Murdered Black Entertainers: No Justice

First let me apologize because this is going to be a very long post and i will have to double post. I apologize to the mods but i want to do this the right way so therefore i will have to be thorough about this.

Tupac Amaru Shakur (June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996) was an American rap artist, actor, activist, and poet. He is known by his stage names: 2Pac and Makaveli. He is recognized in the Guinness Book of World Records as the top-selling hip-hop artist, having sold over 73 million albums worldwide. On September 7, 1996, Shakur was shot four times in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada. On September 13, 1996, six days after the shooting, Tupac Shakur died of respiratory failure and cardiac arrest at University Medical Center, Las Vegas.

Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), also known as Biggie Smalls (after a gangster in the 1975 film Let's Do it Again), Big Poppa, Frank White (from the film King of New York), and The Notorious B.I.G. (Business Instead of Game), was a successful American rapper and hip-hop artist. He was a central figure in East Coast hip-hop, and helped to make New York known for its hip-hop scene during a time when the genre was mostly dominated by West Coast artists. He was shot and killed on March 9, 1997 in Los Angeles. His posthumously released double-disc set Life After Death was certified diamond.

Jason William Mizell January 21, 1965 Brooklyn, New York – October 30, 2002 in Jamaica, Queens, New York), known as Jam-Master Jay (or Jam Master Jay), was a founder and the DJ of Run-D.M.C., a highly influential hip-hop group, based in the Queens borough of New York City. Mizell was shot and killed in a Merrick Boulevard recording studio in Queens at 7:30 p.m. on October 30, 2002. The other person in the room, 23-year-old Urieco Rincon, was shot in the ankle. The New York Daily News has reported that authorities have investigated whether Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff, a convicted drug dealer and longtime friend of Murder Inc. heads Irv Gotti and Chris Gotti, targeted Mizell because the deejay defied an industry "blacklist" of rapper 50 Cent that was imposed due to "Ghetto Qur'an", a song 50 Cent wrote about McGriff's drug history. A 2003 affidavit says, "Law enforcement agents are investigating the possibility that [Jason] Mizell [a.k.a. Jam-Master Jay] was murdered for defying the blacklist of 50 Cent."

The Lost Boyz are a Hip Hop group from South Jamaica, Queens, New York. The original group members were lead MC Mr. Cheeks, backup MC and hypeman Freaky Tah, DJ Spigg Nice and Pretty Lou. On the night of March 28, 1999, at a birthday party for Mr. Cheeks, Freaky Tah was shot in the head while exiting the Sheraton Hotel in Queens. Tah was taken to Jamaica Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 4:20 am, at the age of 27. The getaway driver, Raheem Fletcher, was sentenced to 7 years in prison for Manslaughter. In 2001, Kelvin Jones pleaded guilty to the murder.

A longtime bodyguard for Busta Rhymes was shot and killed early Sunday morning in Brooklyn, during the video shoot for the rapper's "Touch It (the Remix)" -- a song off Rhymes' new album, The Big Bang, due April 2nd. Israel Ramirez, 29, who provided security for Rhymes for a decade, was shot once in the chest when violence erupted outside the building where Rhymes, Missy Elliott, Mary J. Blige and G-Unit members 50 Cent and Lloyd Banks were filming.

Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams was killed early Monday January 1st when his white stretch Hummer was sprayed by bullets after a nightclub dispute following a New Year's Eve party. Police have no motive and no indication the 24-year-old player was targeted in the drive-by shooting of the limousine. The burst of violence occurred hours after the Broncos were eliminated from playoff contention.

Tupac Source

Busta's Bodyguard Source

Lost Boyz Source

Jam Master Jay Source

Biggie Smalls Source

Darrent Williams Source

I must admit Wikipedia isn't my first choice for sources...but i was in high school when tupac was shot so i am certainly old enough to remeber all these events, so i can say this information seems to be correct.

Please familiarize yourself with these events if you do not know anything about them. Once you have read that, please move on to my below post and commentary.

