Many fans thought that this image paired with this phrase was indeed a voice for this black man, but soon some people noticed something was off—the "Gotham" referred to in "mourning Gotham" didn't seem like a place name.
Because English grammar is quite strict, when Gotham is treated as a mere place name, there are specific prepositions and sentence structures; if Biggie meant "mourning the day in Gotham," then the grammar of the phrase he posted would be different. And if he meant we should never forget the tragedy that occurred on the land of Gotham, the difference would be even greater.
This sentence seems more like we will always remember Gotham the person, because only when a name is mentioned there does the sentence flow more smoothly.
If someone else had posted this phrase, many would think it was uncultured, a botched sentence hastily written to chase clout, but Biggie was a renowned rap artist. Rap artists are masters of playing with lyrics, so he wouldn't make such a basic mistake.
Given that both giants of the East and West Coast changed to black backgrounds and posted messages at the same time, although they too are black, it's normal for them to fight for the rights of black people. But they're currently in Gotham—could it be they know some inside information?
Opinions were mixed, the public outcry exploded, and at that moment, 2pac recorded a video and uploaded it to the internet.
He sat in the hotel bedroom, facing the camera toward himself, his expression extremely sad. He was silent for a full three minutes before he said, "I regret that a friend has left us forever and that the world has yet to truly witness his talent. This will be an unbearable loss for the entire American rap community."
"I can't describe everything I've seen in this city. He was so brave in speaking out for this place. We had just started our friendship, and we even talked about producing a joint album together."
By this point, 2pac had started to cry, choking on his words: "I can't imagine how much pain he was in when he died. God also cannot explain why such a brave soul who dared to speak up for the people had 15 bullet holes."
He took a deep breath, pursed his lips tightly, his face shifting from sadness to anger, "I've said it before, I've said it time and again, this kind of thing keeps happening to us, and some among us blame ourselves for all mistakes, so the tragedy repeats itself again and again."
"It's not, definitely not our fault. If a cop fired a shot, a white person would take one bullet, not the following 14 shots. That's their sin, not ours."
"If we can't stand firm on this point, then next time, it will be you in front of the cameras weeping, friends. Don't wait any longer, don't let these things happen to you again."
The video ended and, unsurprisingly, it caused another uproar on the internet. People finally understood what "Gotham" referred to.
The only rap artist who could be referred to as "Gotham" was one who had just released a single album but had risen to great fame, a future so promising that anyone could see it was boundless—that was Gotham Boy.
This was all very traceable. Although Gotham Boy's songs often carried a heavy theme, his style tended to reveal a cheerful dark humor, indicating he was not a particularly serious and rigid person, and presumably quite young.
He was also quite aggressive, with a sharp tongue, which matched with the behavior of the person who was shot in the bar. Many rappers came forward to say that this guy, right before his death, could have won a championship in many underground rap battles with his rapid-fire lyrical output.
This was also in line with the majority of fans' speculation—Gotham Boy was indeed black, which strengthened their belief even more.
If they couldn't trust the words of a well-known rap giant right there in Gotham, then whom could they trust?
Public opinion erupted even more violently, almost affecting the whole of America. Even many traditional news media of the redneck faction began to report on this matter, with the majority of the attacks aimed at the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
But the public wasn't foolish; they knew this wasn't just a problem with the FBI. When the victim didn't show his skin color, the agents didn't even glance at him. The moment he revealed he was black, he was hit with 15 shots—could this be a management issue within the FBI?
You say he's cautious, he doesn't shoot even when a strange person is making moves in front of him. You say he's not cautious, but he fires 15 shots at a human being, hitting every spot that could catch the eye. Isn't this a contradiction?
A vigorous movement for black rights erupted.
In the background, some even bigger storms were brewing.
As everyone knows, before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Cold War had no winners; both sides were dragged to the point of exhaustion.
But in truth, Europe was even more exhausted. The Cold War was "cold" because America and the Soviet Union were separated by seas, but Europe shared the same continent with the Soviets, and they had to be concerned about becoming the first battlefield of a "hot" war at any moment.
In an upturn phase, capitalist economies have their rises and downturns. During an upturn, everything's good, regardless of what the big guy next door is up to. Everyone enjoys their welfare, makes money, and supports their families.
But once a downturn begins, with severe inflation, skyrocketing prices, and stagnant wages, people struggle to make ends meet, living standards plummet, and satisfaction with the government plummets dramatically.
At this point, governments must adopt new economic policies to rejuvenate the market, but that requires room to maneuver. Most European countries have but a little land; their markets are so limited that there's no room for maneuvering or discussions about rejuvenation.
So they decided to join forces, not just to counter pressure from the East, but also to rejuvenate their economies. This is the backdrop to the birth of the European Common Market.
