THEY’RE THUGS
Bratton blasted for ‘gangsta’ stereotype Brooklyn rapper busted in deadly shootout beef
Commissioner Bill Bratton used incendiary language Thursday to lash out at rappers as “socalled artists who are basically thugs” after shooting death at Irving Plaza concert. Rapper Troy Ave (above) was charged with attempted murder.
‘Should know better’ – hip-hop great DMC
POLICE COMMISSIONER Bill Bratton is no fan of rap music.
The 68-year-old out-of-touch top cop ranted Thursday about rap during a radio interview on the deadly shooting at a T.I. concert at Irving Plaza.
“The crazy world of these socalled rap artists who are basically thugs, that basically celebrate violence they did all their lives, and unfortunately that violence oftentimes manifests itself during their performances and that’s exactly what happened last evening,” Bratton said on “The Len Berman and Todd Schnitt Show” on 710 WOR radio.
“The background of a lot of these young people, they are significant artists in that world . . . but unfortunately the lifestyles that they lived . . . oftentime follows them into the entertainment world and the success they have in it,” Bratton said, making it clear he’s studied the genre.
“The music celebrates violence, celebrates the degradation of women, it celebrates the drug culture,” Bratton said.
Rap legend Darryl (DMC) McDaniels of the group Run-DMC said Bratton struck a sour note.
“He should have known better,” the Queens rapper told the Daily News.
“He should have kept it specific to what happened,” McDaniels said. “All rappers ain’t gangsters. I went to St. John’s University, so I took it personally.”
McDaniels also blamed TV and radio for perpetuating the gangster stereotype. “When you turn on Hot97 or MTV,” he said, “you only see the dark, stupid ignorant side of us.”
Manny Faces, executive director of the Center for Hip-Hop Advocacy, also criticized Bratton for blaming music for violence. “This was not a rap problem,” Faces said. “This was a people problem.”
Then he really went in on Bratton. “Lumping people together based on some kind of cultural commonality and making comments that broadly vilify a community of people based on the actions of a few is practically the definition of bigotry.”
Bratton, in a later interview on NY1’s “Inside Politics,” had harsh words for 33-year-old rapper Roland (Troy Ave) Collins who was charged Thursday with attempted murder in the shooting at the Union Square venue. After ballistics tests, the charges could be elevated to murder in the death of 30-year-old Ronald (Edgar) McPhatter, sources told The News.
The shooting happened at a T.I. concert, before the Atlanta-based rapper was set to take the stage. He was not involved in the violence, sources said.
“There’s a young man who supposedly made it,” Bratton said of Troy Ave, the alleged gunman. “He’s now described as a rap artist. Basically, I described him as a thug. And thug, in my parlance, is a violent person, a criminal. And quite clearly we saw a violent person there.”
Sources have said the shootout was sparked by a beef between the entourages of rappers Maino and Troy Ave.
Mayor de Blasio, meanwhile, was hesitant to link music to the mayhem.
“I think the commissioner was talking out of frustration that we’re losing good young people . . . I have a great respect for the commissioner but I have a (different) vantage point on hip-hop culture because I see it through the eyes of my kids,” he said on Power 105.
“So I hear a lot (of rap). And some is thoughtful and socially conscious. And some I find distasteful. But I could say that about a lot of genres,” he said in a separate interview.