When N.W.A., the seminal gangsta rap group, split up, its members went on to successful solo careers. Almost two thirds of gangsta rap recordings are bought by whites. Rap now accounts for $ 800 million in revenue a year. The controversies don’t seem to hurt record sales, however. Soon thereafter’ Time Warner took the controversial step of axing the executive at the corporation’s music division who was rap’s biggest supporter. More recently, Senator Bob Dole went on the attack, linking rap with violence and casual sex. Many radio stations across the country refused to play it. It made headlines when it hit the mainstream with such songs as N.W.A.’s “Fuck tha Police.” Police organizations and groups such as the National Political Congress of Black Women and the People’s Coalition condemned gangsta rap music. ![]() But a branch of the music that emerged from the West Coast in the late Eighties, dubbed gangsta rap, was the most explicitly brutal music ever. Rap, the most influential musical movement of the past two decades, grew from neighborhoods where violence pervaded. Tupac Shakur, one of Snoop’s closest friends, was convicted of sexual abuse and is serving a one-to- fouryear sentence. Flavor Flav of Public Enemy has served three months in jail for firing a gun at a neighbor. J-Dee of Da Lench Mob, is serving 29 years to life for the murder of his girlfriend’s male roommate. In 1991 Slick Rick Walters received three to ten years’ for the attempted murder of his cousin. Of course, rappers have been in trouble with the law since the South Bronx days of Lovebug Starski. A reviewer for the “Los Angeles Times” wrote: “No rapper has ever occupied a beat the way Snoop does, sliding around corners, lounging on the syncopations, slipping into the cracks and crevices of the grooves.” At 24 years old, he seems unstoppable–if he doesn’t wind up in jail. ![]() And Dogg’s soulful raps have earned raves. His record debuted at number one, passing releases by Pearl Jam and Aerosmith. He was nominated for a long list of music awards-including a Grammy and an American Music Award–and he won “Soul Train”‘s best rap album honors. Whether Dogg is guilty or not, his career took off following the killing. “Doggystyle” has sold 4.5 million copies, generating more than $40 million. I’ve heard it said, ‘Snoop doesn’t just talk the talk, he walks the walk.'” The victim’s sister told the press, “Snoop’s career has gone very far because of this murder. The criminal trial could influence the outcome of a $25 million lawsuit brought against Dogg by Woldermariam’s parents, who accused him of benefiting from their son’s death. But the district attorney contended otherwise. Snoop, his bodyguard and a friend also charged in the murder claimed they were innocent because Woldermariam went for his pistol first, forcing Lee to shoot in sell:defense. It’s because Broadus is best known as rap star Snoop Doggy Dogg. Snoop was accused of driving to a park in the Palms district of Los Angeles, where his bodyguard, McKinley Lee, allegedly shot and killed Philip Woldermariam, who reportedly had been a member of a gang called the By Yerself Hustlers. That’s’ not why reporters showed up in force. That defendant was Calvin Broadus, and he was charged with murder and conspiracy and as an accessory after the fact. ![]() The crime itself was commonplace, but this time it was one of the defendants who was making news. But at least one murder trial scheduled for the Los Angeles Criminal Courts Building promised to be different. ![]() In Los Angeles, as in most other cities, shootings among young black men on the street are all too common–and all too often ignored by the media.
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