Despite Courtroom Tirade, Wu-Tang Producer Granted Bail

Wu-Tang Clan defiantly went against the contemporary grain with their music

, now one of the affiliates is doing the same, against the justice system. Producer True Master, born Derrick Harris, appeared in Manhattan Supreme Court yesterday (October 12) was granted bail despite going on a quizzical courtroom tirade. Harris has been imprisoned since last month, after allegedly sexually assaulting and beating a woman in his Harlem apartment.

“I do not consent to participate willingly to these proceedings,” the 41 year-old Harris told the presiding Judge A. Kirke Bartley in Manhattan Supreme Court. Harris also “asked” Judge Bartley, “As I told you my nationality and you don't want to respect me, you don't think that I have the authority to fire you?” He then went on to assert, “I’m a sovereign national, my whole life. As I said, I have unalienable rights,” and added that he is “not negro, black, colored or African-American.”

Nevertheless, Judge Bartley granted Harris bail, setting it at $250,000. Harris was originally arraigned on September 14, 2011 and charged with sexual abuse, attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment after an incident in his 120th Street apartment a couple of days prior. In a strange twist, Harris escaped police custody on September 14, only to be captured again hours later, near his apartment.

Harris came up under the tutelage Wu-Tang producer the RZA. Under the moniker True Master, he asserted himself as a talented boardsmith in his own right, producing tracks like Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s “Brooklyn Zoo,” Ghostface Killah’s “Fish,” and Wu-Tang Clan’s “The M.G.M.” Most recently he produced the entirety of a collaborative project with KRS-One, titled Meta-Historical, that was released in August 2010.

Currently there is no word on if and when True Master will be able to post bail. --Alvin Blanco