Samir Fortune, who was called Saddi, always wore earbuds or headphones around his neck. The high school senior loved listening to Meek Mill, and that led to him to try writing hip-hop music himself.
When Samir first started out, his mother was skeptical.
“I didn’t believe in him at first,” Tahira Fortune said as she sat at her dining room table in her house in North Philadelphia.
“He’d be like, ‘Mom listen to this song,’ and I’d be like, ‘Okay, Saddi, I’ll listen to it,’” she said.
“When I actually listened to it, I thought, ‘He’s got a nice voice on him,’ and when you listen to the words, he was telling the truth. He was telling what’s on his mind, and he wouldn’t sugar coat anything.”
Samir asked for Tahira to buy him some studio time so he could record his music, and she agreed.
“I felt as though I needed to get him studio time to keep him occupied, to keep him from getting in trouble. He knew I always wanted the best for him,” Tahira said. “Whatever I could do to keep my son on the right track, I was going to do it.”
Under the stage name Trap Street Saddi, Samir began releasing music that went viral in the mixtape circuit, including one called Maji World Pt. 1, which features six tracks. Hip hop fans across Philly and beyond took notice, and he developed a deep underground following.
His goal was to be a famous rapper by the time he was 21.
But within a few months of releasing his mixtape, Samir’s life was cut short. On the night of Feb. 9, 2017, he was home alone and sitting on the couch in his family’s West Oak Lane house when bullets tore through the front window. He died a few hours later, on Feb. 10, 2017.
A few days after his murder, Samir’s idol Meek Mill — who is from Berks Street in North Philly — gave him a shout out during a concert, which is something Samir would have loved.
“He was eighteen years old and had so much life ahead of him,” Tahira said. “He wanted to become someone. And now I’m the voice for Samir.”
Samir was born Oct. 6, 1998 to Tahira and Shannon McClendon and raised at 18th and Cumberland in North Philly. He had an older sister, Ameera, who is now 22.
In addition to music, Samir also loved football. He played for the North Philly Hurricanes as well as the Aztecs, and he even attended DeSean Jackson’s youth football camp when he was younger.
Samir was educated in the Philadelphia public school system and was set to graduate from the Philadelphia Learning Academy in June 2017. Instead, Tahira accepted her son’s diploma for him at the graduation ceremony.
Tahira describes her son as her best friend.
“Saddi was my protector, Saddi was my guardian angel. He always looked out for me,” she said. “He always made sure I was all right and protected me and my daughter. He’d make sure that we ate, he’d make sure we’re happy.”
She continued: “Saddi had so much energy. Saddi was sweet, he was smart, he was charming, he was lovable. He had a great personality. He loved to help people, he loved to help his friends and hang around his family.”
Samir especially enjoyed spending time with his grandmother, Tahira’s mother.
Samir was a fan of fast food — a burger and fries from McDonald’s, Buffalo wings, pizza and his favorite, Chick-fil-A, always with a Sprite.
In the two years since Samir’s death, Tahira, who works as a certified nursing assistant, has channeled her grief into gun violence prevention activism. She launched an organization, Voices by Choices.
“After my son’s death, it took a toll on me. I sat and prayed and asked God, ‘What can I do?’ Because this was my first time experiencing a major loss like this,” she said. “So I started an organization called Voices by Choices for mothers that lost children. I named it Voices by Choices because our children had a voice, but they never had a choice.”
She’s brought together other mothers who’ve lost children to gun violence for gatherings at her home, and she’s also organized back to school drives and handed out school supplies.
Tahira is also working on another initiative, Children’s Creation, focused on helping at-risk youths. Next month she’s hosting a roller skating party for children.
“There’s too much gun violence going on in the city. There’s too many children losing their lives and too many parents burying their children,” Tahira said. “That’s my goal, to get my voice out there and let people know who my son was. Because my son was someone.”
Listen to Samir’s music and watch his videos here.
An award of up to $20,000 if available to anyone that comes forward with information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for Samir’s murder. Anonymous calls can be submitted by calling the Citizens Crime Commission at 215-546-TIPS.
