May 11, 2026 • 30 mins
Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of murder, violence, substance use, and crimes against a minor. Please take care of yourself first.
Episode Description
Hip-hop has always told the truth about the streets, but sometimes the streets tell the truth right back. In this episode, DJ Sir Daniel and Jay Ray walk through the real criminal cases of artists whose careers and lives took turns that no fan could have seen coming. From Philly's Golden Era to the founding fathers of hip-hop to an ongoing case that's still all over your timeline, this conversation sits with the weight of each story without flinching. These aren't cautionary tales meant to lecture anyone. They're the kinds of conversations you have when you genuinely love the culture and refuse to look away from what it also contains.
The Breakdown
- Snoop Dogg as the baseline. Before getting into the cases that didn't end well, Sir Daniel sets the stage with Snoop's 1993 murder charge and his 1996 acquittal, because understanding who got out helps you feel the weight of who didn't.
- Cool C & Steady B: When the Philly scene came crashing down. Between '86 and '89, Cool C, Steady B, and the Hilltop Hustlers crew were putting out classics. By January 2, 1996, they were involved in the bank robbery murder of Officer Lauretha Vaird. Cool C is currently the only rapper on death row. Steady B is serving life. Jay Ray and Sir Daniel unpack what it felt like to watch an entire era collapse in real time.
- Big Lurch and the horrorcore connection. Texas-born, LA-based rapper Big Lurch was part of Cosmic Slop Shop, riding the early 2000s horrorcore wave. Under the influence of PCP, he killed his roommate Tynisha Ysais in their Los Angeles apartment. The conversation doesn't rush past her name, and it doesn't rush past the history of what PCP actually was, either.
- Kidd Creole: A Furious Five founder, a copy shop overnight shift, and a fatal confrontation. One of the architects of hip-hop, convicted of first-degree manslaughter in 2022 for a 2017 stabbing in New York. Sir Daniel connects the dots between fleeting fame, financial reality, and the situations it can put you in.
- D4vd: The case that's still unfolding. A younger generation artist, currently awaiting trial for the alleged murder of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. Jay Ray and Sir Daniel talk about the digital footprint, the Discord universe, and what it means when a relationship exists almost entirely in online spaces. D4vd has not been convicted. The hosts are careful with the language. And they don't lose sight of the fact that a little girl is gone.
Chapter Markers
00:00 Disclaimer
00:46 Intro Theme
01:03 Welcome to the show
02:27 Snoop Dogg: Acquitted of Murder
04:50 Cool C & Steady B: The Bank Robbery Murder
11:22 Big Lurch: A Horrorcore Tragedy
17:45 Kidd Creole: From Furious Five to Prison for Manslaughter
23:09 D4vd: Fame, Youth & an Ongoing Case
28:58 Closing Thoughts
30:10 Closing Theme
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker (00:02):
Before we get into today's episode, we want to
take a moment to acknowledge theweight of what we're discussing.
This episode of Queue Points explores realcriminal cases involving artists from hip
hop history that include murder, violence,substance use, and crimes against a minor.
While our focus remains on thecultural and historical context
(00:24):
of these stories, the details aregraphic and disturbing in places.
If topics are difficult for you,please take care of yourself first.
You can always come back to thisshow when you're ready or not at all.
We appreciate you listening, and wedo not take these stories lightly.
Now let's get into it.
Sir Daniel (01:03):
Greetings and welcome to another episode of Queue Points podcast.
I am DJ Sir Daniel.
Jay Ray (01:08):
And my name is Jay Ray, sometimes known by my government
as Johnnie Ray Kornegay III.
And, um, Sir Daniel, hip-hop talksa lot about law enforcement and how
it impacts people and communities,and we have a number of examples
of rappers who have ended up inprison for murder in that list.
Sir Daniel (01:34):
Absolutely.
You know, the thing about rappers andsome rap music, um, uh, aside from Chuck
D coining it as the, um, rap music aslike the, the CNN, I'm not... That's not a
specific, a, a direct quote, but likeningrap music to being the 24/7 news network
(01:55):
of the, of the, the community, right?
Like you always know about what'sgoing on in the hood, and a lot of
rappers talk about, um, street justiceand handling things on their own.
Some of it is fictitious, and someof them are really about that life.
And unfortunately, when the rhymescome to life Real life comes
(02:17):
into play and law enforcement isinvolved, and sometimes that can
parlay into real-life consequences.
And automatically, right off the bat,Jay Ray, the biggest example of that
that I thought of as we were gettingready for this episode was Snoop Dogg
early in his career, like when he, Imean, really taking off and about to
(02:38):
launch his, his solo album off of thesuccess of being a part of The Chronic.
In 1993, Snoop Dogg was charged withmurder along with his, um, bodyguard.
And, um, that trial, that case took aboutthree years to, to reach a, a conclusion.
And in February 20th of 1996, SnoopDogg and his bodyguard were acquitted
(03:04):
of murder charges, and the jury found,um, just ruled that it was self-defense.
But this was, uh, again, um, inregards to the 1993 shooting, uh,
shooting death of a Philip Woldemariam.
And I just, I will neverforget the visuals.
Back then, kids, MTV, newbreaking news, breaking news.
(03:26):
It was either John Norris or Kurt Loderthat broke the news of, um, Snoop Dogg
being acquitted of these charges, andI'll never forget the footage of him in
court hearing the verdict and folding intohis praying hands and his, um, his, uh,
legal team hugging him and surroundinghim, and he's just clasping his hands in
(03:49):
prayer and just being really thankful thathe did not, he was not a guilty charge.
Because if that had happened, SnoopDogg, w- the Snoop Dogg that we
have today probably would not exist.
Oh, not probably, woulddefinitely not have existed.
Uh, but Jay Ray, some, some of ourhip-hop heroes did not fare as well as
(04:12):
a Snoop Dogg and did not have the typeof legal representation that he had.
And so we're gonna talk about peoplethat in fact have not fared so well.
Jay Ray (04:21):
Yeah.
