New York rapper Tru Life turned himself in to authorities on June 23. He reportedly faces a first degree murder charge. While the early accounts are somewhat sketchy, the charge appears to be related to a stabbing that occurred in a Manhattan apartment building last week, leaving one man critically injured and an unnamed teen dead.Police were allegedly investigating the infamous Lower East Side rapper's brother in regards to the stabbing, a retaliation for an earlier non-fatal shooting of an alleged drug dealer named Michael Slater, who was shot last week, outside of club Pacha in NYC.
Hours after the Slater shooting, five gang members attacked Jason Black, 30, and the unknown teen in the lobby of their building on East 26th St. Police claim that the attacks were instigated by a growing feud between Black and Tru Life's brother.
Both were stabbed in the chest and face and Black remains in critical condition following the assault.
Tru was a one time Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam artist, signed by Jay-Z. He is best known for his beef with the Cam'ron, Jim Jones and the Diplomats. There is no word yet as to Tru Life's role in the altercation.
Reader Comments(1 of 7)
cynthiapayne2at 6-25-2009
WHO !!!!!
pi8319at 6-25-2009
ditto.... lol
ANGELINAat 6-27-2009
DATS GUD 4 TRU LIFE I HOPE HE ROTTS IN JAIL
DAT POOR BOY SHOULDNT HAVE DIED OF SUMTHING SO DUM
R.I.P ATL 12-24-88 ~ 6-15-09
ATL U WILL BE MISSED
Billat 6-25-2009
makes me kinda miss the "good ol' days" when musicians were merely hauled in for marijuana charges...
sunshineat 6-25-2009
I hear ya Bill. What is wrong with today's young? Oh, could it be that family values no longer exist in a lot of homes? I didn't even need to read this to know what type of person was turning temsleves in............. what a digrace.
jobo01at 6-25-2009
lol, musician best known for his beef....this is just a good career move for him, kill someone, get some street cred....musician?...NOT!
Jimat 6-25-2009
I don't care how many times aol calls a rapper a musician, its not gonna work. They don't play musical instruments. If I start monotoning rhymes into a microphone will you call me one? However, I AM a musician. Guitar and keyboards. So when I see the word musician, I'm interested in reading it. Thats fading fast. I guess the tip-off was the headline 'turns himself in'. Next time I'll just read between the lines in the headline and save myself the hassle of reading about thugs who consider diarrhea of the mouth even close to being a facsimile of musical talent. To call a rapper a musician is a slap in the face of all those who study for hours, weeks, months and years learning how to play a musical instrument. Maybe if these thugs would spend their time studying to be musicians, they wouldn't have the time to shoot and stab people.
Billat 6-25-2009
Jim, I too am a working musician, 40 years learning and plying my trade. Although I am no fan of most rap music, I must disagree with your opinion. It's all about the "feel." Rappers must have a good feel for rhythm, meter, and time. Rappers are musicians in the same sense that drummers are musicians.
Billat 6-25-2009
Jim, I too am a working musician, 40 years learning and plying my trade. Although I am no fan of most rap music, I must disagree with your opinion. It's all about the "feel." Rappers must have a good feel for rhythm, meter, and time. Rappers are musicians in the same sense that drummers are musicians.
mdcastro515at 6-25-2009
since when is the voice not an instrument? granted, rappers don't sing melodies but an instrument doesn't have to be melodic (i.e drums and precussion). rapping, rhyming, or emceeing is an extremely technical art form that requires a LOT of rhythm, cadence and style. the best song writers of our generation are rappers, hands down. the degree of skill put into writing multi-syllabic rhyme schemes, metaphors and similies, and concepts that can't be touched on in any other genre of music. not to mention more has to be said in the same amount of time. essentially it's party music but in the 30-something years since its inception has evolved into much more. then there's always the argument that sampling music from somewhere else isn't real music, but then you have legendary musicians like led zepplin and eric clapton who scored BIG hits covering old blues and funk/soul records. hip hop is here. it isn't going anywhere and it is at fore front of american culture. to deny it an art form is preposterous. there are plenty of "musicians" who are fans of hip hop. either you're not with the times or you're just flat out fuckin racist. probably both.
Jimat 6-25-2009
I'm at a loss to respond to your post Bill because keeping rhythm is not a issue here. But I can respond to the accusation of being racist by mdcastro515. 30 years ago it wasn't cool for a blond headed white guy to date black chicks. Just going shopping gathered quite a bit of attention by whites and blacks. It was quite uncomfortable for both me and my girlfriends (still is at times). But thats on the haters, not me. And none of the black girls I date would ever approve of the degradation of women as most rap consistantlly exorcises. Sooo degrading women, shooting and stabbing people, and drug dealing are the happenin new 'times' aye mdcastro515? Your one sick puppy bro.
willieat 6-25-2009
Are you saying that singers arent musician? Rappers make more than rock musicians.
ipimphimat 6-25-2009
JIM, I have to agree with MD Castro on this one because it does take talent and skill to be a rapper and I don't believe you have to play the drums, piano, etc. to be considered a musician. While what you stated about blacks and whites dating over 40 yrs ago is true, that doesn't mean that EVERYONES a "hater". Those who caused you problems then and now are simply racist.. PERIOD I'm not a huge fan of Rap, well, "some" of the Rap that's out now but I'm a huge fan of songs that groups like The Sugar Hill Gang, etc put out yrs ago. Why? Because I too don't like the language that "some" of these new artist use but... I'm also very well aware of this fact. That NOT ALL rappers today use that type of language, meaning, you can't group them altogether!! Seems to me that you're hating on these rappers because they're making a lot more money then you are. Of course, I could be wrong but after reading your posts.. I'm guessing I'm right on point.. Best wishes to you.. Peace
coldfire86at 6-25-2009
I do recognize that it takes some sort of talent to rap... but not much. Consistent with a little practice, and any fool out there can make up and mix and slur words together to a beat and call it a hit. We've seen this even since the earliest days of rap. Rappers have nothing to compare as far as virtuosity has to offer. There are degrees to which I can call a rapper a musician...say Tupac Shakur, who actually had many different stories to tell and a definitive message... unlike today's "musician's" who could easily record a one line mix of words which they call a "hook" and repeat it constantly. Hardly art, Partially music, NO talent whatsoever.
Jimat 6-25-2009
Ok ipimphim, I gotta fess up. One of my best friends is a gangsta rapper.
http://www.myspace.com/dltabyz
(if it wont let me post this link, look up dltabyz on myspace)
Nicest guy in the world. And I DO enjoy the music, but as I tell him, the lyrics are very distracting to the music. And he understands that (he's a family guy). But thats where gangsta is so he does it. He would never profess to being a musician cause he knows theres a huge difference between rapping and playing a instrument. However we both agree he's a artist. He's trying to learn to play the guitar, and he can see that it takes many hours to be proficient on a instrument. And I realize I was pretty hard in my post, and I apologize for that. Considering the article, I guess I should be saying how deeply saddened I am that one person is dead, one seriously injured, one going to jail for the rest of his life, and everybody wanting to kill everybody else in the matter. But then that pisses me off and I wanna lay into em again. Its really gotta stop. We are all brothers and sisters and rap is not portraying us as such. I just don't know the answer to it all ipimphim. Take care and peace to you too.