Red Lake Shootings

(WCCO) The music can be shocking and it is not sold in many stores. It has dark, disturbing lyrics that are striking a chord with some Minnesota teenagers. Welcome to the world of horrorcore music.

"If it's a song fantasizing about murder or the death of somebody, I call it horrorcore," said local rap musician Jimmy Donn, who also sings horrorcore songs.

Horrorcore music is a type of underground rap centering on violence and death.

"The first rap I ever wrote was about suicide," said Mars, a successful horrorcore artist from the Bay Area of California.

"My music is basically a cross between a horror movie and gangsta rap," he said. "If you take Stephen King or Wes Craven and you throw them on a rap beat, that's who I am."

Donn explains who listens to his music, saying, "Kids who don't have a lot of friends or who are misunderstood."

Kids, like Jeffrey Weise, who shot and killed 10 people on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in March.

Some who knew Weise said Mars and Donn were among Weise's favorite artists.

"They just said this kid was a fan of my music and had the CD "The Darker Side" and he listened to the song "Game Over" a lot and he mentioned it as one of his favorite songs," Donn said.

"Game Over" is a song about a school shooting.

"I think I started writing it when I was 14," Donn said.

"Today I go to school for the last time in my life, my hand on the pistol I have by my side," the song said. "Can't wait to see the faces as they stare at the barrel."

"I was sitting in class and looking at certain kids I couldn't stand, they were making every day really hard, like a personal hell for me and I fantasized if I came in with a gun, which kids would I let live and which kids I would kill," Donn said.

The song was written years before the shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., or the ones on the Red Lake Reservation.

After the Minnesota shooting, Donn said he got threatening e-mails from loved ones of the shooter and his victims.

"One of them told me he should have killed me for making the music I do," Donn said. "Another said I should be disgusted with myself for fueling children to do this."

Both rappers said their music does not cause violence.

"I'm not a preacher, I'm not a teacher, I'm definitely not a role model," Mars said.

"I don't encourage anybody to hurt themselves or anybody else," Donn said.

Those who work with troubled teens said these tunes can create even more discord in kids already on the edge.

"It's garbage in, garbage out," said Dr. Paul Reitman, a clinical psychologist. "I would be very concerned if my teenager were listening to it."

"When I see adolescents, especially those who are depressed, suicidal, homicidal, music like that reinforces their thinking, reinforces that distortion that what they're thinking is normal," Reitman said.

Even so, musicians and counselors agree the ultimate responsibility for preventing young people from destructive behavior lies with responsible adults.

"I'm not advocating that we suppress freedom of speech, what I am advocating is parents need to be involved," Reitman said.

Donn is the father of three children and Mars has two girls. Both said they are in tune with protecting their own children.

"I don't let my kids listen to my music, 'cause I'm a parent," Mars said.

Mars said he wears a mask to maintain his sinister image, but also to hide his identity from those who may harm him and his family. He said he is very protective of his little girls.

(WCCO)