Um, it's interesting that we, uh, startedwith that kind of overview of, of the
Snoop Dogg case because of course SnoopDogg was famously signed to Death Row, and
currently, I think, owns Death Row at thispoint in time that we're recording this.
But it's gonna lead us into kind ofthe first conversation, and actually
(04:43):
in, uh, the, the list of, of, uh,artists that we're gonna talk about,
this is actually the oldest case.
It's 30 years old this year.
So to give a bit of background,um, about this particular case,
uh, this particular case happenedin the Philadelphia Metro area, so
it's like outside of Philadelphia.
(05:04):
And on January 2nd of 1996,three folks attempted to rob
a PNC Bank in Feltonville wasactually where this took place.
And an officer named Lauretha Vairdresponded to the silent alarm that
the, uh, bank had, uh, had trippedand was subsequently shot and
(05:28):
was actually, and actually died.
So she was murdered in the courseof responding to that alarm.
As it turns out, as the, uh, caseunfolded, uh, there was, uh, three local
Philly folks who, uh, did that robbery.
So it was a, a gentleman by thename of Mark Canty and two names
(05:53):
that we know, and I'm gonnaactually mention their rapper names.
One of the rapper names was SteadyB, and the other rapper name was Cool
C. All three of those individualswere convicted of this murder.
And actually, Cool C is theonly rapper to this day who is
(06:18):
currently on death row serving time.
And Steady B is in, uh,prison for, for, for life.
So he has a life sentence inprison for, in connection to
the, the death of Officer Vaird.
And I remember, Sir Daniel, at the time,I'm curious to know how this played in,
(06:38):
in Atlanta, but at the time here, thiswas a huge case because Cool C and Steady
B, uh, yeah, you know, uh, hometowndudes, part of the Hilltop Hustlers
crew, which included Three Times Dope.
In ni- between like '86 and '89,these brothers were like inescapable
(07:01):
in terms of musical output, likelegitimate classics amongst all of them.
And this period of time waslike, it represented how much
hip-hop had turned, right?
So by 1996, hip-hop was inan entirely different place.
(07:22):
So the kind of rapping that thosebrothers had been doing at the time
was way out of fashion by then,which of course impacted, uh, uh,
all of the things around their lives.
So the fact that their lives turned inthis way was just kind of like jarring.
Um, but this whole situation endedup playing out kinda crazily in the,
(07:45):
the, the Philly area at the time.
But, um, definitely restin peace to Officer Vaird.
And, but I'm curious, Sir Daniel, how didthis play in the, in the Atlanta area?
Did y'all hear aboutthis as it was going on?
Sir Daniel (08:00):
So I, I can't really speak to the larger Atlanta area 'cause, you
know, in '96, that was right beforethe boom, you know, of after because
we were gonna have the Summer Olympics,and after that, that's when the influx
of people outside of this, and morepeople moving to the city happened.
(08:22):
So but I will, I will say as, as ahip hop head, as somebody, you know,
who grew up hearing those, you know,really revered and respected the
Philly scene, a lot of Philly rappers,was a, a fan of Cool C and Steady B.
So the news, uh, it was jarring to me.
It was, it was j- as you said, it wasindicative of the fact that for people
(08:47):
from that era, the trying to continuemaking music or trying to continue living
a lifestyle that the music had at onetime had afforded them, could not do
that anymore because that's somethingyou definitely do out of, uh, desperation
to, to, to, to fund your life basically.
(09:07):
And, um, and this is not a judgment.
It is basically what people,um, commit these crimes do.
They sometimes they just commit them tolive, continue to, to, to cr- create a
lifestyle, to have a roof over their head,to, uh, maybe even to fund more music.
'Cause, you know, at that time, if youdon't have a major label, you gotta
(09:31):
come out of your own pocket to fundstudio time and things like that.
So, um, I don't know if that hasbeen explored as to have they been
given the opportunity to speakto why they committed the crime.
I, I can't really say, but I justknow that it was very eye-opening.
It, it, it almost marked the end of anera for me, for someone who really enjoyed
(09:54):
that period, like you said, between '86and '89, where it was really about fun,
and it just stripped away the g- the glossand the, the charm and the happiness of...
You know, these are kids.
And I'm, I'm a kid and I'mthinking, "Oh These guys are,
are robbers and killers, wow.
(10:15):
And not knowing the history or the, the...Not even thinking about what it meant to
be a hilltop hustler, what it meant toreally come from the streets, not knowing
any of that, it was very jarring andeye-opening, and kind of, it was one of
those moments where you are definitely,your childhood is kinda-- another piece
of your childhood is chipped away.
(10:37):
And y- and you're n- you never look atlife ever the same again after that.
It's like, "Oh, this is real life.There are real-life consequences."
And then enter other... You know, atthis point, we're heavy into, into
hustler music, and people openlytalking about, um, hugging the block
and, you know, gunplay, gun talk.
(10:59):
All of these things are real things now.
So this really, like, mark,demark the, the end of an era.
You are no longer a child.
You are no-- This is nolonger fun and games.
This is real life, and theseare real-life consequences.
Jay Ray (11:14):
Absolutely, 100%.
Um, this, uh, particular case, uh,the next case that we're going to
talk about is incredibly gruesome.
Um, so I wanna preface before weget into this that this case is,
uh, particularly gruesome, and wetalked about, uh, last Halloween
(11:39):
actually, we did a show on horrorcore.
Y'all should definitely goback and check out that show.
But, uh, hardcore, horrorcore,sometimes hard to say, is a subgenre
of hip-hop that is, that leans moreto the horror element of storytelling.
So, um, think, uh, uh, the Geto Boys andwhat they were doing, um, Gravediggaz,
(12:06):
or, you know, artists like that.
But there's another artist thatwas in that mix who is currently
serving a life sentence.
So Big Lurch was part of a rapgroup called The Cosmic Slop Shop,
um, and they were, uh, LA-based.
(12:26):
Uh, but he is Texas-born, but, so aswith a lot of people from the South, they
kinda make their way into other places.
Landed in LA.
