The Bronx
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Former President Donald Trump was joined onstage at his rally in the Bronx by Sheff G, who has been indicted on charges of alleged murder.
On Thursday night (May 23), Crotona Park in the South Bronx was the scene for a campaign rally for presumptive Republican Party presidential nominee Donald Trump, whose speech contained commentary about the crime and “decline” of New York City. This made it all the more surprising when he was joined on stage by two drill rappers indicted on multiple charges including murder and attempted murder in Sheff G and Sleepy Hallow. Sheff G is out on bail after posting a $1.5 million bond. Trump briefly passed the microphone over to them so they could address the crowd.
“One thing I want to say, they’re always going to whisper your accomplishments and shout your failures. Trump’s gonna shout the wins for all of us,” Sheff G said to those gathered. Sleepy Hallow yelled out Trump’s slogan, “Make America Great Again!” as both rappers left the stage. “I like those teeth,” Trump remarked as they walked away. “I gotta get my teeth like that.” Sheff G and Sleepy Hallow appeared a little over a year to the day that both were arrested in a sweeping raid by the New York Police Department as part of a 32-person, 140-count indictment. Both rappers were identified as part of the 8 Trey Crips and 9 Ways gangs, with Sheff G aka Michael Williams being explicitly named as one who ordered a hit resulting in one dead and five injured. Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez also said at the time that Sheff G used some of the proceeds from his music to “help facilitate further gang activity,” but stated that his lyrics were not a major factor in the charges.
Trump’s rally in the solidly Democratic neighborhood of the Bronx was regarded by observers as a play to siphon off Black and Latino voters who dominate the area. It comes as Trump – who currently has almost 90 indictments against him – is on trial in New York City for alleged criminal behavior involving “hush money” paid to adult star Stormy Daniels. A representative for the Trump campaign claimed that the rally drew 25,000, which has not been verified. That assessment comes in contrast to local reporting done by ABC 7 Eyewitness News, whose team got an overhead shot showing the sparseness of the crowd.
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New York Governor Kathy Hochul publicly apologized for her comments regarding Black kids in the Bronx earlier in the week.
On Monday (May 6), New York Governor Kathy Hochul addressed the backlash she received for comments that she made about Black children in the Bronx during a panel discussion. Hochul was being interviewed by Washington Post columnist and MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart on stage during a discussion hosted by the Milken Institute in Los Angeles. In discussing the state’s “Empire AI” initiative that will provide supercomputer access in the Buffalo area, Hochul said “Right now, we have young Black kids growing up in the Bronx who don’t even know what the word ‘computer’ is,” adding, “They don’t know, they don’t know these things. I want the world opened up to all of them.”
The comment drew immediate backlash from local politicians. Assemblywoman Karines Reyes, who represents several neighborhoods in the Bronx, issued a statement in a post on X, formerly Twitter: “Deeply disturbed by @GovKathyHochul’s recent remarks and the underlying perception that she has of Black & brown children from the BX. Our children are bright, brilliant, extremely capable, and more than deserving of any opportunities that are extended to other kids. Do better.” She was joined by fellow Assemblywoman Amanda Septimo who issued a statement calling the governor’s remarks “deeply misinformed, and genuinely appalling.”
Hochul would apologize later that evening. “I misspoke and I regret it,” she said. In a statement released later, she elaborated further: “Of course Black children in the Bronx know what computers are – the problem is that they too often lack access to the technology needed to get on track to high-paying jobs in emerging industries like AI.” It’s not the first time that Hochul has made a verbal misstep. In February, Hochul hypothesized what would happen if Canada attacked the United States similar to how the Hamas militant organization attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. “If Canada someday ever attacked Buffalo, I’m sorry, my friends, there would be no Canada the next day,” she said at the time. Hochul would also quickly apologize for her “poor choice of words” the next day.
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A Bronx judge just threw out a gang of cases thanks to a narcotics police officer who has been accused of playing dirty in order to secure numerous drug busts.
According to Gothamist, a judge in the Boogie Down dismissed 67 cases that were linked to undercover narcotics detective Joseph Franco who was fired from the NYPD in 2020 for making false statements about his arrests. With the 67 cases thrown out, the courts in the Bronx have now thrown out 324 cases due to “potentially wrongful convictions.”
The Gothamist reports:
“Prosecutors had relied on evidence from someone with compromised credibility, and the district attorney cannot stand behind these convictions,” Bronx DA Darcel Clark said in a press release.
Neither the NYPD nor Franco’s attorney immediately responded to requests for comment.
The latest batch of dismissed cases involves people who were charged between 2011 and 2015, when Franco was a detective in the Bronx. Of the 67 convictions, 24 were for seventh-degree criminal possession of a substance — a low-level drug possession charge — and nine were for marijuana offenses that are no longer illegal in New York, according to the DA’s office. Others were for fourth-degree criminal facilitation — when someone helps another person to commit a crime — and for using drug paraphernalia.
