Raymond Martinez - the Ultimate SBPDL

For nearly six months we at SBPDL have been chronicling Stuff Black People Don't Like, and in the process left some people incapable of discerning what the true endgame of the site is and more importantly, why have embarked and such a seemingly Quixotic quest.

One of those reasons is simple: We have been searching for the ultimate manifestation of SBPDL and we have finally found an individual who encompasses the characteristics required for inclusion in the SBPDL Hall of Fame.

His name? Raymond Martinez:

"Guns, drugs, prostitutes and an endless stream of expletives filled the rap lyrics — and the life — of Raymond Martinez, the Times Square gunman who shot off two rounds from his MAC 10 before an NYPD officer took him down late Thursday morning.

When he wasn’t running CD scams on tourists in Times Square, the 25-year-old Bronx native — rap name “Ready” — was likely hanging with his buddies, drinking, smoking pot and laying down tracks, according to his friends.

“I’ll break your legs, have your brains looking like eggs,” Martinez raps in one song."

“Square Free” has a MySpace page with several images of their front man, Martinez. In a chilling harbinger of things to come, one image was digitally altered to make it look like Martinez was standing in the blood-spattered entryway of his apartment building with a machine gun lying at his feet.

Another picture shows him smoking what appears to be marijuana and a third is a cartoonish depiction of a man carrying a huge gun with a caption reading “THEM SUCKERS AINT TAKIN ME NO WHERE…”

It will be a difficult feat to duplicate the stupendous success that this Black gentlemen managed in his short-life, for he is one of the finest representations of SBPDL to ever grace the United States, as his esteemed presence is testament to the importance of this website.

How about some more background on this strange story out of New York City:

"Raymond Martinez was running a common scam on the throngs of holiday tourists in Times Square, pushing shoppers to buy his CDs, police said. But Martinez was no ordinary peddler, they said: He was carrying a loaded pistol and had a handful of business cards from gun dealers in his pockets.

The 25-year-old was shot to death by a plainclothes police sergeant Thursday after trading gunfire in the taxi area of the landmark Marriott Marquis hotel.

Sgt. Christopher Newsom operates a task force that monitors aggressive panhandling and was patrolling with an anti-crime unit when he recognized Martinez and his brother from past run-ins. He asked the two for their tax stamps, which allow peddlers to sell on the streets. But Martinez took off running, through to the hotel's passenger drop-off area.

Newsom pursued, and Martinez turned and fired with a machine pistol that held 30 rounds, getting off two shots before it jammed, police said. The officer fired four times, striking Martinez in the chest and arms and killing him, police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

"We're lucky the weapon jammed," Kelly said."

Lucky his weapon jammed? Don't these people know that SBPDL includes gun safety! And worse, this whole incident could have been avoided had Mr. Martinez just cooperated with the police!

Apparently, Mr. Martinez didn't find the rap song "F*** tha Police" a merely fictitious diddy, for he prepared to engage the police in a scene worthy of the OK Corral:

"NYPD Sergeant Christopher Newsom, a 17-year veteran of the force, shot and killed Martinez in front of the Marriot Marquis after the street vendor ran from him and fired two rounds before his gun jammed, the New York Times reported.

Martinez, who rapped under the alias "Ready," held the gun sideways and parallel to the ground, a style popular in rap videos, and that caused it to "stovepipe," or jam, according to the New York Post.

There were 27 rounds left in the gun."

Interestingly, Mr. Martinez was a devout fan of Myspace (page here), and found Facebook less desirable.

Better than that though, is Mr. Martinez disgust at rap music going soft, for he was an aspiring spinner of words into rhythmically enhanced verbiage:

"An up-and-coming rapper by the name of Ready had a brush with fame before his life was taken last Thursday in NYC's Times Square. In 2008, Ready (born Raymond Martinez) squared off with Grammy Award-winning rapper/producer Kanye West during an episode of MTV’s “Hood Fab.”

Ready pulled out a last-minute victory during his “Hood Fab” challenge with Ye and received a package of tube socks and a Footlocker gift certificate."

Mr. Martinez (or Mr. Ready) found the wonderfully gifted Kanye West, to be a chump in the annals of real-life gangsta rap star, for he lived a full life and died a true to his roots (a video of Kanye and Mr. Ready can be found here).

Will this incident become yet another Sean Bell ordeal? Or will the melancholy ending of Mr. Ready's life become yet another wasted soul in the endless parade of Stuff Black People Don't Like?

Only time will tell... and only SBPDL will report.

Rest In Peace, Mr. Ready. You lived a life true to SBPDL principles and for that, you will never be forgotten.