And Cosmic Slop, Slop Shop at the time,so this is in the early 2000s, were kinda
making a bit of a name for themselves, um,as, uh, in part of this horrorcore moment
in time that was kind of emerging, right?
(12:48):
Um, one of the other things a- about BigLurch is, um, he, he used substances,
and one of those substances was PCP.
And Sir Daniel, unfortunately underthe influence of PCP, um, uh, Big Lurch
(13:09):
attached, attacked his roommate, uh,a woman by the name of Tynisha Ysais.
I hope I'm, I'm saying, uh,Ty- Tynisha's name correctly.
But, um, attacked her in theirLA apartment, and through a
stabbing- Um, and so she died.
(13:29):
But w- what turned this case intosomething gruesome, um, even more
gruesome rather, is he had been discoveredwalking the streets kind of, uh, uh,
covered in blood and, um, they foundthat he had ingested pieces of her.
(13:50):
So very gruesome case,um, that, that took place.
He was found guilty of first-degreemurder, torture, and aggravated mayhem.
And, um, and they only, thejury only spended about an hour
of deliberation on this one.
And so as a result, he wasconvicted of two life sentences
(14:12):
without the possibility of parole.
Um, so he's currently in prisonto this day and will be there
for the rest of his life.
Um, but rest in peace to Tynisha Ysais.
Um, but that is the story of Big Lurchand why he is currently in prison.
Sir Daniel (14:30):
I don't think people... Well, maybe the people don't
remember or not, not remember,but maybe there's an audience that
doesn't know what PCP is or was.
PCP is like, I guess the predecessorto, um... The only thing I can
(14:51):
compare it to was when bath salts.
PCP, PCP was a, a hallucinogen,and a lot of people that took it
would, um, experience all kinds ofcrazy hallucinations, and clearly
it drove people to, to do weirdthings, um, outlandish things,
(15:11):
and this is an extreme case.
Used to be called angel dust, blackacid, alien sex, all kinds of things
that it was called back in the day.
And yeah, it really was one ofthose things that you don't wanna
be around somebody that's on it.
Jay Ray (15:29):
It's interesting that you talk about, um, angel dust because when I
reflect on growing up And, and my uncleswere very worldly, and so they would
often talk about, uh, the differentsubstances that existed, some that they
would experience and some they wouldn't.
(15:50):
Angel dust was one of the ones that theywould be absolutely like, "Never, ever,
ever do this." Like, it was, like, calledout as, like, "Now stay away from that
and 'cause you'll lose your mind." It waskind of like the, the, the idea of it.
But, um, I remember that being, uh, ifthere was a drug that you were gonna stay
(16:14):
away from in the '80s, that was one of theones that I remember them talking about.
Sir Daniel (16:20):
Because the, those gentlemen in that age group, they came
back from the, from Vietnam, right?
They came back from the war, and alot of them were... used substances
to, to take their mind off thethings that they saw over there.
And okay, so, so Gen Z-ers out therethat might be watching this, you
probably have seen this was floating onInstagram, I do remember, and TikTok.
(16:43):
Somebody had taken a clip of one of thoseafter-school specials that Helen Hu- I
believe it was Helen Hunt was starringas a, a, a high school student, and
she and her boyfriend, um, were in oneof the classrooms, and he was, he was
trying to get her to try this angel dust.
And she tried it the one time she triedit, and it just made her go crazy,
(17:05):
and she jumped out of the window.
And, and land... She didn't even diewhen she jumped out of the window.
She was just so strung out that,uh, she had glass all over her.
Y'all have seen that clip floating aroundon, on the internet definitely for sure.
But that is an extreme, um,example of what PCP angel dust
(17:27):
did to people back then, for sure.
Jay Ray (17:31):
Um, the next case that we are going to talk about is
actually a more recent case, butit involves a legendary rapper that
was part of a legendary rap crew.
So Kidd Creole, that's K-I-D-D Creole,um, is one of the founding members of
(17:52):
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.
So, um, I... We don't need to explainhow significant Grandmaster Flash
and the Furious Five, uh, was as agroup, um, and how it changed hip-hop.
But we have to remember that rappers fromparticularly that part of the golden era,
(18:16):
many of them, the, the riches we kindasee rappers experience today, when we look
back on that era, that's just not true.
Uh, Black Thought has this famousline, um, "Kool Herc w- Never
received a royalty check, right?
So these, like, people who arefoundational don't experience the
(18:38):
same riches as, like, what we wouldsee, like a Jay-Z or a Nas, right?
Sir Daniel (18:42):
Correct.
Jay Ray (18:43):
So, um, Kidd Creole, um, this happened in 2017.
Um, he was convicted of fatallystabbing, uh, a, a man experiencing
homelessness in New York.
He had been on his way to, uh, work.
um, at a copy shop.
(19:03):
He worked overnight.
And as the story unfolded, it kindof started as there was an argument.
Uh, the way it wa- the way I rememberthe story kind of unfolding is that there
was this argument, it was self-defense,stabbed the man, story ends, da, da, da.
(19:24):
But as the story kind of unfolded, um,one of the things that came up was this
may have been, like, a gay panic sortof situation where Kidd Creole felt like
this person had been coming onto him.
Neither here nor there.
At the end of the day, um,the jury convicted, uh, Kidd
(19:44):
Creole in 2022, so this is what?
Five years later, offirst-degree manslaughter.
Uh, he is currentlyserving 16 years in prison.
Um, and, uh, yeah, another tragic story.
Um, but yeah, Kidd Creole is currentlyserving 16 years for first-degree
(20:06):
manslaughter for the fatal stabbingof a homeless gentleman in New York.
Sir Daniel (20:13):
I find it interesting, uh, these stories, except for Snoop and the
final story that we're gonna speak of,there are these people in the middle that
because there was a, a lull or alag in their careers, or the, the
(20:35):
career was just nonexistent, makesyou wonder, like, what the fame, what
fleeting fame can do to a person.
And it, fleeting fame in, in its-in of itself is a drug, right?
