Last week, Fabolous became the latest rapper arrested in New York City on gun possession charges. In recent months, 50 Cent, Cam'ron, Jay-Z, Busta Rhymes, and others have faced similar charges in New York, bolstering the claims of many media outlets and independent observers that the New York Police Department has initiated a ''hip-hop task force,'' designed to monitor and harass rap artists and their entourages.
''The police officer that arrested me is the same officer that arrested Jay-Z, the same officer that arrested Busta Rhymes,'' says 50 Cent, who was arrested in Midtown Dec. 31 on two counts of criminal possession of a weapon. ''It's not a f---in' coincidence.'' (Note: 50 Cent and Cam'ron have pleaded not guilty; Rhymes pled guilty and was sentenced to five years probation; charges against Jay-Z were dismissed. The NYPD did not respond to EW.com's query by press time.)
None of the recent arrests have resulted in jail time. Most often, and in the recent Fabolous arrest, the guns are found to belong to the rappers' security, who are either licensed to have them or should be. It's hard to imagine that there would be so many arrests for minor infractions unless there were a concerted effort to track the movements of high-profile rap artists.
Hip-hop magazine The Source interviewed an anonymous member of the NYPD, who confirmed the existence of a police unit tracking rappers. ''They don't even have a name for it yet,'' he said. ''The so-called unit is comprised of intelligence divisions and members of the gang division.''
And while the arrests most often seem designed to be a nuisance, the police source suggests the department is actually trying to gather information. ''[They're] racing to update its files, which are completely computerized...with pictures of each rap artist, associates, and, if any, gang affiliation, personal information, cars that they drive, license plate numbers, telephone numbers, including cells and pagers, etc.''
Reportedly, the rap unit was created to prevent incidents like the murders of Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur, and the 1999 shooting at Club New York that led to the trial of P. Diddy (who was acquitted) and Shyne (who was sentenced to 10 years in jail). Clearly, there are many within the rap community with violent pasts. And the lyrics from some of rap's most prominent stars brag about guns and often advocate violence. But do these facts justify the outright profiling of an industry and the wholesale disposal of civil liberties?
Some would say yes. These guys talk the talk, influencing millions of kids and earning more millions of dollars in the process, so they should walk the walk. If police harassment is what it takes to keep violence out of hip-hop, then it's well worth it.
But as with most issues of civil liberties, the principles involved are bigger than the particulars. I don't like the thugged-out version of hip-hop that a lot of these artists champion, but I don't have to. Police profiling is wrong, no matter why it happens. If the police can target rappers, then – by the same logic -- it's okay to target black people (which, according to many studies and lawsuits, they do -- no small factor, I imagine, in rapper profiling). Then, it's okay to target those who disagree with police tactics. And so on. The Constitution hangs in the balance.
In a practical sense, it can be easy to turn our collective back on this institutionalized discrimination. As much as some rappers brag about being criminals, it's hard to defend them when people treat them like criminals. But it seems the NYPD cannot be trusted to delineate between real criminals and studio ones (as evidenced by the fact that one of their databases is reportedly named after Run DMC -- who weren't even gangstas on wax). Their secret machinations lead us down a dangerous path.