I want you to imagine something. Imagine you woke up tomorrow morning to hear that Mel Gibson had been shot and killed at a nightclub. There would be outrage. It would be on the media for weeks. There would be a publicly televised funeral. The police would exhaust every resource they had in tracking down the gunman. Eventually they would find the killer and he would be brought to “justice”. They would probably find the murderer within 6 months or less, and the whole story would be very tragic, but none the less...it would be resolved.

Now while these 6 stars I’ve mentioned might not be as famous in mainstream media, or have as much money as Mel Gibson, they were millionaires at the time of their death. They were young people who were killed before their time, many gunned down in front of large crowds of witnesses. These people had fame, fortune, and a bright future ahead of them.

I propose, that all these murders remain unsolved because the victims were black. Wether you want to accept it or not, racism still exists in America, especially towards the black community. Had these celebrities been white, their murders would have been solved. At the very least there would have been more of an effort by the police department to solve the crimes. After 10 years nobody knows who shot Tupac or Biggie Smalls. Most likely we will never know because no real evidence was collected and the case was just brushed off as another inner city gang related crime.

With the case of Jam Master Jay, it has been 5 years since his death and still there has not been any leads, or any suspects questioned and charged by the police. With Ramirez (body guard of busta ryhmes) it has been almost 2 years and still no killer has been tracked down, and the murder remains unsolved by the police.

Great job you worthless mud dwelling pigs.

To date only 1 out of 6 of these murders has been solved. If I remember correctly Freaky Tah was shot by people he knew and that’s how witnesses gave the info to police and they convicted him. With the case of Darren Williams, it’s to early to say if is murder will be solved. If I were to guess, I would most likely say no. He stands a better chance because out of the 6 he was the most famous, and most mainstream black entertainer. He worked for the NFL and so therefore the police might want to find his killer more quickly.

It’s still no excuse. When a millionaire can be shot and killed in front of many witnesses in a public place, and no murderer is charged with the crime...something is wrong. The police and government in America is still controlled predominantly by whites. There are minorities in the system bla bla bla...but the point is that we still live in a society where whites come first in the crime game. Like I said, if Mel Gibson was gunned down..the police would be all over it. So what makes Tupac, Jam Master Jay, or any of these other multi-million dollar celebrities different? The simple fact that they are black.

What makes it worse is that it brings the morale down of inner city kids. When they see their favorite entertainers gunned down like dogs, and no killer is brought to justice, it rips a hole in them. It not only hurts to see someone you like to watch on TV die, but it lets you know that even in the 21st century the USA government STILL does “not care about black people” - Kanye West.

It’s downright sickening that even if a black person makes a ton of money, and becomes an international celebrity that law enforcement will do virtually nothing to make sure that their killers are tried for their crimes. If people truly want to help stop inner city violence, start by finding the killers of these famous entertainers. Because letting their murderers go free just creates another circle of violence in the inner city. Black kids see that no amount of money can save you from the street life, so why even try to make something of yourself when you can sell drugs or commit crimes? It doesn’t matter cause you’ll probably get shot and die the same way you would as a celebrity.

I urge people to write to their local senators and law enforcement and complain about this. Believe me when I say no famous (or even semi-famous) white entertainer’s murder would go unsolved. Mel Gibson’s murder would not be an open investigation for 10 years. Help stop this racist cycle of violence, and don’t let more black entertainers be unsolved murder victims.

The biggest problem with solving these murders is witnesses.

Where are the witnesses? Come on black community, Police your own, Cooperate with law enforcement. Once you do that, your communities will be safer. Then and only then we can stop the crying of "Who killed Tupac!"

If someone killed Mel Gibson, SOMEONE would come forward! That is not the case now in the black community.

Originally posted by RRconservative
The biggest problem with solving these murders is witnesses.

Where are the witnesses? Come on black community, Police your own, Cooperate with law enforcement. Once you do that, your communities will be safer. Then and only then we can stop the crying of "Who killed Tupac!"

If someone killed Mel Gibson, SOMEONE would come forward! That is not the case now in the black community.