And then when you get ataste of it, you want more.
(20:56):
And then if you can't live up tothe s- being in the spotlight, which
includes having to portray a certainl- lifestyle, it kinda opens you
up to these s- these situations.
You know, this gentleman is havingto work a nine-to-five, a overnight
job, and was placed in this, in thissituation where he came across this
(21:20):
individual that he had the incident with.
Not saying that n- things like this can'thappen to any of us, but I just find it
interesting that that is, is the kind ofthe unifying factor in, in these cases.
And, um, but like I said in thebeginning, not for everybody.
(21:42):
There are some people who,who kinda have it good.
And well, let's take Snoop for instance.
Because of the fame, who knows the,the like, um, what, what did Big say?
The ch- the, the, uh,cheddar breed jealousy.
Jay Ray (21:57):
Mm-hmm.
Sir Daniel (21:58):
It kinda brings different eyes on you and brings attention
to you that you didn't necessarilyhave to worry about before, and
now you have to protect yourself.
And sometimes, and in Snoop'scase, that's what it led to.
Uh, and the jury found that to bethe case, that it was self-defense.
So this thing f- called fame, guysand girls, it's, it's not, it's
(22:20):
not what it's cracked up to be.
And to-- And especially now in thisattention currency world that we
live in, it can re- it can reallylead people to do some diabolical and
almost demonic things, and that's whatthis next case is going to highlight.
Jay Ray (22:38):
yeah, so this is actually an ongoing case.
Um, you know, it's so, it, it'sinteresting as we jump into this,
we've talked about rappers up tothis point, and, um, you know, with
these, with these newer artists, it'ssometimes hard to categorize them.
Like, are you a rapper?
Are you a singer?
What are you doing?
(22:59):
But anyway, the, the, the s- the, the,the case that we are gonna talk about
that all of you have probably heardabout by now, but if you have not, uh,
there is a singer, rapper, songwriternamed D4vd who is currently in jail.
He is awaiting trial for the murderof a girl that he was alleged- so
(23:29):
allegedly murdered, but allegedlywas also in a relationship with.
This- Story is disturbing.
All of these stories are disturbingin, in their own ways and, and this one
definitely checks that box, uh, as one of,uh, uh, a particularly disturbing case.
(23:50):
And this artist is newer and wayyounger than any of the folks
that we have talked about so far.
He's quite a young man.
And but yes, currently, um,uh, this is underway, so the,
the, in, in, in California.
Um, Sir Daniel, did you know anythingabout D4vd as an artist before
(24:13):
all of this stuff came to light?
Sir Daniel (24:16):
Not at all.
As you said, the The uncategorized typeof music that he was doing just wasn't
for me, so he never popped up on my radar.
You know, I'm way out of the demographicfor a lot of these new artists and the
algorithms that they are a part of.
(24:37):
So I-- But unfortunately, becausehis life has taken this turn, now
all-- it has all of our attention.
And you know, now we're very...People are, are, are holding a
magnifying glass to anyone that iscarrying on any kind of relationship.
Anyone that's an adult is having anykind of relationships with people that
(25:00):
are way outside of their age range.
You know, especially if you're anadult, an adult-adult, anybody that's
like significantly lower or has, ifyou, has the, the word teen in their
age, it brings up a lot of suspicion.
So, and you know, the way people aremoving, y-you just really have to,
(25:23):
they really have to watch themselves.
And because everybody has a heightenedsense of awareness of how celebrities
in particular seem to move in adifferent world where they feel
like the rules don't apply to them.
So I feel like now more than ever,the public and law enforcement is
(25:45):
scrutinizing every and anybody thatconsiders themselves a celebrity,
and they really have to move withsome serious caution these days.
Jay Ray (25:57):
Yeah.
A- and, and to underscore that a bittoo, like, I think what's unique about
the, the other cases that we've talkedabout exist outside of the realm
of, like, social media in the most,in the, for the most part, right?
Whereas- This D4vd case is interestingbecause there is a, a lot of, there's
(26:21):
a huge digital footprint for there- the, the alleged relationship.
I know we keep saying alleged,but right now we have to say
that because this brother hasnot been convicted of anything.
But there's a lot of, of, of footprintof that, the alleged relationship.
There was a lot of, um, interactionwith, like, the Discord universe.
(26:43):
Apparently D4vd had this very activeDiscord server and would, would talk
to, uh, his folks there because he wasalso, uh, uh, the way he got started
was, like, game- doing gaming videos,but the way he started making music was
he would, like, make his own music toput in the gaming videos so he wouldn't
get flagged and stuff like that.
Saying all that to say is it'sjust, like, really interesting, um,
(27:09):
because there's this disconnect.
I consider it a disconnect that kindacomes with living life in, like, you know,
these boxes, these digital boxes, right?
You're not actuallyinteracting with people.
So there's that disconnect,uh, that happens.
But then there's also this hypersharing of everything that's kind
of happening in your life with thesepeople that don't really exist to
(27:33):
you as, like, a physical presence.
It's all very interesting to me thatwe're kind of at that place right now,
where it's like, you know, are y'allreal folks out there in the world?
Are you a bot?
Are you an AI bot?
But yeah, this, um, more tocome on this, this D4vd case.
(27:55):
This is becoming such a tabloid.
TMZ is always on it withsomething as it relates to this.
And, um, more importantly,pray for the family.
This was a little girl.
Sir Daniel (28:07):
Yeah.
Jay Ray (28:08):
little girl.
Sir Daniel (28:09):
I don't even think she was 15.
I think she was 14.
Jay Ray (28:12):
I think she was 14.
I
Sir Daniel (28:13):
a child.
Literally a child.
Which, hmm, which brings up ano-another conversation about, I think
with, um, the coming of the, theupcoming Usher and Chris Brown.
N- and they have nothing to do withthis case at all, but they're having--
they have a joint tour that's comingup, and the question has come up, like,
(28:34):
with are you allowing your teens andtweens to go to this show by themselves?
Jay Ray (28:43):
No.