Franco himself stood trial for perjury and misconduct earlier this year as prosecutors accused him of lying about drug sales he claimed to have witnessed on both police paperwork and in court. Armed with videos that they claim show it would have been impossible for Franco to have seen what he said he had witnessed, the DA’s office called him out in a court of law but Franco ultimately had the charges dismissed as prosecutors failed to give the defense all the evidence they had as is required by law.
“His lies were a poison that tainted any fair or legitimate case,” Assistant DA Samantha Dworken said during opening statements in January.
Franco’s defense attorney, Howard Evan Tanner, denied that the former detective lied and said any contradictions in his statements were unintentional.
“I think he was trying to do his job to the best of his ability,” Tanner said in court.
Of course you do, Mr. Tanner. Of course you do.
What do y’all think? Sound off in the comments section below.
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The Hip-Hop 50th Block Festival went down in The Bronx, on Sedgwick Avenue where it all started, on Saturday, August 12, and we were on the scene. Iconic MC’s like Mr. Cheeks, Grandmaster Caz, KRS-One, Peter Gunz, Pete Rock & CL Smooth and more, and even NBA point guard Kyrie Irving, checked in to salute the culture.
50 years strong.
Watch the recap above.
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In an exclusive interview, we got the chance to speak with Rocky Bucano, the director of the Universal Hip-Hop Museum about the institution’s plans this year for Hip-Hop’s 50th anniversary.
This year, Hip-Hop has officially been in existence for 50 years, and there’s already been a few numerous events that are celebrating and amplifying the culture. At the center of these celebrations stands the Universal Hip Hop Museum, an institution that has been years in the making in the culture’s birthplace of the Bronx, New York. It has been a long journey that will culminate in the completion of the museum’s permanent home at Bronx Point, projected for the summer of 2024.
A respected music industry veteran with strong ties to Hip-Hop dating back to his founding of Strong City Records with DJ Jazzy Jay to working with LaFace Records before venturing into television and community initiatives, UHHM’s Executive Director Rocky Bucano has been hard at work collaborating with many individuals, artists, and companies to make the UHHM a reality. We recently had a chance to speak with him about the plans for the museum as Hip-Hop celebrates this landmark year and beyond.
Hip-Hop Wired: Hip-Hop is celebrating 50 years of existence, and many are paying rightful tribute and homage to the culture. For you, as someone who’s been such an integral part of this culture, how does it feel witnessing all of this taking place with the celebrations and the continued journey of UHHM, how does that make you feel?
Rocky Bucano: I’m deeply blessed and honored to be one of the few people who have seen Hip-Hop from before it was Hip-Hop to where Hip Hop is today. Being the executive director of the University Hip-Hop Museum, it becomes almost an obligation, because I’ve seen the entire journey of Hip-Hop, right? To make sure that we have one of the best museums in the world to celebrate and preserve the global history of the culture. I’m so excited and blessed to be in this position. And I look forward to the next 50 years, even after the museum is open. You know, Hip-Hop has done so much for so many people, including myself. So I’m just so excited to be in this position and to see this museum coming to the finish line.
HHW: With the current exhibition, The [R]Evolution of Hip Hop “Golden Era” 1986-1990 open now – which I feel everyone has to visit at least once – what further activations and events do you and UHHM have planned this year?
Bucano: So we are the official partner of Mayor Adams and his administration to produce and curate a variety of different programs and events to celebrate the 50th anniversary. We have a women’s empowerment program coming up later this month, which will be at the Billie Holiday Theater (in Brooklyn). We’re doing health and wellness programs, we’re doing social justice outreach programs, and small business workshops. But the big one we’re working on is a celebratory concert to celebrate 50 years of Hip-Hop. Right now, the plan is to do it in Central Park, but it might be Yankee Stadium, so stay tuned for that.
And then we will be opening up a traveling museum that will start here in New York City. Later this year, so hopefully around August 10 of this year, we’ll be putting that up and that will stay open until the actual museum opens up at the Bronx Point. The traveling museum will debut in Manhattan, so we’re working on a location now.
HHW: That sounds amazing. And that ties into the final question that I have for you. In terms of further projects that have been completed, with the highly interactive components in the exhibits at your current space are we going to see further virtual collaborations like you’ve done in the past with Microsoft, like with Metaverse and Facebook under Meta as well?
Bucano: Great question. So you know, we have a Metaverse, a virtual museum that was accessed accessible through alt space. We were working with Microsoft, but they decided to sunset their alt-space division. So now we’re moving our Metaverse virtual museum over to Spatial, and we’re working with the team there on that. We’ll probably have some virtual projects and programs ready to go later this spring and early summer. Pretty excited about that. And we’re exploring how to use AI and all of the available tech experiences including ChatGPT. We’re right there trying to use the most advanced technology. We want to make sure that we’re curating and celebrating Hip-Hop history with new technology.
For more information on upcoming events at the Universal Hip-Hop Museum, visit their website.
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