Because the Soviet Union did not collapse, European countries could not benefit from the inheritance, and the majority of small states, in order to maintain their governments, could only try to be self-sufficient. However, relying solely on their own markets was not enough, so they had to find ways to unite with other markets.
The most important step in uniting other markets was to adopt a unified currency. Under the pressure of the ailing domestic economic situation of the Soviet Union, the Euro appeared nearly 10 years earlier.
In the spring of 1992, the European Community officially transitioned to the European Union, and the Euro was issued.
Although individual European countries are small, there were many of them, and when combined, they constituted a very large market. With the deepening of their union and a unified stance, the criteria for joining the EU emphasized a disregard for historical grievances—just come on board.
Not only small countries like Vatican but also many traditionally neutral nations joined the EU. Perpetually neutral countries such as Switzerland, although not explicitly stating their accession to the EU, announced their participation in the European Common Market and complied with its rules.
As a result, Europe's bonds became even tighter, with the most core nations completely crossing the line and beginning to move towards political centralization in Europe.
It's hard to say who the biggest beneficiary of this situation was, but without a doubt, the biggest loser was America.
As commonly known, America in its latter stages relied almost entirely on harvesting Europe, and could also be regarded as the main culprit for the European Union's later lack of unity and disarray. Once the European countries united, harvesting for America was no longer so convenient.
The more stable Europe's market became, the faster the internal circulation system was built, and the more difficult deindustrialization became.
European core countries, although fond of stirring activities, had a solid foundation during this period. United and combined, they had an almost complete industrial system and a market to vitalize their economy—as the saying goes, who would choose to be a dog when one can be human.
America surely watched with concern as Europe's interest in NATO waned. After all, it was America that had once encouraged Europe to unite in order to contain the Soviet Union with NATO. But America never intended them to unite so completely that they would kick the brain out after assembling the limbs.
European politicians, however, didn't care about this. If you talk about the flair of old Europe waving its flag high, then even American white supremacy would have to take a back seat. Throughout history, they've maintained their sense of superiority despite everything, and now that they've gained momentum, it was time to clearly distinguish between the father and the son.
For Europe, NATO was always about keeping distant enemies and attacking nearby ones. But after its establishment, they realized that the "distant" part was still true.
In history, they had no choice, as the Soviet Union was even worse off, and they could only follow one path to its dark end. But now, things were different—the Soviet Union wasn't as dire, and they were doing alright.
With choice in hand, it's up to me to decide whether to lean on the rails and gaze across the North Atlantic or turn my head to take in the scenery of Eastern Europe.
America, of course, was not going to let Europe succeed so easily. Against these old nobles who could not see reality, a strong punch had to be thrown. But just as America was swinging, it caught fire itself.
After the Mexican Revolution erupted, Europe had a considerable amount of time to catch its breath and develop. America decided to focus on saving itself, scrambling and flustering, while Europeans delighted in their respite.
In the summer of 1995, the EU announced it would strengthen cooperation further, and renamed itself the European Nations Union.
America thought, alright, so this is how you want to play? With the Soviet Union nearly dead, and now there's this Euro Union; let's see if I just prick you and we'll call it a day.
Now America had intended to go after the Euro Union, but Oliver ran off to the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Union revived.
America was like Tom in the cartoons, catching Jerry only to be hit by a bird, then catching the bird only to be hit by Jerry. Dealing with Europe, the Soviet Union, and Mexico all at once, they couldn't get a handle on any of them.
Of course, America had strong fundamentals too. As the biggest beneficiary of World War II, the domestic economy, although not as good as during the Golden Age, had been somewhat maintained.
Then domestic unrest broke out.
The black man, Floyd, who died from a police chokehold saying he couldn't breathe, was born in the wrong era. At that time, America was undisputedly the boss, and this was merely a domestic ethnic conflict with no external power having the right to comment.
But the Black Lives Movement that erupted at that time was different. The fire of the Communist International was still burning, the Soviet Union, standing off with America, had yet to die, the European Union was watching from the sidelines, and the Eastern Great Nation enjoyed fanning the flames without worrying about escalating the situation.
Before a unipolar international structure emerged, any small incident in one country would be scrutinized and highlighted by the media of the other. All the more so for such a significant event.
The movement had just erupted, and before a significant public opinion wave could form within America, several printing presses in Moscow exploded from running too hot, and the price of ordinary ink paper in the EU tripled. With the Atlantic as the dividing line, countries on the other side were in uproar, with drums and fireworks sounding in unison.
America did not expect that before it could suppress the domestic splash, the tidal wave from outside had already arrived.
More fatal still, for capitalist countries, market confidence is a very important factor. This seemingly superficial impact from public opinion ultimately buried a huge hidden danger.