Rap COINTELPRO XIII: MTV’s “Hip-Hop Cops: Is The NYPD At War With Hip-Hop?”

Cedric Muhammad

MTV should be commended for its recent look at something that we have been writing about for a couple of years – the surveillance of Hip-Hop artists by law enforcement. But the series doesn’t go far enough.

It has been a peculiarity, at least in our view, that the subject of law enforcement and Hip-Hop artists has been primarily reviewed from the prism of two major police departments – the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and the New York Police Department (NYPD). Certainly there are logical and natural reasons for this. And for sure, any investigation of this subject should include those law enforcement officers and departments who have the most contact with artists at the local level. But the fact that the Notorious B.I.G.’s car was being followed by the FBI and ATF agents at the moment he was shot; the fact that the DEA was on the point of a major investigation of Rap-A-Lot Records and Hip-Hop legend Scarface (Read Our “Hip-Hop Fridays: Rap COINTELPRO Part IV: Congress Holds Hearings On DEA Rap-A-Lot Investigation”); the fact that the FBI and IRS were investigating Death Row Records at the height of the record label’s popularity and when Tupac Shakur was murdered; the fact that the FBI and IRS have been watching Puffy (P.Diddy) and Bad Boy Records’ business activities for at least 8 years; the fact that a government informant infiltrated the Wu-Tang Clan over two years ago and the ATF was offering convicts less time if they would implicate the group in gun-running (Read Our “Hip-Hop Fridays: Rap COINTELPRO Part II”); and the fact that federal law enforcement agencies are investigating the Murder Inc. record label right now and raided its offices recently should make it clear as to why we are not satisfied with any investigative report that makes the NYPD and/or the LAPD the end-all or be-all.

The problem isn’t MTV. They actually did a service and credible job exploring the context for how all of this mischief-making is possible and how the need for Hip-Hop-centered investigations is “plausible”, due to the cultural and socio-economic conditions and deleterious aspects of the Hip-Hop industry.

Russell Simmons

The problem is that for a variety of reasons activists, journalists, artists and executives can’t seem to accept the premise that what is happening is a continuation of COINTELPRO and not profiling or harassment. Many know that what is happening goes way above the power and influence of any local police department. But they are afraid to follow the trail all the way up. This was an important part of my recent conversation with Russell Simmons. Russell’s reticence in tackling the issue is understandable but until the Hip-Hop community learns the lessons of history and shakes its fear and state of denial, it is doomed to repeat the mistakes that others made before them in ignorance. Once the reality of RapCOINTELPRO is accepted for what it is then the appropriate political leaders can be pressured to hold hearings, write letters and obtain the files that would show beyond a shadow of a doubt that the United States Government, partly through the NYPD and LAPD is absolutely at war with Hip-Hop. And the rest of the members of civil society can confer on what actions should be taken. We have a lot of work to do in only a little bit of time.

The War on Street Gangs has been merged with a War On Drugs which has been merged with a War On Terrorism which will intensify with the war in Iraq. In all of this Hip-Hop will be framed as a primary force of sedition in America.

This is definitely one issue that separates the men and women from the boys and girls.

Cedric Muhammad
February 21, 2003

photo credit: Panther 1619

Here is the first portion of MTV’s report followed by a link to the subsequent portion(s) of the series:

One of the most hotly debated topics in the hip-hop world is the New York Police Department’s reported clampdown on the rap industry.

In the wake of high-profile investigations into the slaying of Jam Master Jay, the joint FBI-NYPD raids on the offices of Murder Inc., and the recent arrests of 50 Cent and Fabolous on weapons charges, the hip-hop community is abuzz with talk of an elite “hip-hop squad” or “rap task force” whose duties include tailing rappers’ vehicles and even monitoring their lyrics.

During a recent stint as a guest DJ on New York’s Hot 97, 50 Cent tauntingly shouted out the “hip-hop cops” that he claims follow him everywhere. But does such a task force targeting rappers really exist?

No, insists the NYPD.

“There is no such thing,” said Detective Walter Burns, a senior NYPD spokesperson. “We have no hip-hop task force, no hip-hop unit, no hip-hop patrol.”

