NEW FILM UNCOVERS SECRET SURVEILLANCE OF RAP STARS: ‘Hip-Hop and the Cops’ reveal dossiers kept on hundreds of artists and execs for years.
March 23, 2006
*A new documentary film exposes a side of the hip hop industry that has been long known, but difficult to prove.
"Rap Sheet: Hip-Hop and the Cops," from filmmaker Don Sikorski, uncovers evidence that law enforcement agencies have been keeping secret dossiers on hundreds of hip-hop artists and executives for years.
The film shows surveillance footage obtained by Sikorski from the NYPD, the FBI and LAPD. Sikorski also found out that a nationwide task force to keep tabs on rappers was set up by the Drug Enforcement Agency.
"I was amazed at the volume of intimate, private information that this national network of police had gathered,” Sikorski told Daily Variety. “But the more I talked to artists and cops, the more I understood that this is a situation with few heroes and plenty of villains on both sides."
Sikorski scored his first research breakthrough for the film when Miami police responded to a request he made through the Freedom of Information Act.
The film, which has yet to set a release date, also features interviews with such rap notables as Russell Simmons, Kanye West, Busta Rhymes, Ja Rule, Snoop Dogg and Damon Dash. Performances by Eminem, Fat Joe, Jadakiss and Lloyd Banks of G-Unit are also included.
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Posted By: Candice Johnson
Thursday, March 23rd 2006 at 12:32PM
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