 The drama surrounding Jay-Z and last week's stabbing of record executive Lance 'Un' Rivera continues to unfold. First, we have two counts of first degree assault being charged to Jay-Z. He will have to appear in court on January 31st and if convicted can get up to 25 years. If that's not enough, two other people have popped up to claim they too were assaulted by Jay-Z on separate occasions. Jay-Z's camp not only maintains his innocence but also notes that because of the controversy and Jay-Z's high visibility all sorts of folks are coming out and attacking. Lastly, you have the rampant speculation and rumors that are suggesting this whole drama is one big publicity stunt to help boost album sales of Jay-Z's soon to be released 'The Life And Times Of Shawn Carter'. The supposed fuel that led up to the stabbing and assault on Lance Un Rivera was the belief that Rivera and his crew were bootlegging Jay-Z's album. Q-Tip's manager Chris Lighty , of Violator Records released a press statement in response to the NY Daily News front page story that blasted the headlines 'Rappers Brawl'. In the story it remarked how Q-Tip got hurt during the melee and was seen sitting on the stage crying. Here's the press statement:
This morning, in the cover story entitled "Rapper Brawl," the NY Daily News made a number of erroneous statements regarding Q-Tip at his record release party this week in New York. The fact is Q-Tip was not injured nor assaulted in the on stage melee. At the time the NY Daily News reported that Q-Tip was "crying on stage," he was nowhere in the vicinity of the violence. In actuality, he was upstairs in the mezzanine having his photo taken and doing press interviews, unaware of the activities taking place on the first floor. Q-Tip, a former member of A Tribe Called Quest, does not condone violence and regrets that this unfortunate incident took place at what was supposed to be a great celebration. Q-Tip's solo debut, "Amplified," was released on November 30th on Arista Records.
 For all this to occur just as we head on into the new millennium is a major set back for Hip Hop and the positive strides Jay-Z has made this year. Here's a guy who not only won a Grammy, but also put on the most successful tour in Hip Hop history. The Hard Knock Life Tour was free of the violence and mayhem often associated with rap and it set a tone for the type of better things to come. Here's a guy who owns and runs one of Hip Hop's most successful labels Roc-A-Fella Records. He recently profiled on national TV news shows like Fox Files where they focused on the fact that Jay-Z despite his success still goes back to his old neighborhood of Marcy Projects in Bedstuy Brooklyn and tried to reach out and help bring up others. Now we can look and say what we want about Jay-Z. We can take his side and believe he was uninvolved. We can look at this from the other side and say it was a ridiculous thing for him to do when you consider how much he has going for him. Jay-Z as we get ready to head on into the 21st century is clearly at the top of his game. What can not be ignored is this eerie pattern of brothas being on top of their game and suddenly having something negatively dramatic happen in their lives. It's ironic that we get ready to close out '99 with this unfortunate incident because about a year ago I wrote an article entitled 'The Year of The Hip Hop Criminal' http://www.daveyd.com/FullArticles\articleN13.asp. In it I noted that 98 saw close to 30 high profile rap stars either get arrested, do some jail time or be involved in some sort of drama. I'm talking about everyone from Bushwick Bill, Mystikal, Mase , Busta Rhymes, Method Man Noreaga, DMX, Fat Joe, Big Pun, Keith Murray, Foxy Brown, C-BO, Ghostface Killer, ODB, D-Dot The Madd Rapper, Coolio, Wyclef Jean and Guru just to name a few. This year alone had all sorts of drama ranging from crazy incidents involving, Puff Daddy, Luther Campbell, Kane & Abel, Duke of Pyscho Realm, Redman, DMX, Tim Westwood, and Raydogg of Made Men/RSO are just a few. As I looked over incidents that have occurred over the past five years the list becomes even longer with damn near everyone from Queen Latifah to Naughty By Nature having had hand cuff slapped on them. Others ranging from Suge Knight to Rappin' 4Tay found themselves and still find themselves behind bars. Over the past 5 years we've lost more then 10 artists to untimely deaths; 2Pac, Biggie, Seagram, Big L, Freaky Tah, Eazy E, MC Ant, Mr C of RBL Posse, and Rappin' Ron are just a few. The bottom line is I found myself hard pressed to find an high profile artist that has not had some sort of troubling incident attached to their name. And these are the things that have been reported. By citing these names I'm not trying to make the case that none of these individuals are not responsible for any sort of drama they have experienced. I am concerned at the high numbers and I have to ask 'Why?' and 'How?' I have to ask 'Is there a pattern here?' It's easy to look at this list and simply come to the conclusion that all these people