See but attitudes like that are exactly the problem. Putting all the blame on the witnesses to come foward is a cheap way of saying "let the blacks figure it out". It also shows that most whites in society still honestly don't care what happens in the black community.

What about collecting bullet shell casings? What about reviewing security cameras? When does it become a police priority and not a "black community thing"?

Furthermore, even if the police did interview witnesses, why hasn't there been any follow up leads? Any way you look at it, the police are either ignoring, or sitting on evidence and making virtually NO effort to solve these crimes.

Originally posted by Spawwwn
and the murder remains unsolved by the police.
Great job you worthless mud dwelling pigs.

Nice.

but the point is that we still live in a society where whites come first in the crime game.

Tell that to Nichole Brown Simpson. Oh wait .. you can't .. she was murdered by a rich black man who got away with the crime.

Mel Gibson’s murder would not be an open investigation for 10 years.

Yes it would. The Mossad cover their tracks very well and considering his anti-Jewish rants, they'd be the most likely perps.


Your Darrent Williams and Busta Rhymes complaints are invalid. They just happened a few days ago (if I'm reading your sources correctly). Heck .. it's been ten years and the JonBennet Ramsey case (blonde haired white girl) hasn't been solved but you are on rant about (black) murders that happened 3 days ago?

The Lost Boyz one has the getaway driver and another fella guilty of the murder. What's not solved?

The 50 Cent blacklist - under investigation. So what? Lots of cirmes are under investigation and considering that we have 'Murder Inc.' involved ... then this is a case of boys playing 'bad' and it caught up with them. I can't say that I care at all ...

I have no idea who these people REALLY are. If they were pretend gansters (gansta??) and they got nailed .. then they were their own worst enemies and they 'lived by the sword and died by the sword'.

Whatever ... you are right .. I don't care if pretend gansta's get nailed or not.



[edit on 1/4/2007 by FlyersFan]

of these 6 that you mentioned..

I guess that the people they "ran" with and places they "ran", and the image they portrayed, songs they sang, etc..

had nothing to do with them being killed...


yes Racism exists... and I hate that it does.

Spawwwn...you may have a point.

Police are close to nailing the killer of Darrent Williams of the Denver Broncos. Public outcry demands this. Elected officials in Law Enforcement thrive on cases like this.

Maybe dead Ganster Rappers don't help District Attorneys get elected? No public outcry, I guess.

But, witnesses coming forward and working with law enforcement is the 1st step to solving any murder.

hmmmm

Although no one has ever been formally charged, nor publicly identified by the police as a suspect, police sources have indicated they believe that Anderson (who has since been murdered himself) was the killer. Officers in the Compton, California Police Department Gang Unit claimed in a leaked report the Crips were bragging about the killing soon after Anderson returned from Las Vegas. Officers further indicated they were disappointed with the lack of initiative shown by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department in pursuing Shakur's killer(s).

en.wikipedia.org...

Also look into the nature of these individuels murders. they were running their mouths constantly (speaking of the rappers) and everybody knows that that was probably what got them killed. Becuase they were dissonant with the law they were disregarded. A shame police should look at every murder the same and try and find justice, but when the person in their eyes also wasn't such a great person than it's plain human nature to say ehhh, good riddence. Tu Pak was a poet first in my mind and did write about lots of uplifting or empowering things. unfortunantly he got in over his head with his trash talking and somebody layed him out for it.

Drug deal goes bad and someone gets shot and dies who was part of the deal, cops aren't going to care so much to try and figure it out, It's really just not worth the time or effort.

Jam Master J-He got killed cause he owed somebody money through shady dealing, again even though Jam Master J was probably a nice guy and I love and grew up listening to Run-DMC, again getting shot and killed for that is not something the police are going to prioretize. Again for simple human phscological reasons.

THe football guy. Don't know the guy or his history. He may have been an upstanding citizen that never threw attitude around. Or he could have been the cocky, entourage following behind him, laws don't apply to me and i run with the wrong crowd, and am over confident type. Again not something the cops are going to give a hoot about unless they are ordered to.

