MURDERED FOR ASKING ‘WHAT’S UP?’
‘What’s up?’ led rapper to kill: cops
A HOMOPHOBIC hip-hop pioneer turned a harmless twoword question into a death sentence for a homeless ex-con, authorities charged.
“What’s up?” asked John Jolly, drinking a beer late Tuesday as he walked down a Manhattan street toward Nathaniel Glover — who gained 1970s fame as Kidd Creole of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.
An enraged Glover, 57, interpreted the innocuous comment as a sexual advance and twice plunged a steak knife into the unarmed Jolly’s chest, officials said.
“If he’s hitting on me, he must think I’m gay, too,” a Manhattan prosecutor quoted Glover as saying about the chance encounter that turned deadly in seconds.
Jolly, recalled by friends at a Bowery homeless shelter as a peaceful man who battled mental illness, knocked back a final swig of brew before crumpling to the street.
The lethal meeting was captured on security video, authorities said. Glover said he carried the knife, secured to his forearm by rubber bands, for self-defense.
The two men had never met and shared little in common before crossing paths.
Glover, a native of the Bronx, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with his history-making group in 2007.
The South Bronx rappers hit the charts with the socially conscious hiphop classic “The Message” and its follow-up “New York New York.”
Jolly, 55, had a rap sheet with 17 prior arrests, including a Midtown bust in June for drug possession. He served five years in prison for the 1997 rape and beating of a 42-year-old woman.
Accused killer Glover was held without bail Thursday on a charge of second-degree murder.
Glover was walking to his job as a security guard and handyman at an E. 41st St. building when Jolly approached him at E. 44th St. near Third Ave., officials said.
Glover, with the blade hidden up his sleeve, became “infuriated” by the thought that Jolly was hitting on him, said Assistant District Attorney Mark Dahl.
The suspect, who initially walked past Jolly, doubled back to confront the man.
When Jolly spoke in a menacing tone, Glover thought he was about to be robbed — and stabbed the other man twice with the steak knife, authorities said.
Glover continued to his job, washing the blood off the murder weapon before bolting from work after 15 minutes, authorities said. He tossed the knife into a sewer grate in the Bronx.
Cops caught up with Glover at his Bronx home and summoned him back to Manhattan for questioning.
Those who knew the victim said Jolly was mellow.
“I saw him in the news and it blew my mind,” said Andres Figueroa, 50, who knew Jolly from their time at a homeless shelter on the Bowery. “He was a real cool, laid-back black dude. He didn’t mess with nobody.”
A second shelter resident echoed Figueroa’s assessment.
“He was quiet,” agreed a 68-year-old man named Olu. “He did have some mental issues, as far as I could tell.”
Shelter resident Charles Dance, 65, questioned the details of the death.
“I don’t believe the story that he was making a sexual advance,” Dance said. “When you get into an argument, sometimes things get out of hand. He never had a violent bone in his body.”
Rapper Chuck D of Public Enemy offered support for Glover before his murder arraignment.
“I hope all works out with my man @thekiddcreole,” he tweeted. “Conditions of NYC on the homeless render many insane. Conflicts rise but I must defend self.”