Plies Gunning For Street Cred

For the life of me, I will never understand why a man would want to trade good standing for negative imagery but for those who do, I digress.

Rap artist, Plies is responsible for starting a club shooting recently for the sake of garnering street credibility and yet, when in court, he was looking for mercy by sharing his rather modest upbringing, which included his above average intellect, with the judge.
However, as I said, I will never understand why a man would want to trade good standing for the sake of being gangsta. Isn't this the same guy who has a degree in Nursing?