Free Republic

Lowlife Rappers Get Some Love Exclusive commentary by Patrick Rooney Director of Special Projects BOND June 10, 2003 “Hip-hop” record mogul Russell Simmons was running around New York last week meeting with Gov. Pataki and other top Empire State politicos in an ignoble effort to relax drug sentencing laws in the state. Following the success of Detroit’s recent Rap Summit, the genre has been gaining long-coveted respect. Meanwhile at the “Summer Jam” in East Rutherford, New Jersey, 50,000 fans cheered as rap’s biggest names cussed, threatened rivals, and displayed the kind of parenting skills that would embarrass Ozzie Osbourne. We...

Run-DMC, whose Jason Mizell — better known as DJ Jam Master Jay — was shot to death in a Jamaica recording studio last fall, was just named the greatest hip-hop act of all time by music channel VH1. Also ranked among the all-time greats are Tupac Shakur, Nelly, Sean Combs, MC Hammer, Public Enemy, Notorious B.I.G., LL Cool J, Eminem, Dr. Dre, Grandmaster Flash, Salt-N-Pepa, Jay-Z, the Beastie Boys, Afrika Bambaattaa, Lil' Kim and Queen Latifah. To the consternation of Run-DMC's Darryl McDaniels, Slick Rick and Doug E. Fresh didn't make the list, which must tell us something about something,...

An aspiring rap star who has been charged with murdering his roommate and eating part of her lung did so as part of his record label's plan to cultivate a "gangsta" image for him, the victim's mother charged in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles. Antron Singleton, a rapper who goes by the stage name Big Lurch, faces murder and torture charges after police found him staggering naked and covered in blood on a south-east Los Angeles street on April 10, 2002. In a nearby apartment, police said they found the mutilated body of Tynisha Ysais, 21, with teeth marks...

Police hit at rappers for making guns glamorous Gaby Hinsliff, Martin Bright and Jason Burke Sunday January 5, 2003 The Observer Music industry bosses came under furious attack last night from police for glamorising firearms as the Home Office called an emergency summit to tackle Britain's gun warfare culture. Record companies that market rap music to young people have flatly refused to co-operate with the Metropolitan Police in tackling teenage attitudes, Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur revealed, blaming a 'backdrop of music' for influencing alienated young men. The emergency summit was called after the fatal shooting of two teenage girls, caught...