Police point out that when they do create task forces, like the Terrorism Task Force or the Hate Crimes Task Force, one of their purposes is to let the public know they’re making an extra effort to stop crime. “If we did have a hip-hop task force,” another NYPD spokesperson said, “we wouldn’t deny it. We’d want to tell you that it exists.”

But many artists aren’t buying it.

“It’s definitely a task force,” Fat Joe said. “You go to hip-hop spots now and they ain’t just your normal walking-the-beat cops. There’s cops out there in undercover cars like they know something we don’t know. Like bin Laden’s in the club, B.”

“It’s just a thing where it’s targeting hip-hop,” Fabolous said. “I don’t think you should target something. If it’s a problem, you go handle the problem, that’s what cops are for. They are there to protect and serve. They’re not there to make a problem.”

Hip-hop Web sites liken the current situation to the once-secret FBI surveillance of African-American leaders and civil rights activists in the 1960s. Many rappers claim to have first-hand knowledge of the elite task force’s existence, and some say they’ve even seen confidential NYPD Intelligence Division documents containing information on rappers’ places of residence and vehicles.

“It’s called the Entertainment Task Force,” Keith Murray said. “They watch you as far as on the streets, and they watch you as far as monetary operations, taxes, who’s paying who what, where you getting money from. They got they scope on rappers right now.”

Pressed on his source for the existence of this task force, Murray said, “I’ve read numerous things on it and I’m seeing it come to fruition.”

The story of a hip-hop unit within the NYPD has been widely disseminated by major news organizations, and such reports have led to accusations of “rapper profiling” and civil rights infringement. But police spokespeople as well as other sources within the force say it’s simply not true. “We don’t target rappers,” Burns said. “The NYPD investigates crimes.”

Perhaps it’s a sense of self-mythologizing – all the Italian-gangster wannabes populating the ranks of the hip-hop game – that leads some rappers to feel they’re constantly under surveillance. Just how did they think law enforcement was going to react to artists who take on the surnames of crime kingpins like Gotti and Capone and Gambino?

Lieutenant Tony Mazziotti, a retired 28-year veteran who oversaw investigations of actual gangsters – major racketeers in the Gambino and Genovese crime families – said: “With the rappers, I think it’s this sense that, ‘Hey, we’re worthy of being investigated. That means we’re for real.’ ”

But what’s actually for real, one retired NYPD detective insists, is that there is a rap-related unit within the police force. What’s more, he said, he’s the cop who created it.

“I was the one who started the whole thing,” Derrick Parker revealed to MTV News. “The unit was created in ’98. … When Biggie was buried here in New York, there was a lot of concern, there were a lot of threats made. The chief [of the department] wanted me to run this entire investigation for him and to report to him.”

Parker said that for more than four years he gathered intelligence on the rap community, compiled files, went to nightclubs and interviewed rappers who were jammed up in criminal cases. Pressed on the exact name for the entity he created, Parker said, “It’s not called the hip-hop unit, it’s really just under Gang Intel.”

www.mtv.com/bands/t/task_…dex2.jhtml

Cedric Muhammad

Friday, February 21, 2003
www.blackelectorate.com/a…asp?ID=810

Rap COINTELPRO XII – The “War On Drugs” Meets The Hip-Hop Economy

Cedric Muhammad

In this month’s Black Electorate Insider Newsletter we are featuring a unique snapshot of the Hip-Hop economy from the standpoint of supply and demand; the five sources of capital (markets, inheritance, savings, government and crime); and RapCOINTELPRO. It is a unique analysis that explains why the seemingly unrelated events of the recent raids on both the Murder Inc. and ‘Tha Row record labels; the meteoric mixtape rise of 50Cent; the resignation from Sony Music of Tommy Mottola; and the unprecedented purchase of Armadale Vodka by Roc-A-Fella Records executives, from the macro standpoint, are all part of one larger picture. To learn how you can become an annual subscriber to the newsletter please visit:

www.blackelectorate.com/n…r_out.asp.

The always interesting Chicago Tribune contributer and In These Times Editor, Salim Muwakkil has written a very enlightening article on the overall impact of Hip-Hop culture in and on the larger American society and its power centers. It is a good read for anyone interested in learning who may be threatened by the various forms of power and influence that Hip-Hop has generated.