Mel Gibson would have more outrage, because he is vastly much more established in the popular eye than Tu Pac for good and bad reasons. Go to africa and ask them if they know who tupac is and you'll probably get a shrug and a who cares out of them, ask the same villager who mel gibson is and there is a much stronger chance that they at least have heard of him.

I know tupac and biggi smalls were important people to certain demographics but in reality that demographic is and was really small.

Also, raps dead, so is a large chunk of hip hop and crunk is so gone. If you disagree with me ask any industry expert or check the soundscan. I can show you the sales figures and exactly how much money these "rich" rappers are really making. In reality the rock artists are generating about 3 times the amount of sales and tour money and with less exposure.

Ever seen rap preformed live, not that showy or fun, and concert sales proove it. Except for some individuel groups like the Beastie Boys who still put on a hell of a show and Mos Def and Common also, but most rap sucks live.

Rap was at it's all time high during the 90's, during the "Coast Wars" which were in fact fabricated by the producers as a last ditch effort to revitalize public interest in rap and get more cash flowing. in reality these rappers don't make a fraction of the money that they pretend to have. those days are long gone. And you want to know part of the reason. Rap destroyed it's self, the "man" had nothing to do with it. Rap evicerated it's self with it's lack of common experience. Rap during the 80's and 90's were much more about social issues and problems the average joe could at least identify with. Rap took a violent direction and lost the publics ability to relate, so then they started doing "fantasy" rap where they talk about whow "rich" they are and people I guess drive around thinking that they are rich too, or can even identify. Well it turns out they don't and again the rap industries bottom line has been severly hurt by it, much more than the public knows. So raps been loosing public interst steadly for about 5 years now and won't make a come back in it's current form. It will become infused with other styles of music and remarketed with a new face. Again a large reason why the cops don't care about what happened to Biggie and Tupac.

Plus the industry has to stop discrediting it's self and stop showing tacitly how desperate they really are by rehashing tossed vocal tracks that were rejected by Tupac himself. It's all a desperate attempt to stay swimming. Although it's counter intuitive, but the cops are aware of this zietgiest and thir work preformance relfects it.

PS. Puffys last album won't even go gold. It's stuck at 400,000 units sold. and a large portion of those units were returned to the labels. Cause no one wants to listen to it.

Akon-sales on his album down 51% from the christmas season. Will not generate any more substancial sales. Part of the problem with rap is that they have great 1 and 2 week showing and then literaly drop off the top 200 after a month and don't make anymore money, and if you track where the sales are it's only in highly urban areas.

Nas-Hip Hop is Dead- sure is with your sales petering out at 385,638 sales after his 2nd week. He won't even go gold. Shame cause Nas was pretty talented.

eminems latest-just went gold and is stopped dead in it's tracks with a loss of sales 45% from last week alone.

I could go on, but the bottom line is, like the public, the cops just didn't care about these guys when they got murdered.

I will agree though that in general the police try less harder to solve crimes in low income areas period regardless of race. If someone shot bubba the white trash drug dealer in his car down the street from his trailer park residence, the cops just won't care as much as a contributing member of society from their perspective.

Also, when a millionare is shot and killed in public and nobody cares, you gotta ask is it the person and what they represent that made the public and police not care. It points to something being wrong with the person shot not the public.

people generaly care if you got shot and killed. Not so much when you got shot and killed for having an attitude or rolling around with what is concidered the seedy underside of society.

sports.espn.go.com.../070104&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab5pos2

Worth a look, really puts thing in perspective.

"Wrong place at the wrong time."

Who knew the wrong place to be on New Year's Eve was at a party welcoming in the new year? Who knew the wrong time to be murdered was now – when people are so callous about death that it's almost as if we're asking the victim, "Just what did you do to get yourself murdered?"

There are many words to describe the senseless killing of Denver Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams. Unfortunate. Heartbreaking. Sad. But here's the one word we can't use in describing such a death: Unexpected.

