BLAZIN’ ADDLED
Rapper cuffed for wacko flamethrower stunt
The rapper who shot a flamethrower from atop a Brooklyn bus in a viral video turned himself in to the NYPD Wednesday — and insisted his pyrotechnic crimes were committed in the name of art.
Dupree G.O.D jumped shirtless from the top of an ice cream truck onto a packed B26 bus at Franklin and Putnam Aves. in Bedford-Stuyvesant and shot off the flamethrower about 5:30 p.m. Nov. 8, jaw-dropping video posted to social media shows.
But the performer, born Christopher Dupree, was more subdued Wednesday, telling reporters as he turned himself in at the 79th Precinct stationhouse that he was only being creative.
Decked out in a camouflage puffer coat, Dupree shook the hand of an NYPD officer before turning around and getting handcuffed, video shot by The News shows.
“Art man, art,” he replied when asked what he was thinking during the wild flamethrower shoot.
“Everything was in a safe, controlled environment,” he insisted, though his stage was atop a crowded bus of passengers who had no idea what was going on. “It’s for the art. For the Wu-Tang.”
The rapper was charged with reckless endangerment. The NYPD still has not located the flamethrower.
Police brass scoffed at Dupree’s artistic expression.
“Let me ask you something, jumping on a bus, is that a controlled environment?” said Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison at a press conference after the arrest. “And also, mind you, there were people on the bus as well, so I don’t know about you but, if my mother’s on that bus, and somebody’s on the roof shooting a flamethrower, I don’t know, but I’m gonna take that a little personal.”
But Dupree’s lawyer dismissed the video shoot as trivial.
“De Blasio is already burning this city to the ground — so what’s one more fire?” Cary London, Dupree’s lawyer, wisecracked when contacted by The News.
Police initially responded to a 911 call the night of the incident reporting a man on top of a city bus shooting a flamethrower, but by the time cops got there, the bus and crowd were gone, Harrison said, and cops marked the 911 call as unfounded.
The NYPD didn’t hear anything more about the fiery display — until authorities became aware of the video going viral on social media Tuesday, Harrison said.
“He was wildly shooting a flamethrower from side to side. At points in the video, the roof of the bus was ignited by the lighter fluid. Thankfully, the bus did not catch on fire and no one on the bus was injured,” Harrison said.
In the video posted to social media, Dupree is seen shooting blazing arcs in the air before running to the back of the bus and shooting the flames downward, torching the ground as the bus starts to move.
At the end of the video, Dupree jumps down from the bus, landing beside a streak of fire burning in the concrete.
He was featured in The News in 2010, when his YouTube videos caught the eye of talent scouts, and he was featured as a rapper in a McDonald’s ad.