mentioned are involved in Hip Hop and their lifestyle is supposedly violent. One easily put two and two together and call it a day,but I think there's more to it then that. All this is not happening in a vacuum. Are we a society of criminals and people who like to act ill? Are there outside forces at work that helping mold and shape this overall picture? If we are all criminal, how come so many are high profile successful artists who we see and hear everyday? Are we a community that likes to give props to the Thugs and Hoodlums in our midst? Are all these arrests a result of us glamorizing the gangsta and thug mentality? Or is it something else? Should we not look at the social , economic and political forces that are at work and impacting us all? For example, last year when I did the story about the 'Year of The Hip Hop Criminal', I found that more then half the artists who got arrested fell into similar scenarios. They were driving expensive cars, got pulled over and found them and their cars being searched. At that point, the police would usually discover something that would lead to an arrest like a joint in the ashtray, a weapon or someone wearing a bullet proof vest which is illegal in many states. Now I'm not a statistician or anything like that, so I can't say for sure whether or not these type of arrests were in synch with what was going on with the everyday population. It just seemed like rap artists were being targeted by police. I wound up exploring this a bit further and eventually with the help of the ALCU and Vinnie from Naughty By Nature came to the conclusion that what I was noticing may have been part of this Driving While Black profiling that the ACLU and the NAACP was combatting. I eventually did a radio show on this topic where Vinnie who was a guest shared with our audience that there were indeed a lot of rappers and Black celebrities in general who were constantly being hassled by New York City. He pointed out that mayor Giuliani was encouraging his police department to crack down and as result a lot of young Black man in a fancy cars were being seen as dope dealers or some other type of criminal. The end result was seemingly everyone in a fancy car who was Black or Puerto Rican would find themselves being pulled over for some petty infraction like 'no lights over the licence plate'. These stops were being used as a pretense to search cars. It was at that point that half smoked joints or weapons would be found. Now should these artists have been more responsible? Yes of course. However, what should not be ignored is the reason for the police stop in the first place. Vinnie eventually went on to do some speaking on behalf of the ACLU in an attempt to give people a heads up about this problem.
 I will admit what i just described in no way addresses the question of violence or Jay-Z's current situation. I'm not trying to justify anything or make excuses for ill behavior. I am however saying we should definitely be taking a close look at all these numbers and see if there's a pattern. Why is this happening? is it something in the water? is there a bigger social issue at hand? I'll close by noting this..If you look beyond the boundaries of Hip Hop you'll find that damn near every African American celebrities or High profile figure has had some sort of drama come down the pipe. Think about what has happened over the past 10 years.. James Brown went to jail, Michael Jackson was accused of child molestation, Magic Johnson got HIV, Michael Jordan's father was killed and stories surfaced about his gambling habit, Bill Cosby's son was killed and rumors surfaced about it being drug related, not to mention around the same time his wholesome All American father image was soiled by a woman who attempted to extort money by claiming Bill was her dad. Earlier this year basketball great Dr J [Julius Erving] found himself in the limelight and reporters trying to soil his name when they discovered his extramarital indiscretions from years back. from film director Spike Lee to actors like Mikal T Williams or Malik Yorba to all these African American Mayors of predominantly Black cities who lost their seats, such high profile individuals have had their characters and reputations tarnished, they've been involved with some major drama, they've been ostracized and marginalized or they've just been plain old drag down from the high status they once had. Think about it. Start naming off names and you'll discover there's an there's an awful lot of people who have been heroes and sheroes within the African American community who have suddenly fallen from grace. Maybe we're asking more questions and digging deep into people's personal lives or maybe there's is something else at hand. I can't say exactly what it is. I can't quite put my finger on it.. But something ain't right in Gotham City. Is this whole incident involving Jay-Z an isolated incident? Is it a case of bad and irresponsible judgement? Or is it part of trend and a pattern that is now starting to unfold? Hit me back at mailto:kingdave@sirius.com |