King Von Mural In Chicago – King Von never saw his 27th birthday. On November 6th, it will be one year since the Chicago rapper was shot and killed in Atlanta.
Although he is not here, his presence is still there, and one of the ways to establish the throne is a new wall that was completed a few days before his birthday on August 9. He is across the street from where he grew up in a building in Chicago called Parkway Gardens.
King Von Mural In Chicago
At over 40 feet tall, the mural was painted by Chris Devins and commissioned by Delilah Martinez, CEO of the Mural Movement. The painting has been up for less than a month, and already the Chicago police want it taken down. Delilah said that the police started calling for his removal within a day of the completion of the project, because of the fear that it will cause violence related to the gangs.
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This is not the first time the Chicago police have stepped in and disrupted the city’s hip-hop community. Local governments and police have a history of trying to force music out of the city, and shutting down concerts. Former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel didn’t even want a Chief Kef hologram in the city, and Lil Durk couldn’t play in the city for years (until this summer).
To better understand the story behind the King Von Mural, we spoke with Delilah Martinez about all the work that went into creating it, why it’s so important, and her fight to preserve it. (You can sign the petition to keep the mural here).
First, one of his team contacted me, as the founder of the Mural Movement. They saw my work, and had the idea to pay tribute to King Von. My thoughts are: If it is going to be placed in a particular area, place it where it came from.
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Then it was night. It’s actually a three-month process. We looked at different places and finally we asked the owner of the store on Parkway Supermarket, he said yes. The shop owner said it was because he saw [King Von] growing up. Von comes to the store all the time, and the store owner says he loves him very much and takes care of his family. So, for me, it’s the right place.
Then I started looking for an artist to do the mural and I found Chris Devins, who is best known for doing Juice WRLD artwork here in Chicago. I reached out to him to see if he wanted to be a part of the King Von mural, and he said yes.
King Von’s team gave us a folder full of photos he took before he ran away, so we were able to choose a few different photos that we thought would be perfect for him. We developed three different concepts before finally settling on the one you see today.
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Do you think the wallpaper will attract a lot of attention? He just woke up since his birthday, right?
It was a few days before his birthday. So what, like, 10 days? I knew he would care, but not to this standard. It sounds like 90 percent of people like it, but the small percentage who don’t, have a voice.
The Von team, who hired me to do this, approached me, like, “We have a problem. The police keep coming into the store and asking the store owner to take it down.” This was before his birthday. On the first day, [the police] already entered the store, because they didn’t like the [O Block] chain. The police wanted us to remove the chain, so I said, “No, this wall is already finished, we will not remove this.”
King Von Mural In Atlanta
That bothered me, because the first answer I got was, “We want to remove it.” I still haven’t heard from the community, but I went there and saw how many people were taking pictures. People came from all over to see this mural, but what I noticed was the love that people showed on the street.
Yes, all these people show me and the team love it so much. That’s what gives me power—the people. So, I just continued my IG Story and continued this rant. That’s when everything changed because someone recorded it and put it on YouTube. At first, it really freaked me out, but then I was like, “This might help me keep the wall off.” It put me in a meeting with the right people I needed to talk to, who could help me continue to draw.
I met with Alderwoman Jeanette B. Taylor, and she included residents, community leaders, pastors, and police. The police spoke first, and their complaint was that the wall would promote retaliation: people coming to shoot the wall. And they care about the local people. After they said that, they were like, “This has been going on for years and years.” And I was like yes! This has nothing to do with the wallpaper!
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To me, it’s like we’re complaining about the area. We say, “There are gangs, there are shootings, we are good, some people are not good.” But, what are we doing to help that? What shall we say? “Well, we’re not going to put any technology, and we’re not going to do anything, so that we don’t enter this area?” No! What can we do to fix that? We are sitting here complaining about it, but what is the solution?
All I can do is to do what I used to do: organize paintings in Donncha and Donncha communities.
I know you started a petition to keep the wall up, and people will support it. What will happen? What is the end of the meeting?
King Von Has A Mural On 64th 🕊🙌
Old lady Jeanette Taylor was like, “Look, the police don’t get to decide what kind of technology goes up in the community, but the community can do what they want in their community.” So she started this number [312-981-9901] and people can text yes if they want to keep it, and no if they want her to come down. I already know that people like it, so I’m very confident.
Right now, it’s good. I’m sure the wall will stand, but I want the police to leave the shop owner alone.
Von maur in chicago