Sir Daniel (28:44):
That's a conversation that's c- that is a conversation
that's coming up, like j- buythem the tickets and drop 'em off.
It's happening a lot more thanwe realize, than we realize.
But that's a whole 'nother conversation.
Jay Ray (28:56):
oh, that is so interesting.
I think we do have to jump into... Sodefinitely, maybe that's a, a live.
So for those of you that don't know,who are listen- who listen to our show
regularly, we go live most every Thursdayat 8:00 PM, uh, on YouTube and Instagram.
So you should s- subscribe to uson YouTube, that'll help us get the
numbers up there, and you shouldalso subscribe to us on Instagram.
(29:19):
We would appreciate it.
Thank y'all so much for tuning infor this episode of Queue Points.
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(29:40):
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We appreciate y'all.
We love y'all.
Sir Daniel (29:51):
That's right.
It's like I always say, inthis life you have a choice.
You can either pick up the needleor you can let the record play.
I am DJ Sir Daniel,
Jay Ray (29:59):
My name is Jay Ray, y'all.
Sir Daniel (30:01):
and this is Queue Points podcast, dropping the
needle on Black music history.
We will see you on the next go round.
Peace
Jay Ray (30:09):
Peace, y'all.
Before we get into today's episode, we want to
take a moment to acknowledge theweight of what we're discussing.
This episode of Queue Points explores realcriminal cases involving artists from hip
hop history that include murder, violence,substance use, and crimes against a minor.
While our focus remains on thecultural and historical context
(00:24):
of these stories, the details aregraphic and disturbing in places.
If topics are difficult for you,please take care of yourself first.
You can always come back to thisshow when you're ready or not at all.
We appreciate you listening, and wedo not take these stories lightly.
Now let's get into it.
Sir Daniel (01:03):
Greetings and welcome to another episode of Queue Points podcast.
I am DJ Sir Daniel.
Jay Ray (01:08):
And my name is Jay Ray, sometimes known by my government
as Johnnie Ray Kornegay III.
And, um, Sir Daniel, hip-hop talksa lot about law enforcement and how
it impacts people and communities,and we have a number of examples
of rappers who have ended up inprison for murder in that list.
Sir Daniel (01:34):
Absolutely.
You know, the thing about rappers andsome rap music, um, uh, aside from Chuck
D coining it as the, um, rap music aslike the, the CNN, I'm not... That's not a
specific, a, a direct quote, but likeningrap music to being the 24/7 news network
(01:55):
of the, of the, the community, right?
Like you always know about what'sgoing on in the hood, and a lot of
rappers talk about, um, street justiceand handling things on their own.
Some of it is fictitious, and someof them are really about that life.
And unfortunately, when the rhymescome to life Real life comes
(02:17):
into play and law enforcement isinvolved, and sometimes that can
parlay into real-life consequences.
And automatically, right off the bat,Jay Ray, the biggest example of that
that I thought of as we were gettingready for this episode was Snoop Dogg
early in his career, like when he, Imean, really taking off and about to
(02:38):
launch his, his solo album off of thesuccess of being a part of The Chronic.
In 1993, Snoop Dogg was charged withmurder along with his, um, bodyguard.
And, um, that trial, that case took aboutthree years to, to reach a, a conclusion.
And in February 20th of 1996, SnoopDogg and his bodyguard were acquitted
(03:04):
of murder charges, and the jury found,um, just ruled that it was self-defense.
But this was, uh, again, um, inregards to the 1993 shooting, uh,
shooting death of a Philip Woldemariam.
And I just, I will neverforget the visuals.
Back then, kids, MTV, newbreaking news, breaking news.
(03:26):
It was either John Norris or Kurt Loderthat broke the news of, um, Snoop Dogg
being acquitted of these charges, andI'll never forget the footage of him in
court hearing the verdict and folding intohis praying hands and his, um, his, uh,
legal team hugging him and surroundinghim, and he's just clasping his hands in
(03:49):
prayer and just being really thankful thathe did not, he was not a guilty charge.
Because if that had happened, SnoopDogg, w- the Snoop Dogg that we
have today probably would not exist.
Oh, not probably, woulddefinitely not have existed.
Uh, but Jay Ray, some, some of ourhip-hop heroes did not fare as well as
(04:12):
a Snoop Dogg and did not have the typeof legal representation that he had.
And so we're gonna talk about peoplethat in fact have not fared so well.
Jay Ray (04:21):
Yeah.
Um, it's interesting that we, uh, startedwith that kind of overview of, of the
Snoop Dogg case because of course SnoopDogg was famously signed to Death Row, and
currently, I think, owns Death Row at thispoint in time that we're recording this.
But it's gonna lead us into kind ofthe first conversation, and actually
(04:43):
in, uh, the, the list of, of, uh,artists that we're gonna talk about,
this is actually the oldest case.
It's 30 years old this year.
So to give a bit of background,um, about this particular case,
uh, this particular case happenedin the Philadelphia Metro area, so
it's like outside of Philadelphia.
(05:04):
And on January 2nd of 1996,three folks attempted to rob
a PNC Bank in Feltonville wasactually where this took place.
And an officer named Lauretha Vairdresponded to the silent alarm that
the, uh, bank had, uh, had trippedand was subsequently shot and
(05:28):
was actually, and actually died.
So she was murdered in the courseof responding to that alarm.
As it turns out, as the, uh, caseunfolded, uh, there was, uh, three local
Philly folks who, uh, did that robbery.
So it was a, a gentleman by thename of Mark Canty and two names
(05:53):
that we know, and I'm gonnaactually mention their rapper names.
One of the rapper names was SteadyB, and the other rapper name was Cool
C. All three of those individualswere convicted of this murder.
And actually, Cool C is theonly rapper to this day who is
(06:18):
currently on death row serving time.
And Steady B is in, uh,prison for, for, for life.
So he has a life sentence inprison for, in connection to
the, the death of Officer Vaird.