I thought of Mr. Muwakkil’s article over the past few days in light of the recent raid by the FBI and New York Street Task Force units of Murder Inc.’s offices, which lie within the same building that houses Universal Music and a host of other Hip-Hop record labels and multi-national corporations at 825 Eighth Avenue in Manhattan. Irv Gotti is the head of Murder Inc.

A New York Times article from Jan. 5, 2003 had the following passage:

Kenneth McGriff

“The drug dealer, Kenneth McGriff, was known on the streets of Queens as Supreme, and headed a murderous gang called the Supreme Team, which held sway over the crack trade in southeast Queens in the 1980’s. Mr. McGriff was arrested in 1988 and convicted on federal narcotics conspiracy charges, and served 10 years in prison.

In the raid early Friday morning, which was first reported in yesterday’s editions of The Los Angeles Times, federal agents and police detectives, acting on a search warrant, confiscated computers and documents from Murder Inc.’s offices at 825 Eighth Avenue, the officials said.

Prosecutors in the office of the United States attorney in Brooklyn, Roslynn R. Mauskopf, which is overseeing the investigation, would not comment on the search or the investigation.

But several officials said the police and federal agents were investigating whether Mr. Gotti’s music career was fueled with money from Mr. McGriff’s drug trafficking. “We’re still trying to put them together,” one official said. “That’s the main question we’re asking: did McGriff fund Gotti?”

Of course, under the law, Irv Gotti and Mr. McGriff are innocent until proven guilty. But in the court of public opinion, and in the eyes of the FBI, ATF, New York Police Department they are largely anything but that.

Suge Knight

Here is another interesting excerpt from an article about the raid that took place, two months ago, at the offices of ‘Tha Row records, run by Suge Knight. Of Mr. Knight, a CNN.com article on November 15, 2002 states: “He has been the target of numerous state and federal investigations into allegations of drug trafficking and money laundering, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office. No charges were filed in those cases, sources said.”

Again, Mr. Knight is innocent until proven otherwise. But is he really innocent in the eyes of the Los Angeles Police Department and “state and federal investigators?”

What is this all about? What is behind these recent raids of multi-million dollar establishments, both of which have business relationships with multinational corporations that many researchers say were funded by illegal funds? The music industry is said to be rife with nefarious connections. For years, rumors have swirled around certain relationships to figures maintained by Tommy Mottola. Yet, to the best of our knowledge Sony Music hasn’t been raided by the FBI, NYPD or LAPD in an effort to identify sources of funding, or perhaps money laundering that involves music companies through international banks. Why?

Jam Master Jay

When Jam Master Jay was murdered some interesting innuendo was dropped that the murder was somehow “industry-related.” NYPD officers who were investigating the murder, when interviewing industry figures, openly pursued this supposedly “industry-related” angle. They particularly focused on a few individuals in particular, even informing several artists that they were targets of violence and murder plots. The New York Police Department was visiting record labels and interviewing artists and executives about the JMJ case, while “revealing” information to these same individuals that their lives were in danger. Numerous industry figures took a variety of dramatic security precautions as a result. What type of atmosphere did this mixture of slander, innuendo, rumors and half-truths create in the Hip-Hop industry, when circulated by law-enforcement? Was the intent more than to just solve a murder?

As we have written before in this now over 10-part series and as the Honorable Minister Farrakhan has been stating openly, in a powerful way, since 1989, the United States Government has planned (and is now executing) a war on youth and street organizations under the guise of a war on drugs. The target of the war is really an entire people, with special emphasis on a few individuals. The larger focus of this war is starting to become apparent in light of President Bush’s War on Terrorism. The war on drugs and the war on terrorism have already been merged, yet the vast majority of people don’t see it yet. This, even with commercials paid for by the government that have been running since last year’s Super Bowl that openly state that people who buy drugs are supporting terrorists.

On a radio interview conducted by Davey D. last fall, I openly, and in more detail, explained how all of this would find its nexus, among Black, Latino and Arab young men, in several cities in the United States Of America. Street organizations, Hip-Hop and the religion of Islam would all be tied together. The Racketeering In Corrupt Organization Act (RICO); the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and the Patriot Act will be involved. The fulfillment and desire of President Bush for a domestic spying agency will be involved.

