July 01, 2004 @ 1:16 pm

Hip Hop Cops On The Prowl

by: Nicola A. Menzie

When hip hop police units first began targeting rappers and industry executives it was mainly on the downlow. Now that the rap intelligence units have expanded nationwide

Some, like M-1 of dead prez in an interview with VIBE Online, even went as far as to compare the hip hop task force to the FBI surveillance of civil rights and black power groups like the Black Panthers in the 60s and 70s. Some also argue that rock artists, predominantly white, aren't being watched and photographed like their black hip hop counterparts. While it is true that artists like Kid Rock and Blink 182 don't have detailed dossiers chronicling their questionable past and present behavior or their shady acquaintances, once upon a time the FBI, under the instruction of J. Edgar Hoover, kept dossiers on Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and John Lennon, according to the Miami Herald. Of course, law enforcement had its reasons then, but what is going on today to cause an entire musical genre and its artists to be under such intense scrutiny? It's a fact that hip hop concerts and even hip hop-oriented clubs are notorious for attracting some kind of violent flare-up, though this alone does not pinpoint hip hop music itself as the actual agitator of such incidents. It's also true that many rappers were originally street thugs or drug dealers, and some even profess to still be both. So maybe that's the problem-rappers are so hell-bent on "keeping it real"-and also on keeping it interesting. That is, exaggerating or plain lying in their lyrics to beef up songs or earn street cred and big album sales. Comparatively, you don't hear P.O.D. or Linkin Park singing about crip walking or clapping back. There may be a distinction, according to Dr. Benjamin Chavis, president and chief executive officer of the Hip Hop Summit Action Network (HHSAN). He believes "Hip hop is a bridge out of poverty. Hip hop is a means that many youth in urban America use to escape self-destruction." This is something many rappers would no doubt give testament to, if we are to believe many of the lyrics in their songs. But that particular option is a double-edged sword. If cops believe everything or anything in some of these rap lyrics, they'd believe they were profiling gun-totting, crack-cooking criminals and not musical artists and entertainers. Head of the NYPD hip hop task force Derek Parker, supposedly the first hip hop cop and the one who actually began accumulating info on rappers, said in the March 30 issue of the Village Voice, "We prevented certain crimes because when you started talking to rappers and you knew they had hits on them and you were on to them, people wouldn't go and shoot them or rob them if they knew you were around. Most of the time, it's not the rappers, it's the guys in their entourages that cause the problems." So the hip hop cops are protecting the rappers, not spying on them? "These units are obviously not for the benefit of the rappers," rebuffs Touré, contributing editor and writer for Rolling Stone magazine. "This is racial profiling and an extension of the attitude that American law enforcement has historically taken toward black men, which is guilty until proven innocent." Then forget the excuse that cops are stepping up their game and maintaining these six-inch thick dossiers on the likes of 50 Cent, P. Diddy and DMX because of the tragic deaths of Tupac, the Notorious B.I.G., Jam Master Jay, and a slew of other rappers violently killed. "None of them were murdered by rappers," Touré points out. "There are no cases of rappers murdering rappers." And he's right, despite the rumors that rapper B.I.G. was somehow responsible for Tupac's demise. This has never been proven. As a matter of fact, the FBI recently got involved in the Biggie case, and is following leads that a police officer may actually be responsible for his murder. That brings us to another possibility as to why police are profiling rappers and hip hop artists. "The hip hop community is not against law enforcement," offers Dr. Chavis. "The question is: is law enforcement against hip hop?" While Dr. Chavis maintains that he doesn't believe all cops are against hip hop, he "thinks there are some elements within organized law enforcement that have a prejudice against hip hop." Touré goes even further saying, "There is a long-standing fear of the black man in America… From Nat Turner to Willie Horton black men have been used to create fear in American hearts. Today's versions of this are rappers." That idea may seem a little extreme for some, but what other possible explanations can there be for this kind of police activity? "A lot, if not most, rappers belong to some kind of gang," Miami police Sgt. Rafael Tapanese told the Miami Herald. I suppose that includes many of the artists they are profiling, which include P. Diddy, Jay-Z, 50 Cent, Busta Rhymes, and DMX to name a few. I wonder if these police officers are so ill informed or in such dire need of sensitivity training, as Dr. Chavis aims to organize, that they are mistaking the artists' record labels for gangs. I suppose Bad Boy, The Roc, G-Unit, Flip Mode and Ruff Ryders could easily be mistaken for gangs. However, I believe police Sgt. Tapanese's blunt statement reveals the root of the so-called need for rap intelligence units-ignorance and fear. The rap intelligence units must be composed of police officers who don't listen to hip hop music nor associate closely with anyone who participates in the culture, for if they did, they would be able to separate the violence from the music and not automatically assume that hip hop artists and their fans are violent or prone to criminal activity. Instead of treating these artists whom they are watching from afar, like criminals, perhaps they could befriend them and build some kind of partnership with the hip hop community. A sustained positive relationship in addition to sensitivity training would break down this wall of ignorance and perhaps squash the fear. These units should be more concerned with gaining the trust of the hip hop community instead of alienating and demonizing it.

Article tags: Hip, Hop, Cops, Prowl 

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