Despite producing the same number of hip-hop superstars as Pioche, Las Vegas attracts A-listers (Nelly and Jay-Z) the way platinum bling attracts groupies. Performing this month alone are Twista, the newest signee to Jay-Z's multimillion-dollar Roc-A-Fella Records empire, multiplatinum foul mouth of the South Ludacris, his cohort in syntactical crime Chingy (of "Right Thurr" fame) and multitalented rapper-actor Mos Def.
But groupies aren't the only hangers-on when hip-hop royalty makes the rounds around town, according to Rolling Stone editors who say cops typically aren't far behind. And, they allege, our very own boys in blue are in the profiling business.
"The cops have been following us, not in just Miami," Rolling Stone contributing editor Toure said March 9 on CNN's Paula Zahn Show. "We've known about this in New York for three years. The NYPD has consistently said, 'No, we don't do this.' We know they do. And they do in Los Angeles and they do in Vegas."
Metro Sgt. Rick Barela vehemently disputes that the department profiles anyone, least of all celebrity hip-hop artists. "Profiling has never gone on, and it certainly hasn't been done with rappers. The only thing I can remember, rap-related, is Slinky [local R&B singer Alfonso Blake], and he wasn't profiled, he killed two people."
Barela says he's unsure why Metro has been accused of profiling. An anonymous source thinks there could be some residual effects from the still-open investigation into the 1996 murder of Tupac Shakur on Koval Lane. Metro's been accused of foot-dragging by many in the hip-hop community.
News of a hip-hop Cointelpro surfaced recently when Miami police admitted to secretly photographing rappers and their entourages, staking out hotels, video shoots and nightclubs and, according to reports, consulting 6-inch dossiers on rappers and associates with arrest records in New York. The scrutiny, according to an Associated Press report, began in 2001, after Memorial Day weekend events that drew 250,000 hip-hop fans resulted in double the number of typical arrests.
"There's been no shortage of rock stars and other musicians scrutinized by police," Rolling Stone contributing editor Anthony DeCurtis told AP. "But there has never been anything like this."
Among those profiled by Miami police, AP reports, were Sean "P. Diddy" Combs and rapper-actor DMX. Officials from Combs' Bad Boy Entertainment couldn't be reached for comment. Sheila Richman, a publicist with Island Def Jam, DMX's label, read the transcript of the Zahn show but declined comment.
The Miami celebrity rapper profiling case is the first one local emcee James Allen has heard of. Allen belongs to II Sense, a 10-year-old North Las Vegas rap ensemble that's opened for, among others, Cedric the Entertainer. "I'm pretty sure it happens, but we don't deal with it on the local level ... other than the regular profiling of black folks," he says. "It (profiling) happens at some of our shows, but usually if there is some spillage out of the door."
In the AP report, Assistant Miami Beach Police Chief Charles Press says the scrutiny was necessary to prevent rap beefs from turning deadly. "We have to keep an eye on these rivalries. The last thing we need in this city is violence," he said, later adding, "Nobody on the beach has had a handle on who the players were. We didn't know anything. We didn't know who were the big record labels, who were the kingpins. We didn't know why there were rivalries with Ja Rule and Eminem."
Among the city's most in-demand deejays, Warren Peace has manned the turntables for parties thrown by hip-hop's biggest luminaries, most recently spinning for Eminem's surprise set at the Venetian during the MAGIC Show clothing convention last month. "I didn't recall seeing anything out of the ordinary," says Peace, who co-owns the hiphopsite.com website and record store on Tropicana Avenue across from UNLV. Mike Pizzo, hiphopsite.com's co-owner, sees more misrepresentation than he does profiling. After two men were fatally shot September 7 at The Rock nightclub, he says a Fox News report intimated that hip-hop played a role.
"It's not hip-hop related, it's dumb motherf—r related."
On Zahn's show, Toure debated similar assertions about hip-hop's link with violence. "This is not a criminal operation. We make money."
Michael Smerconish, a Philadelphia attorney and radio talk-show host, argued that the murders of Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. and the gangster images cultivated by the likes of 50 Cent necessitate rap profiling. He accused Toure of racializing the issue.
"Listen, if La Cosa Nostra, if the families of the Mob were coming down to South Beach for a series of meetings and if [Miami police chief] John Timoney and the Miami police had them staked out, everybody would say that's good police work. But just because they're African-American, it gives this gentleman the opportunity to play the race card."