And I remember, Sir Daniel, at the time,I'm curious to know how this played in,
(06:38):
in Atlanta, but at the time here, thiswas a huge case because Cool C and Steady
B, uh, yeah, you know, uh, hometowndudes, part of the Hilltop Hustlers
crew, which included Three Times Dope.
In ni- between like '86 and '89,these brothers were like inescapable
(07:01):
in terms of musical output, likelegitimate classics amongst all of them.
And this period of time waslike, it represented how much
hip-hop had turned, right?
So by 1996, hip-hop was inan entirely different place.
(07:22):
So the kind of rapping that thosebrothers had been doing at the time
was way out of fashion by then,which of course impacted, uh, uh,
all of the things around their lives.
So the fact that their lives turned inthis way was just kind of like jarring.
Um, but this whole situation endedup playing out kinda crazily in the,
(07:45):
the, the Philly area at the time.
But, um, definitely restin peace to Officer Vaird.
And, but I'm curious, Sir Daniel, how didthis play in the, in the Atlanta area?
Did y'all hear aboutthis as it was going on?
Sir Daniel (08:00):
So I, I can't really speak to the larger Atlanta area 'cause, you
know, in '96, that was right beforethe boom, you know, of after because
we were gonna have the Summer Olympics,and after that, that's when the influx
of people outside of this, and morepeople moving to the city happened.
(08:22):
So but I will, I will say as, as ahip hop head, as somebody, you know,
who grew up hearing those, you know,really revered and respected the
Philly scene, a lot of Philly rappers,was a, a fan of Cool C and Steady B.
So the news, uh, it was jarring to me.
It was, it was j- as you said, it wasindicative of the fact that for people
(08:47):
from that era, the trying to continuemaking music or trying to continue living
a lifestyle that the music had at onetime had afforded them, could not do
that anymore because that's somethingyou definitely do out of, uh, desperation
to, to, to, to fund your life basically.
(09:07):
And, um, and this is not a judgment.
It is basically what people,um, commit these crimes do.
They sometimes they just commit them tolive, continue to, to, to cr- create a
lifestyle, to have a roof over their head,to, uh, maybe even to fund more music.
'Cause, you know, at that time, if youdon't have a major label, you gotta
(09:31):
come out of your own pocket to fundstudio time and things like that.
So, um, I don't know if that hasbeen explored as to have they been
given the opportunity to speakto why they committed the crime.
I, I can't really say, but I justknow that it was very eye-opening.
It, it, it almost marked the end of anera for me, for someone who really enjoyed
(09:54):
that period, like you said, between '86and '89, where it was really about fun,
and it just stripped away the g- the glossand the, the charm and the happiness of...
You know, these are kids.
And I'm, I'm a kid and I'mthinking, "Oh These guys are,
are robbers and killers, wow.
(10:15):
And not knowing the history or the, the...Not even thinking about what it meant to
be a hilltop hustler, what it meant toreally come from the streets, not knowing
any of that, it was very jarring andeye-opening, and kind of, it was one of
those moments where you are definitely,your childhood is kinda-- another piece
of your childhood is chipped away.
(10:37):
And y- and you're n- you never look atlife ever the same again after that.
It's like, "Oh, this is real life.There are real-life consequences."
And then enter other... You know, atthis point, we're heavy into, into
hustler music, and people openlytalking about, um, hugging the block
and, you know, gunplay, gun talk.
(10:59):
All of these things are real things now.
So this really, like, mark,demark the, the end of an era.
You are no longer a child.
You are no-- This is nolonger fun and games.
This is real life, and theseare real-life consequences.
Jay Ray (11:14):
Absolutely, 100%.
Um, this, uh, particular case, uh,the next case that we're going to
talk about is incredibly gruesome.
Um, so I wanna preface before weget into this that this case is,
uh, particularly gruesome, and wetalked about, uh, last Halloween
(11:39):
actually, we did a show on horrorcore.
Y'all should definitely goback and check out that show.
But, uh, hardcore, horrorcore,sometimes hard to say, is a subgenre
of hip-hop that is, that leans moreto the horror element of storytelling.
So, um, think, uh, uh, the Geto Boys andwhat they were doing, um, Gravediggaz,
(12:06):
or, you know, artists like that.
But there's another artist thatwas in that mix who is currently
serving a life sentence.
So Big Lurch was part of a rapgroup called The Cosmic Slop Shop,
um, and they were, uh, LA-based.
(12:26):
Uh, but he is Texas-born, but, so aswith a lot of people from the South, they
kinda make their way into other places.
Landed in LA.
And Cosmic Slop, Slop Shop at the time,so this is in the early 2000s, were kinda
making a bit of a name for themselves, um,as, uh, in part of this horrorcore moment
in time that was kind of emerging, right?
(12:48):
Um, one of the other things a- about BigLurch is, um, he, he used substances,
and one of those substances was PCP.
And Sir Daniel, unfortunately underthe influence of PCP, um, uh, Big Lurch
(13:09):
attached, attacked his roommate, uh,a woman by the name of Tynisha Ysais.
I hope I'm, I'm saying, uh,Ty- Tynisha's name correctly.
But, um, attacked her in theirLA apartment, and through a
stabbing- Um, and so she died.
(13:29):
But w- what turned this case intosomething gruesome, um, even more
gruesome rather, is he had been discoveredwalking the streets kind of, uh, uh,
covered in blood and, um, they foundthat he had ingested pieces of her.
(13:50):
So very gruesome case,um, that, that took place.
He was found guilty of first-degreemurder, torture, and aggravated mayhem.
And, um, and they only, thejury only spended about an hour
of deliberation on this one.
And so as a result, he wasconvicted of two life sentences
(14:12):
without the possibility of parole.
Um, so he's currently in prisonto this day and will be there
for the rest of his life.
Um, but rest in peace to Tynisha Ysais.
Um, but that is the story of Big Lurchand why he is currently in prison.
Sir Daniel (14:30):
I don't think people... Well, maybe the people don't
remember or not, not remember,but maybe there's an audience that
doesn't know what PCP is or was.
PCP is like, I guess the predecessorto, um... The only thing I can
(14:51):
compare it to was when bath salts.
