For Jeison Castano, meeting Elider Varela is as memorable today as ever: He was one of the most recognized rappers in the area. His nickname, his clothing, his personality caught my attention. He was one of the leaders.
Known as Jeihhco and El Duke, the pair went on to establish a prominent rap group, Comando Elite de Ataque, and the Kolacho music school to keep young people off the streets in Comuna 13, one of Medellins most-troubled districts.
But that 16-year partnership ended Oct. 29, when El Duke was gunned down on his own doorstep in a killing attributed to a gang controlling the El Salado barrio where he lived.
After El Dukes assassination, more than 60 musicians linked to him were forced to flee Medellin, Colombias second-largest city, after threats by the gang suspected in his death.
Other rappers also have been killed in a battle that has placed the hip-hop community in the crosshairs of street gangs seeking to strike fear in the population.
A student at El Dukes school who went on to teach rap to other youngsters, Garra was shot while crossing a street.
His grandmother told a Medellin newspaper she had warned her grandson that gangs were killing rappers because they dont like that they tell the truth in their songs.
The socially conscious, anti-violence message of many hip-hop artists lyrics and the work undertaken by hip-hop music schools to draw young people away from criminal lifestyles put some members of the hip-hop community at odds with the street gangs.
They do not confront illegal groups directly, said Adriana Arboleda of the Corporation for Judicial Freedom (CJL), a Medellin human rights organization that works with victims of violence. But in offering youths the opportunity to focus on art, music, graffiti and dance as a form of passive resistance, they encroach on the interests of criminal organizations that seek to forcibly recruit young people.
Alexandra Castrillon, director of the YMCA Medellin, says she does not believe rappers were being specifically targeted.
Thats the first thing we want to debunk, she said. All we can say is that (El Duke) was a well-known leader and those who perpetuate the conflict sow fear to destabilize community organizations. Many leaders have been killed here.
But she says the community takes note when rappers die: Those who make themselves most visible, certainly in their deaths, are the young rappers because they talk about politics; they talk about whats happening in the district.
"it's everyone" 
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