You can get a microcosm of most of this in looking at how KillArmy and the 5% Nation Of Islam was linked to the sniper shootings. We wrote about this in Part XI of this series, Hip-Hop Fridays: Rap COPINTELPRO XI: Meet The Press And Tim Russert Connect The Sniper Shootings With Hip-Hop and The 5 Percent Nation Of Islam

Still, as the circumstantial evidence mounts in public, many ignore, don’t pay attention, don’t understand. Some are in denial. Some Hip-Hop journalists still mock or want to ignore this RapCOINTELPRO series, which has been running now for almost three years. Hopefully, many will now begin to take what we have presented more seriously. The entire RapCointelpro series is available, for free, in The Deeper Look Archives at www.blackelectorate.com/search.asp.

Irv Gotti

Isn’t it interesting that in the aftermath of the recent raids on both record labels, on both coasts (is the East – West Coast angle with Murder Inc. and ‘Tha Row a coincidence) all that leading figures in the music industry could muster, including the corporate business partners of Suge Knight and Irv Gotti was, “no comment.” Will any 100,000 strong street protests involving Hip-Hop fans be planned to highlight the unprecedented nature of the federal government’s and law enforcement agencies’ targeting of the Hip-Hop music industry? Perhaps, many politically-minded Hip-Hop community members only like to handle certain “safe” subjects, and this is not one of them. Can we expect Hot 97, 107.5 WBLS, and Power 105 in New York to go to the airwaves airing program content that investigates the manner in which prominent artists have not just been arrested and harassed by law enforcement agents, but placed under surveillance and wiretaps by them? Will BET and MTV highlight it? Will The Source and Vibe magazine magazine give cover stories to the issue? Perhaps the entire industry executive establishment at Hip-Hop labels, radio stations, video programs and print media outlets are compromised or even, “complicit” in this. Some or, maybe only a handful.

I think it is time to call the roll within the industry. Where do all of us stand on the real possibility and circumstantial evidence-plus, that Hip-Hop culture, artists, executives and opinion leaders are under attack as part of a larger war being conducted by the United States government? Isn’t the question legitimate, by now? How many more arrests, scandals, propaganda pieces, and even deaths will it take before all of the dots are connected?

I will keep writing until we do.

In addition to this we will all have to look in the mirror. The economic condition of our community will be used against us. It has been a double-edged sword. This is especially true in Hip-Hop culture. We have been sued for sampling music – a practice that grew out of the fact that we could not afford musical instruments or the training necessary to play them. We have been arrested for defacing public and private property because our grafitti expression was not confined to murals and art school and painting classes. We have had people die at concerts with deaths uncompensated because we could not afford security or insurance to put on concerts properly. We have followed the principles of mob figures and corrupt corporate organizations rather than the pure science of business to build Hip-Hop related economic activities. We have accepted the pay-rates and standard contracts of an elite cabal of entertainment lawyers in other genres rather than craft a more equitable, innovative, and wealth-creating legal structure, because we didn’t know of any reputable Black or Latino lawyers or understand the recording business.

Among these shortcomings we are faced with the ultimate weapon. The reality that some of the Hip-Hop music industry has, at times, received seed capital from money and operations from criminal activities. This reality has been the case in broader music genres and in ethnic groups. The Jewish, Irish, and Italian communities all have a documented history of criminal activity funding “legitimate” or legal business activity in this country. Their illegal seed capital is a mountain compared to a molehill of Black, Latino and Arab crime “syndicates.” No street organization today can rival the mob of yesterday (and today).

But Black and Latino Hip-Hop artists have fallen victim to the White supremacy and Black/Latino inferiority complex in their cultural expressions, only helping the conspiracy against them. It was an error and always has been for these artists to glorify mob figures, even taking their names on – in business and artistic ways. It has been an error in judgment for Hip-Hop artists to glorify violence and celebrate guns, and for the Hip-Hop media – the fourth estate and conscience of the culture – to project these images for profit and endorse only a segment of the community for magazine covers and prominent features. I can easily make a sound economic case that the sex-and-violence-formula-as-business plan has meant short-term profits but now, reached a point of diminishing returns and very soon, real bankruptcy.

In the recent BlackElectorate.com chat session, on December 30, 2002, Rev. Al Sharpton said that it is not right for Black artists to engage in commerce by projecting and illustrating our negative reality, becoming wealthy; and at the same time not lift a finger to improve that social reality.