PCP, PCP was a, a hallucinogen,and a lot of people that took it
would, um, experience all kinds ofcrazy hallucinations, and clearly
it drove people to, to do weirdthings, um, outlandish things,
(15:11):
and this is an extreme case.
Used to be called angel dust, blackacid, alien sex, all kinds of things
that it was called back in the day.
And yeah, it really was one ofthose things that you don't wanna
be around somebody that's on it.
Jay Ray (15:29):
It's interesting that you talk about, um, angel dust because when I
reflect on growing up And, and my uncleswere very worldly, and so they would
often talk about, uh, the differentsubstances that existed, some that they
would experience and some they wouldn't.
(15:50):
Angel dust was one of the ones that theywould be absolutely like, "Never, ever,
ever do this." Like, it was, like, calledout as, like, "Now stay away from that
and 'cause you'll lose your mind." It waskind of like the, the, the idea of it.
But, um, I remember that being, uh, ifthere was a drug that you were gonna stay
(16:14):
away from in the '80s, that was one of theones that I remember them talking about.
Sir Daniel (16:20):
Because the, those gentlemen in that age group, they came
back from the, from Vietnam, right?
They came back from the war, and alot of them were... used substances
to, to take their mind off thethings that they saw over there.
And okay, so, so Gen Z-ers out therethat might be watching this, you
probably have seen this was floating onInstagram, I do remember, and TikTok.
(16:43):
Somebody had taken a clip of one of thoseafter-school specials that Helen Hu- I
believe it was Helen Hunt was starringas a, a, a high school student, and
she and her boyfriend, um, were in oneof the classrooms, and he was, he was
trying to get her to try this angel dust.
And she tried it the one time she triedit, and it just made her go crazy,
(17:05):
and she jumped out of the window.
And, and land... She didn't even diewhen she jumped out of the window.
She was just so strung out that,uh, she had glass all over her.
Y'all have seen that clip floating aroundon, on the internet definitely for sure.
But that is an extreme, um,example of what PCP angel dust
(17:27):
did to people back then, for sure.
Jay Ray (17:31):
Um, the next case that we are going to talk about is
actually a more recent case, butit involves a legendary rapper that
was part of a legendary rap crew.
So Kidd Creole, that's K-I-D-D Creole,um, is one of the founding members of
(17:52):
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.
So, um, I... We don't need to explainhow significant Grandmaster Flash
and the Furious Five, uh, was as agroup, um, and how it changed hip-hop.
But we have to remember that rappers fromparticularly that part of the golden era,
(18:16):
many of them, the, the riches we kindasee rappers experience today, when we look
back on that era, that's just not true.
Uh, Black Thought has this famousline, um, "Kool Herc w- Never
received a royalty check, right?
So these, like, people who arefoundational don't experience the
(18:38):
same riches as, like, what we wouldsee, like a Jay-Z or a Nas, right?
Sir Daniel (18:42):
Correct.
Jay Ray (18:43):
So, um, Kidd Creole, um, this happened in 2017.
Um, he was convicted of fatallystabbing, uh, a, a man experiencing
homelessness in New York.
He had been on his way to, uh, work.
um, at a copy shop.
(19:03):
He worked overnight.
And as the story unfolded, it kindof started as there was an argument.
Uh, the way it wa- the way I rememberthe story kind of unfolding is that there
was this argument, it was self-defense,stabbed the man, story ends, da, da, da.
(19:24):
But as the story kind of unfolded, um,one of the things that came up was this
may have been, like, a gay panic sortof situation where Kidd Creole felt like
this person had been coming onto him.
Neither here nor there.
At the end of the day, um,the jury convicted, uh, Kidd
(19:44):
Creole in 2022, so this is what?
Five years later, offirst-degree manslaughter.
Uh, he is currentlyserving 16 years in prison.
Um, and, uh, yeah, another tragic story.
Um, but yeah, Kidd Creole is currentlyserving 16 years for first-degree
(20:06):
manslaughter for the fatal stabbingof a homeless gentleman in New York.
Sir Daniel (20:13):
I find it interesting, uh, these stories, except for Snoop and the
final story that we're gonna speak of,there are these people in the middle that
because there was a, a lull or alag in their careers, or the, the
(20:35):
career was just nonexistent, makesyou wonder, like, what the fame, what
fleeting fame can do to a person.
And it, fleeting fame in, in its-in of itself is a drug, right?
And then when you get ataste of it, you want more.
(20:56):
And then if you can't live up tothe s- being in the spotlight, which
includes having to portray a certainl- lifestyle, it kinda opens you
up to these s- these situations.
You know, this gentleman is havingto work a nine-to-five, a overnight
job, and was placed in this, in thissituation where he came across this
(21:20):
individual that he had the incident with.
Not saying that n- things like this can'thappen to any of us, but I just find it
interesting that that is, is the kind ofthe unifying factor in, in these cases.
And, um, but like I said in thebeginning, not for everybody.
(21:42):
There are some people who,who kinda have it good.
And well, let's take Snoop for instance.
Because of the fame, who knows the,the like, um, what, what did Big say?
The ch- the, the, uh,cheddar breed jealousy.
Jay Ray (21:57):
Mm-hmm.
Sir Daniel (21:58):
It kinda brings different eyes on you and brings attention
to you that you didn't necessarilyhave to worry about before, and
now you have to protect yourself.
And sometimes, and in Snoop'scase, that's what it led to.
Uh, and the jury found that to bethe case, that it was self-defense.
So this thing f- called fame, guysand girls, it's, it's not, it's
(22:20):
not what it's cracked up to be.
And to-- And especially now in thisattention currency world that we
live in, it can re- it can reallylead people to do some diabolical and
almost demonic things, and that's whatthis next case is going to highlight.
Jay Ray (22:38):
yeah, so this is actually an ongoing case.
Um, you know, it's so, it, it'sinteresting as we jump into this,
we've talked about rappers up tothis point, and, um, you know, with
these, with these newer artists, it'ssometimes hard to categorize them.
