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Rap music and Crime
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| techead |
Anyone see this news --Once again bad stuff connected to Rap
Rap Mogul Charged in Drug Money Probe
56 minutes ago Entertainment - AP Music
By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN, Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK - Murder Inc. founder Irv "Gotti" Lorenzo, the hip-hop record label behind superstars Ja Rule and Ashanti, was charged on Wednesday with laundering more than $1 million in drug money from a multistate crack and heroin operation.
AP Photo
Reuters
Slideshow: Rap Mogul Surrenders to FBI
Gotti, who named his company after a crime syndicate and borrowed his nickname from a Mafia don, made no secret of his friendship with Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff, one of New York's most notorious drug lords.
"They don't call it gangster rap for nothing," said Frederick Snellings, special agent-in-charge of the FBI (news - web sites)'s New York criminal division. "It's pretty clear that the image isn't accidental."
McGriff, already in prison on a gun violation, was charged with drug dealing, racketeering and three murders.
Federal prosecutors said Gotti, his brother and business partner, Chris Lorenzo, and their associates accepted frequent deliveries of McGriff's drug cash at their Manhattan offices. In exchange, Gotti cut McGriff more than $280,000 in business and personal checks and paid for tens of thousands of dollars worth of his travel and hotel costs, prosecutors charge. It was a turn of events unprecedented even in the criminal-minded rap world.
Recording in a studio dubbed "The Crackhouse," Murder Inc. has sold about 20 million records behind Ja Rule and Ashanti, who were not charged in the indictment. Ja Rule's current album, "R.U.L.E.," peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard chart. Ashanti is appearing in the movie "Coach Carter," which debuted atop the box office list two weeks ago.
The company, owned partly by Def Jam, a subsidiary of Universal Music, has made about $200 million since it was founded in 1997, according to a source familiar with its operations who insisted upon anonymity.
Ja Rule's manager and at least seven other Gotti and McGriff associates also have been charged in the case.
Gotti and his brother were released on $1 million bonds Wednesday afternoon after pleading not guilty in federal court in Brooklyn. Gotti's lawyer, Gerald Lefcourt, said the brothers had been unfairly targeted for trying to help a respected figure from the rough Queens neighborhood where they grew up.
"I grew up poor from the streets so I have friends, whatever, like that. So I don't look bad at them for thinking ill things about me," Gotti said as he left court. "No way, in any way, shape or form have I done anything wrong, except make great music that the people seem to love, and that's all that I'm guilty of."
Gotti got his start in the mid-90s as a talent scout, playing a pivotal role in bringing future superstars Jay-Z and DMX to Def Jam. Former Def Jam boss Lyor Cohen then gave Gotti his own label imprint, which Gotti used to launch a string of hits by Ja Rule and others.
The source familiar with The Inc.'s operations said its partnership with Def Jam was set to expire in about a year. And new Def Jam bosses L.A. Reid and Jay-Z don't seem eager to embrace Gotti, said Elliott Wilson, editor in chief of the rap magazine XXL.
That's because "we haven't had a case like this before when the feds have gone this hard after a music guy," Wilson said. "This is an unprecedented thing, where a music guy is being charged as a gangster."
One gangster the feds have been after for years is McGriff, 45, founder of the Supreme Team, once one of the city's most violent drug crews. Investigators charged Wednesday that he revived his lucrative — and deadly — drug operation after he finished serving about nine years for drug conspiracy in 1997.
McGriff's lawyer, Robert Simels, said his client told him from prison Wednesday that "it's a shame that people who tried to help him in a legitimate way are involved in defending themselves in a criminal case."
The indictment seeks to seize Gotti's personal property and two of his music companies but does not target Murder Inc. itself.
The label was renamed The Inc. last year in an attempt to deflect negative publicity from the federal investigation.
The charges were not expected to have a major impact on Universal. Universal spokesman Peter LoFrumento declined to comment on the charges.
The indictment charges that McGriff and his associates ran a drug operation stretching from New York through Baltimore into North Carolina.
It accuses them of killing potential government cooperator Karon "Buddha" Clarrett and a friend outside a Baltimore-area stash house in August 2001. They also are charged with the slaying of up-and-coming rapper E-Money Bags that summer in his sport-utility vehicle on a street in Queens. |
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| dance04 |
yeah i saw this too, looks like the "murderous I.N.C" is goin' dowwwwwn. Well, Shady records is better anyways!;)
What i dont get it is, you own a freakin record label... why launder money and risk getting caught? ur rich damnit! |
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| BigTongue |
Saying "Rap music & Crime" when 1 person is caught doing something is just as bad as saying "black people & rape"
don't pin everyone in the same category |
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| jdjd |
| Rappers do crime?? Who knew! |
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| techead |
| quote: | Originally posted by BigTongue
Saying "Rap music & Crime" when 1 person is caught doing something is just as bad as saying "black people & rape"
don't pin everyone in the same category |
Can you show me anywhere in my post where I actually said "Rap music & Crime"
No thought not
What I said was an observation as in "once again Rap music is connected to Crime" Please do not put words in my mouth and then appear outraged |
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| techead |
ctually What I said was Once again bad stuff connected to Rap
That doesn't mean I am linking them, but an observation |
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| djdustx |
whats wrong with money laundering?
its pretty much as moral as hiring children to work in ur poorly vented warehouse...
Sebasano |
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| techead |
I must have taken the stupid pill tonight DUH
I now saw that I actually said that in the post subject
please ingore me I am having a senior moment:) |
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| Nrg2Nfinit |
| quote: | Originally posted by techead
I must have taken the stupid pill tonight DUH
I now saw that I actually said that in the post subject
please ingore me I am having a senior moment:) |
:wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf:
:wtf: quick delete your post before anywones see's it :toothless |
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| Playa24_7 |
| Almost all the music is about fighting, shooting, gangs, killings, and robbery. Then maybe some people can relate to it abit, and start thinking they are like that rapper. Then you see people thinking they are big and bad because they have a gun, thinking they are all "gangsta" and shooting people over stupid at rap clubs. Hmmm...I wonder why you never hear about this type of thing at trance clubs, where its positive uplifting music, everyone goes there to have fun and dance, not start a fight for the sake of fighting. The music has alot to do with the aggression for sure. Put someone going up to another person with a gun in a video, but instead of rap music, put trance. See how "gangsta" the person looks then haha. You never see anything like that on trance for good reason lol |
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| Fir3start3r |
| quote: | Originally posted by Playa24_7
Almost all the music is about fighting, shooting, gangs, killings, and robbery. Then maybe some people can relate to it abit, and start thinking they are like that rapper. Then you see people thinking they are big and bad because they have a gun, thinking they are all "gangsta" and shooting people over stupid at rap clubs. Hmmm...I wonder why you never hear about this type of thing at trance clubs, where its positive uplifting music, everyone goes there to have fun and dance, not start a fight for the sake of fighting. The music has alot to do with the aggression for sure. Put someone going up to another person with a gun in a video, but instead of rap music, put trance. See how "gangsta" the person looks then haha. You never see anything like that on trance for good reason lol |
While that may be true...have you ever watched a Trance video?? :wtf:
People flyin' round like Mary Poppins with stunned looks on their faces and some cryptic plot that's as lost as it's viewers after watching it... :conf: |
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| arek |
http://www.lyricman.net.tripod.com/
ima gangster, ima a straight up G.
the gangster life is the life for me.
Shooting people by day, selling drugs by night.
being a gangster is HELLA thight. |
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