Rev. Sharpton is correct.

Now, the worst of our economic reality is being used as part of a political effort to shut down the most powerful cultural force to emerge among the youth in the last few decades.

Will we watch or fight?

Let’s all discuss this:

www.blackelectorate.com/m…msgbrd.asp

Cedric Muhammad

Friday, January 10, 2003

www.blackelectorate.com/a…asp?ID=780

 

Rap COPINTELPRO XI: The Sniper Shootings, Hip-Hop & The 5 Percent Nation Of Islam

Cedric Muhammad

I sat in rapt attention last Sunday morning as I saw Meet The Press host Tim Russert work to position Hip-Hop music as a major influence behind the behavior of the alleged sniper in the Washington D.C.- area. Here is the official transcript of that portion of the program (any spelling mistakes/errors are MSNBC’s):

MR. RUSSERT: Now, one of the more interesting things that went on in this case was how the police used the media to try to communicate and develop a dialogue with the alleged snipers. And we’ve gone back and looked at a variety of things as to what influences there may have been on the snipers. This is a CD from a group called Kill Army. It’s named “Silent Weapons For Quiet Wars.” There’s a song called “Wake Up.” “Word is bond this is as real as it’s going to get.” Then here is the letter which they left behind at the shooting in Ashland, Virginia. “Word is bond.” And on Wednesday night, we heard Chief Charles Moose of Montgomery County saying this:

(Videotape, October 23, 2002):

CHIEF CHARLES MOOSE: If you are reluctant to contact us, be assured that we made ready to talk directly with you. Our word is our bond.

(End videotape)

Tim Russert

MR. RUSSERT: Extraordinary, Dr. Meloy.

DR. MELOY: Yeah. It’s also very interesting from the perspective of the degree to which we see in these cases mimicking of other kinds of cases that have occurred previously or other kind of pop cultural data that will be incorporated by the individual into his killing spree or killing series. This does not mean, of course, that popular culture causes these events, but we do know that influences from violence in the media will account for a small proportion of what we refer to as the variants, a piece of the pie, in individuals that carry out these kinds of acts.

MR. RUSSERT: Let me show you some more based on exactly what you’re saying and bring everybody else into the conversation. Here are more lyrics from that same album. This is a song called “Five Stars.” “Snipers on the rooftop watch out for the Pitbulls. Waited ’til sunsets and moving like ninjas. …Yo, 5 Star General giving orders.” Here’s the letter, cover sheet, they left behind. The five stars were a symbol or an indication that this was the true sniper sending this letter.

Then we had this left behind. I’ll show you here the lyrics from the same album. “My name is Born God Allah, King of North America,” and the tarot card left behind, “Dear Policemen, I am God.”

Playing out a real fantasy, influenced somewhat by music, and yet in his own mind, woven together and we saw this play out.

www.msnbc.com/news/826747.asp

The exchange got my full attention as I was already fully aware of the effort by many in the media and those above them to position the Honorabale Minister Louis Farrakhan as the inspiration behind the activities of the alleged sniper. Now, I saw more fully the details of the height and depth to which the sniper controversy – from the horrific killings; to the association with the Nation Of Islam of the lead suspect, John Allen Muhammad; to the alleged influence of Hip-Hop; and the repeated visual of the image and account of a Black male committing violence with a firearm – could and was being used by the worst enemies of Black America to justify certain attitudes and policies.

Having been General Manager of the multi-platinum group Wu-Tang Clan with whom Killarmy, the group Mr. Russert mentioned, was affiliated, I can, with authority, dismiss the idea that the activities of the alleged sniper are what Killarmy had in mind when they were motivated to record the album Silent Weapons For Quiet Wars. I was there when they recorded the album, knew the young members of the group personally, and at times, conducted business on their behalf as it related to Wu-Tang Clan.

On balance I saw the positive influence of the 5% Nation Of Islam teachings on the members of Killarmy and Wu-Tang, on a daily basis, for nearly 3 years, day-in-day out. Certainly, they, like everyone else I know, have imperfections and fall short of the best of what they preach. I am also of the view that the influence of the 5% Nation on Hip-Hop has been overwhelmingly more positive than negative.

