Police Secretly Watching Hip-Hop Celebs

My question is, "WHY"??????


MIAMI - Police say they are secretly monitoring hip-hop stars P. Diddy, DMX and others in South Florida to protect them, but celebrities and critics see the surveillance as unnecessary and racist.

Officers in Miami and Miami Beach have photographed rappers and their entourages at Miami International Airport and staked out hotels, video shoots and nightclubs while consulting 6-inch-thick dossiers of rappers and associates with arrest records in New York state, The Miami Herald reported.

"We have to keep an eye on these rivalries," said Assistant Miami Beach Police Chief Charles Press. "The last thing we need in this city is violence."


Some experts believe the sweeping surveillance of a genre of musicians is unprecedented.


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=495&ncid=762&e=1&u=/ap/20040310/ap_en_mu/hip_hop_surveillance

...how the FBI harassed John Lennon in the 1970's because of this anti-war views.

Could this have anything to do with the recent push by hip-hop artists to register voters?

I think you're right on the money.

I hate to say this, but this is pretty reasonable. Part of the lifestyle of some rappers is a connection to gangs and crime. Didn't we see some pretty big stars get shot down in the last couple of years (and at least in one case, doesn't seem to have slowed down his output at all).

That doesn't mean there aren't questionable elements in how they are monitoring this situation; there very well could be. But there's not enough information to make that call.

Bryant
Check this out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

the more the feds want a piece of that booty!

Public Enemy

or.....

from Cheech and Chong:

The bigger the bust...the bigger the up (promotion)

sorry...those just came to mind when I read that

since the article was on Yahoo.