Also, as the old saying goes. Live by the sword and die by the sword. It's probably the first thing running through a cop or crime scene investigators mind when they arrive at tupac or biggies murder scenes. From there it's only natural to go ehh...why bother he had it comming, looks like the problem worked it's self out.

Originally posted by FlyersFan
Tell that to Nichole Brown Simpson. Oh wait .. you can't .. she was murdered by a rich black man who got away with the crime.

Yes it would. The Mossad cover their tracks very well and considering his anti-Jewish rants, they'd be the most likely perps.

Your Darrent Williams and Busta Rhymes complaints are invalid. They just happened a few days ago (if I'm reading your sources correctly). Heck .. it's been ten years and the JonBennet Ramsey case (blonde haired white girl) hasn't been solved but you are on rant about (black) murders that happened 3 days ago?

The Lost Boyz one has the getaway driver and another fella guilty of the murder. What's not solved?

The 50 Cent blacklist - under investigation. So what? Lots of cirmes are under investigation and considering that we have 'Murder Inc.' involved ... then this is a case of boys playing 'bad' and it caught up with them. I can't say that I care at all ...

I have no idea who these people REALLY are. If they were pretend gansters (gansta??) and they got nailed .. then they were their own worst enemies and they 'lived by the sword and died by the sword'.

Whatever ... you are right .. I don't care if pretend gansta's get nailed or not.
[edit on 1/4/2007 by FlyersFan]

OJ did it...yeah i heard it before. Look bottom line is if you are white you think he did it, and if your black you think he didn't. That's what i've seen ever since that verdict came in.

The mossad??? Yeah fine lets just blame it all on secret orgainizations.....

Darrent williams case might be new, busta rhymes' body guard is over a year old (read the source link).

I already explained why the lost boyz case got solved..

Under investegation in this use means "We'll tell you we'll look into it, but really we're not going to do anything." Come on they have security cameras in the studio that he was shot at.....they have the killer probly on tape for christ sakes...you telling me they can't pull something together 5 years later? since 02? Yep...sounds to me like those pigs need to shove another dounught in they mouth..cause they certainly aren't doing any REAL work.

Your last 2 comments are the ones that really stand out. Attitudes like yours are the exact reason law enforcement does nothing. Law enforcement is filled with racist whites who share the exact views you said. "I don't care if some pretend gansta gets shot". Yep, that's exactly how they feel. That's what i'm sayin is wrong with society. Even if you didn't like the way they lived...they were millionares who were cut down in the prime of their life. And while whites won't care about them...the black community does. We are tired of seeing our heroes shot to death and seeing the white police force do nothing.

@RRconservitive...yes i feel that possibly Darrent Williams has a chance to have his murder solved. Only because he was in the NFL though. You are backing up the exact point i'm trying to make...that unless you are of the highest celeb status, the police won't make as much of an effort.

If Denzel Washington was shot i belive he would stand a chance to have his crime solved. But that's inexcusable. Just because the white community doesn't respect these "fake gangsta rappers" doesn't mean that they don't have the right to have their murders solved. They might not mean much to you, but they are well respected in the black community.

Yes it's not just the black community that has unsolved murders..it's everywhere. But research some more about killings and unsolved murders in the black community.

james byrd jr

until stuff like that stops sliding by law enforcement, you will always have a group of young blacks who hate society and especially whites and law enforcement. so really i think it's on the white community to help them honestly. yeah we can police our communities and picket as much as we want, but until travestys like hurricane katrina, and black celebrity unsolved murders keep happing...you will see the same cycle of violence you see in the ghetto now.

i say even though black have as much chance to do whatever they please in USA as anyone else, stop blaming them and wining when they scream "tupacs murder needs to be solved". Stop treating them as second class citizens when it comes to law enforcement. Until then i think everyone needs to maybe think outside of their box a bit.

Tupac and Biggie were not really gangsters, it was just an act. Using your logic, it would be okay to kill Arnold Schwartzeneger or Bruce Willis because they played characters who "lived by the sword."

My feeling is the lack of justice is not due to any racism, but a general ineptitude of police departments. Cops are often too busy writing B.S. tickets to tackle real crimes.

