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The NYPD Is Watching Your Rap Videos


January 8, 2014 | Andy Cush

The latest tools in the New York Police Department’s youth-arresting, gang-fighting arsenal are YouTube and SoundCloud, according to a New York Times report detailing how the NYPD uses rap videos to investigate shootings.

“It’s a double-edged sword,” says Patrice Nelson, who manages several local rappers, about the police surveilling music. “If you have that much passion and love for the music, I guess you have to deal with it. That’s just what comes with the music. It’s the bitter and the sweet, you know?”

Here are a few of the songs mentioned by the Times as having played part in investigations, from rappers Murda Malo, Na Boogz, and K-Dot (no, not that K-Dot).

Read the full article here.