Hey Dave, This is Vinnie from Naughty. I received this weeks newsletter. I couldn't help but respond to this issue. There is a serious problem with NYC police and young black males. Every time someone gets pulled over, their car is searched and they find a gun. Dave, since when do you get pulled over for a speeding ticket then your whole car gets searched. This erratic driving excuse is a bunch of bullshit.

Ghostface, Busta, and Treach and myself got the same treatment. The cops intentionally, followed us, called eight other cop cars, and when the time was right they hunted us down like exotic animals and everyone reports from "their" news wire. Dave, the same thing happened to me Christmas of 94'. I was on Amsterdam ave. in NY dropping off some Naughty Gear to a friend for presents. Once my female friend got out of my truck, I saw what appeared as white car jackers approaching my vehicle from the passenger's side. I was looking to my passenger side and started to flee. They had an undercover NYC cab, blind side my drivers side and I smashed right into it. They jumped in my car and put guns to my head and pulled my out of my truck AND handcuffed me!!! People were like, what are you doing?, that's Vinnie from Naughty by Nature!!! The cops searched my truck and didn't find anything. They were shitting, especially after they took me to the precinct and couldn't find not even a traffic summons. My truck had Lojack on it so I never reported my truck stolen so they had no valid excuse for their actions.

I sued NYPD for 1 millon dollars and settled for 10k. Not ONE person reported this incident, two years later and two weeks after they paid me, they snatched us out of our cars again. Financially, I was in an uproar at the time so I didn't have the money to defend myself so we settled with misdemeanors. When they come up with something, everyone takes what they say and report it. Especially, magazines who are supposed to represent our voice such as the Source and Vibe. They just take what they hear off the news wire and run. It's sad because I know they know how the cops are. I've been in downtime so I really haven't had the opportunity to address this nationally but my downtime is over and I'm gonna make stink about this in 99'.

NYC is snatching young black males out of expensive cars for no reason. Since when does the fact that I am a celebrity calls for me to get pulled over and have my car flipped inside out for allegedly, driving erractically!!! Dave, driving down 125th St. in Harlem between 4 - 7 pm is like driving down Sunset in LA at it's busiest time. It's impossible to drive period. Traffic is and was bumper to bumper at the time of our incident. Dave, I know journalists such as yourself are pretty responsible but we have to show a bit more research before we just take shit off the news wire and report it. You guys have access to all artists in question so there should be an attempt to contact someone to hear OUR side of the story before we're convicted in Mainstream press. This is an attempt to discredit us and these charges hurt us when we try to work with corporate America for endorsements despite all we do for our local community. First thing they do is look to see if you have a rap sheet then they say we're too controversial to deal with. If we were white kids, corporate America would be swallowing our balls to be in business with us. I've recovered financially now and I'm keeping at least 100k or more just for future lawsuits. From now on, I'm not settling shit, I'm gonna go all the way to trial when I sue anyone who's unjust. Look out for our new white label single, "Dirt by My lonely". You guys should be banging that on your mix shows now. We just finished the video for it and it's blazing!!! The next and official first single is a song called, "Live or Die" featuring Master P, Mystikal, and Silk the Shocker. Our new lp is called,"19 Naughty 9, Nature's Fury". Due out in April on Arista records, (yeah we made the big switch) and the single is due in March. I'll see ya' when I get in the Bay and I'll be in contact more since I'm back on board.

Peace
Vinnie

It gives you a lot to think about.. The struggle continues folks....