Like, are you a rapper?
Are you a singer?
What are you doing?
(22:59):
But anyway, the, the, the s- the, the,the case that we are gonna talk about
that all of you have probably heardabout by now, but if you have not, uh,
there is a singer, rapper, songwriternamed D4vd who is currently in jail.
He is awaiting trial for the murderof a girl that he was alleged- so
(23:29):
allegedly murdered, but allegedlywas also in a relationship with.
This- Story is disturbing.
All of these stories are disturbingin, in their own ways and, and this one
definitely checks that box, uh, as one of,uh, uh, a particularly disturbing case.
(23:50):
And this artist is newer and wayyounger than any of the folks
that we have talked about so far.
He's quite a young man.
And but yes, currently, um,uh, this is underway, so the,
the, in, in, in California.
Um, Sir Daniel, did you know anythingabout D4vd as an artist before
(24:13):
all of this stuff came to light?
Sir Daniel (24:16):
Not at all.
As you said, the The uncategorized typeof music that he was doing just wasn't
for me, so he never popped up on my radar.
You know, I'm way out of the demographicfor a lot of these new artists and the
algorithms that they are a part of.
(24:37):
So I-- But unfortunately, becausehis life has taken this turn, now
all-- it has all of our attention.
And you know, now we're very...People are, are, are holding a
magnifying glass to anyone that iscarrying on any kind of relationship.
Anyone that's an adult is having anykind of relationships with people that
(25:00):
are way outside of their age range.
You know, especially if you're anadult, an adult-adult, anybody that's
like significantly lower or has, ifyou, has the, the word teen in their
age, it brings up a lot of suspicion.
So, and you know, the way people aremoving, y-you just really have to,
(25:23):
they really have to watch themselves.
And because everybody has a heightenedsense of awareness of how celebrities
in particular seem to move in adifferent world where they feel
like the rules don't apply to them.
So I feel like now more than ever,the public and law enforcement is
(25:45):
scrutinizing every and anybody thatconsiders themselves a celebrity,
and they really have to move withsome serious caution these days.
Jay Ray (25:57):
Yeah.
A- and, and to underscore that a bittoo, like, I think what's unique about
the, the other cases that we've talkedabout exist outside of the realm
of, like, social media in the most,in the, for the most part, right?
Whereas- This D4vd case is interestingbecause there is a, a lot of, there's
(26:21):
a huge digital footprint for there- the, the alleged relationship.
I know we keep saying alleged,but right now we have to say
that because this brother hasnot been convicted of anything.
But there's a lot of, of, of footprintof that, the alleged relationship.
There was a lot of, um, interactionwith, like, the Discord universe.
(26:43):
Apparently D4vd had this very activeDiscord server and would, would talk
to, uh, his folks there because he wasalso, uh, uh, the way he got started
was, like, game- doing gaming videos,but the way he started making music was
he would, like, make his own music toput in the gaming videos so he wouldn't
get flagged and stuff like that.
Saying all that to say is it'sjust, like, really interesting, um,
(27:09):
because there's this disconnect.
I consider it a disconnect that kindacomes with living life in, like, you know,
these boxes, these digital boxes, right?
You're not actuallyinteracting with people.
So there's that disconnect,uh, that happens.
But then there's also this hypersharing of everything that's kind
of happening in your life with thesepeople that don't really exist to
(27:33):
you as, like, a physical presence.
It's all very interesting to me thatwe're kind of at that place right now,
where it's like, you know, are y'allreal folks out there in the world?
Are you a bot?
Are you an AI bot?
But yeah, this, um, more tocome on this, this D4vd case.
(27:55):
This is becoming such a tabloid.
TMZ is always on it withsomething as it relates to this.
And, um, more importantly,pray for the family.
This was a little girl.
Sir Daniel (28:07):
Yeah.
Jay Ray (28:08):
little girl.
Sir Daniel (28:09):
I don't even think she was 15.
I think she was 14.
Jay Ray (28:12):
I think she was 14.
I
Sir Daniel (28:13):
a child.
Literally a child.
Which, hmm, which brings up ano-another conversation about, I think
with, um, the coming of the, theupcoming Usher and Chris Brown.
N- and they have nothing to do withthis case at all, but they're having--
they have a joint tour that's comingup, and the question has come up, like,
(28:34):
with are you allowing your teens andtweens to go to this show by themselves?
Jay Ray (28:43):
No.
Sir Daniel (28:44):
That's a conversation that's c- that is a conversation
that's coming up, like j- buythem the tickets and drop 'em off.
It's happening a lot more thanwe realize, than we realize.
But that's a whole 'nother conversation.
Jay Ray (28:56):
oh, that is so interesting.
I think we do have to jump into... Sodefinitely, maybe that's a, a live.
So for those of you that don't know,who are listen- who listen to our show
regularly, we go live most every Thursdayat 8:00 PM, uh, on YouTube and Instagram.
So you should s- subscribe to uson YouTube, that'll help us get the
numbers up there, and you shouldalso subscribe to us on Instagram.
(29:19):
We would appreciate it.
Thank y'all so much for tuning infor this episode of Queue Points.
If you can see our faces andhear our voices, go ahead
and hit the subscribe button.
Share the show with yourfriends, family, and colleagues.
If you enjoy Queue Points, chances arethey will enjoy Queue Points as well.
Visit our website at queuepoints.com.
Become a member.
It helps us to keep the lightson here at Queue Points land.
(29:40):
Shop our store at store.queuepoints.com.
And go ahead and make sure thatyou check us out on Substack where
we have some additional content.
We appreciate y'all.
We love y'all.
Sir Daniel (29:51):
That's right.
It's like I always say, inthis life you have a choice.
You can either pick up the needleor you can let the record play.
I am DJ Sir Daniel,
Jay Ray (29:59):
My name is Jay Ray, y'all.
Sir Daniel (30:01):
and this is Queue Points podcast, dropping the
needle on Black music history.
We will see you on the next go round.
Peace
Jay Ray (30:09):
Peace, y'all.
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