These gansta rappers thrive in a drug and gun culture.


Some then die by shootings.


Sorry, thats like saying you have got to have sympathy for the Devil. No chance. You live by the sword you die by it.


50 cents even loves the fact that he's been shot so many times.... so why should we have sympathy when a bullets a killer not a wounder? .... Oh thats right, they then become 'peace activists' and 'beautiful loving people' once their dead, and so on and so forth..... blah blah blah.


Live a good life, don't glorify violence against police, women and whites / latinos and then I might have a bit of sympathy for these gansta killers / bad boys ... but till then, not a single drop of sympathy will be squeezed from me.

This is the biggest load of bull I have read in a while.

We are tired of seeing our heroes shot to death and seeing the white police force do nothing.

At the risk of sounding like a racist jerk (as I am sure I will be labeled)... Two things, how about the "black community" (whatever community that may be, where they reside is unknown to me, and who is the governor of said community?) try to have heroes that contribute to society things other than "cappin' mad niggaz", and then rapping about it?

Seriously dude, if your heroes make it big by rapping about dealing drugs, shooting at other gangs, stealing things,pullin 187's on mutha 'effin cops, and anything of the like...are you really suprised that NOBODY really cares if homeboy dies?

Secondly, If you hate the white man in the force....why not get off your duff, and go become a cop and solve some murders yourself? Seriously.



P.S.
I have never met anyone in my life who actually thought OJ was innocent.................

I think most comments here are correct that if someone goes around blasting their mouth off about how 'street' and 'gangsta' they are, then they get shot, no one really cares about solving the murder. Police want to spend time on solving innocent people's murder cases, not gangstas who put themselves in the line of fire on purpose.

I'm sure if a white guy was to walk around shouting about how hard and bulletproof he is no one would be surprised if he got shot.

Laws are created so that people don't get killed, so if gangstas choose to deliberately disobey them and deal in drugs/weapons or openly declare themselves part of that culture, then they shouldn't expect police to waste time picking up after them.

As you pointed out, there were many witnesses to the crime. Why do they not come forward to testify? Are you suggesting that there are white people who are threatening then so they remain silent?

Surely you see that this just seems stupid. It is easy to blame racism for not solving the crime except that the people involved have to provide information to the police about the crime. If everyone says that they didn't see anything, how are the police supposed to solve the crime?

I think that it's time that people of all colors stop using racism as the ultimate trump card. Unsolved crime, must be racism. Kids failing in school.. must be racism. Can't get a job... must be racism.

Get over it. Yes, racism does exist but it is not the only factor in all of these issues. People of all colors have to take responsibiliy for their actions.

Well said malganis.


You can hear it now -

" Wassup?"

" 'Nudder dead Gansta biatch".

"' 'nvestigate it?"

"Nah...had it coming".

"True."

"True."

Patrol car rolls off into the night...looking to protect and serve the innocent and law abiding......

Originally posted by Spawwwn
See but attitudes like that are exactly the problem. Putting all the blame on the witnesses to come foward is a cheap way of saying "let the blacks figure it out". It also shows that most whites in society still honestly don't care what happens in the black community.

Not really. Asking for witnesses is asking for evidence so that there's no witch hunt.

What about collecting bullet shell casings? What about reviewing security cameras?

WERE there security cameras when these people were shot? I don't believe there were, but I don't remember all the circumstances. And I'm sure there's shell casings, but anyone who's watched more than one tv show will know that all you have to do is run a file down the gun barrel and you unmatch any shell casings around.

Furthermore, even if the police did interview witnesses, why hasn't there been any follow up leads? Any way you look at it, the police are either ignoring, or sitting on evidence and making virtually NO effort to solve these crimes.

I have a great sympathy, here, but are you sure the lack of action is due to lack of interest? If it was (as is constantly rumored) the result of the brawl with him and Anderson (who was a member of the Crips), the gang members in the know aren't going to come forward and would probably kill anyone who started to come forward. Everyone "in the know"falls into two camps -- the very loyal and the very scared.