WEEK 4
C-MURDER
It seems to me that making music videos and recording albums is a common trend for incarcerated rappers these days. Shyne isnt alone in that he managed to shoot several music videos for his album God Father Buried Alive while he is currently serving time for his involvement in a shooting. Rapper Corey C-Murder Miller, brother of hip hop mogul Master P has also managed to pull of this same magic trick. I find it funny that not only did he pull off the same stunt but hes also incarcerated for similar charges.
It is very interesting to me how both of the rappers cases parallel each other in so many ways.
C-Murders rap career was put on hold after he was charged with shooting and killing 16 year old Steve Thomas with a single gunshot to the chest during an argument at the Platinum Club in Harvey, Louisiana on January 12, 2002. About 200 people were in the club at the time of the altercation, and several were eyewitnesses to the shooting.
The victim, Steve Thomas had apparently entered the club with a fake I.D, for which the club faced misdemeanor charges. The Platinum Club, according to a sign on the door, is supposed to be 18 and over for women, and 21 and over for men. After the shooting Steve was rushed to the West Jefferson Medical Center and was pronounced dead on arrival.
Despite being in jail for three years on a second degree murder charge, C-Murder managed to record a new album, The Truest Sh** I Ever Said, and shoot a video for the albums first single Yall Heard of Me. He recorded his album over the course of last year by dictating his lyrics into a portable recording device that was brought into weekly meetings by his lawyer, Ron Rakosky. In the video-Murder rhymes about how blacks endure racial profiling along with footage of fellow rapper B.G performing in the middle of a large crowd at the New Orleans housing project where Miller and his brothers were raised.
Sheriff Harry Lee claims that he was oblivious to the filming of the video at the correctional facility in Gretna, Louisiana where C-Murder is incarcerated. He says that he was unaware the footage was filmed and that hed been tricked into letting film crews in. Millers lawyer, Ron Rakosky, said the footage was recorded by a pair of film crews, one from Court TV and the other from a local cable- access program, both of which received approval from the sheriffs office to do so. He says that nothing illegal was done. A victims advocate told the Associated Press that she thought it was inappropriate that Miller should be allowed to make money off album sales while hes serving time for murder. However, his lawyer says that he encouraged Miller to stay busy. Heres a guy in jail, making constructive use of his time instead of withering away says Rakosky. Hes lost more than three years of his life locked up for a crime he did not commit. At least hes not just in there wasting away.
I look at it this way, either a guilty sheriff doesnt want to take the fall for his illegal actions or there are some pretty sneaky camera crews out there. Obviously someone is trying to cover up their tracks by claiming to be unaware of the filming. It is beyond me how TWO camera crews can enter a prison and shoot an entire music video for some one who is serving time for a MURDER without being seen. No matter whose at fault here, the bottom line is another celebrity has managed to live the best of both worlds without being stopped. So it seems to me that not only do rappers and nightclubs not mix but also jail is just another way to record albums without the expensive costs of studio time. With this trend growing ever so popular jail is just a joke to many celebrities. A joke in which they always seem to have the last laugh.