What was really at the root of Mr. Russert’s association between the murders and the lyrics of an underground rap group? Who was it – a producer at NBC, a rap fan, a music industry representative or someone in intelligence or an interest group – that gave Mr. Russert the lyrics to Killarmy’s recordings? What was the motive? Especially since we have not heard as much as a peep directly from John Allen Muhammad or an attorney representing him.

Immediately, while watching the Meet The Press program I realized that the real target was Hip-Hop music but more specifically the influence that the Nation Of Islam and Five Percent Nation Of Islam have had on the music genre, particularly since the mid-1980s. The arrest of John Allen Muhammad in association with the sniper shootings and a public “connection” with rap music is a dream come true for many powerful people, institutions and organizations that have been threatened by the rise of Hip-Hop and how it has been influenced by Minister Farrakhan, the Nation Of Islam and the Five Percent Nation Of Islam.

Who benefits from tying it altogether?

John Allen Muhammad

I have written about this before. But can’t remember a more direct incident where this was so clearly the case. The trial and investigation of John Allen Muhammad is going to be used to accomplish alot more than a conviction regarding the sniper murders.

In 1997 I visited the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) Reading Room at the FBI’s headquarters in Washington D.C. Anyone can do the same today, if they schedule an appointment. I was impressed by the large file that the federal government had on the 5% Nation Of Islam. The files went back over 30 years. I would later take the photocopies I had of some of the files and show them to rap artists and certain influential members of the 5% Nation that I knew personally in Brooklyn and Harlem. I was surprised to see how few of the were aware of the depth of the surveillance that the group was under. At this very moment you can read 132 pages of the FBI’s files on the 5 Percent Nation Of Islam at foia.fbi.gov/5percent.htm.

Interestingly, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has a webpage exclusively dedicated to the 5% Nation Of Islam, under a heading – “Hate On Display: A Visual Database of Extremist Symbols, Logos and Tattoos” You can view it at: www.adl.org/hate_symbols/…enters.asp

Now keep in mind it is hard to argue against the reality that along with Minister Farrakhan, there was no greater “outside” influence, during Hip-Hop’s most “conscious” era, on the lyrics of leading Hip-Hop arists, than the teachings of the 5% Nation. This is the case most obviously in 1987-1988 with popular artists like Rakim and Big Daddy Kane. To varying degrees Lauryn Hill, Nas, Wu-Tang Clan, Public Enemy, KRS-One, Ice Cube, MC Ren, X-Clan, Queen Latifah, and countless others have been positively influenced by the teachings of both the 5% Nation Of Islam and the Lost-Found Nation Of Islam in the West.

Members of 5% Nation

But specifically speaking the surveillance that characterized the government’s opinion of the 5 % Nation as a threat thirty years ago (this does not negate the very good relationship that is said to have existed between former New York Mayor John V. Lindsey and members of the 5 Percenters, from 1966 to 1973) has continued and broadened outside of the home base of the 5 Percenters in New York City.

Today, the antagonistic relationship between federal, state and local law enforcement and the 5 Percenters continues with the group officially categorized as a gang in several states. In Massachusetts, Florida and several other states the group is being opposed by special street crimes task units, local police departments and anti-juvenile violence efforts which consider the group to be a negative influence on young people. The official designation of the 5 Percenters as a gang has real affects on the ability of members of the organization to move freely in society and pursue very noble causes.

Look again at Tim Russert’s sudden interest in Hip-Hop music. What is the real motive in linking the alleged sniper, Hip-Hop and the 5% Nation Of Islam, before a predominately White audience of political observers? And who among those who prepared Mr. Russert for last week’s show, determined that Killarmy’s lyrics should be included in the public discussion?

The answer to these questions relates to Minister Farrakhan’s more-than-a vision experience in Mexico in 1985 and his announcement in 1989 that detailed the U.S. government’s planned opposition to the Nation Of Islam, street organizations and Black youth under the guise of what I have referred to as a “cover story.”

Irrespective of the actual guilt and potential conviction of John Allen Muhammad, is the sniper controversy being used to undermine Black culture and organizations and further demonize Black men, in order to accomplish a much larger objective?

Are we thinking about this as clearly as we ought to or have we been distracted from doing so, by design?

www.blackelectorate.com/a…asp?ID=732

Cedric Muhammad

Friday, November 01, 2002