responded, "Nah, I wanna layback, I'm the teacher."
His tragic suicide in 2012 was a reminder that we're all fighting battles we know nothing about. His legacy is now cemented in music history, and he has become a figure of worship for hip hop fans around the world.
- Psychic Garden