The Murda Mobb and Rap

This is an interesting Milwaukee Journal Sentinel piece from July 2001, by Jessica McBride and James H. Burnett III:

Six north side acquaintances are responsible for at least seven murders, including five around the Metcalfe Park neighborhood since June, and one in Mequon last month, police said Monday.

While Police Chief Arthur Jones said the men were not members of an organized gang, at least two of the suspects claim membership in an aspiring rap group that calls itself the "Murda Mobb."

Law enforcement sources previously said the Murda Mobb was a crew of gangsters involved in shootings, and robberies of drug dealers.

The members, who hung out in the area of N. 27th and W. Clarke streets, quickly earned a more sinister reputation for robbing drug dealers. Several of the murders they are charged with fit that pattern.

At least one of the suspects has a "Murda Mobb" tattoo similar to those worn by others in the group, founded by two brothers who were Gangster Disciples gang members in Chicago before moving to Milwaukee. The brothers - who have long criminal records - have not been charged with murders.

In custody Monday were Jeremy L. Harris, 20, Demetrius Powell, 20, Alvin M. Cooley, 17, Jovan M. Gray, 19, Decarlos Young, 24, and Andrew Roberts, 21, all of Milwaukee.

Jones said police arrested the six men on different occasions from June 7 through July 25.

"The men know each other, and obviously they worked together on some of the homicides," Jones said of the suspects, adding that some of them are being investigated in other unsolved homicides. Charges have been filed in six of the seven murders and are expected in the seventh shortly.

At a news conference, Jones said the motives for the slayings varied.

"Some of it was drugs and some of it was personal conflicts between individuals," the chief said. "Obviously, some of these individuals don't have a high regard for human life. They were engaged in robberies and revenge killings for various reasons. Obviously, they are very dangerous people."

Jones said just one of the murder suspects had identified himself to police as "Murda Mobb" and added: "We are still working to establish whether there is a Murda Mobb."

In a jailhouse interview after Monday's news conference, Roberts said the group does exist and that he's a member, along with Young. Though Powell and Harris hung around and claimed to belong, Roberts said they were not members.

"Everyone wanted to be part of the Murda Mobb, including the kids around the neighborhood," Roberts said.

Back in 2001, Police Chief Arthur Jones said the department was still trying to establish whether or not the Murda Mobb existed.

Of course, that's no longer an issue.

McBride and Burnett go on to give a history of the Murda Mobb and the rap connection.

Antoine Crittenden, one of the Chicago brothers who claims to have co-founded the Murda Mobb, said in a jailhouse interview earlier this month that he is a former regent in the Gangster Disciples gang who moved to Milwaukee from Chicago after getting out of prison. Crittenden also has the words "Murda Mobb" tattooed on his forearms. He is being held in the jail on an unrelated armed robbery charge.

Crittenden and Roberts both rapped lyrics from their songs, which are filled with expletives and violent sentiments. The men stressed the Murda Mobb members were merely writing about the violent world they grew up in.

Crittenden's song was called "Two to the Head."

"It's what sells," he said, shrugging.

Both Crittenden and Roberts, however, deny that the Murda Mobb is a criminal gang.

In the case of Crittenden and Andrew Roberts, they portrayed themselves to be artists. They denied that the Murda Mobb was a criminal gang.

They wrote songs. Their "art" was an outgrowth of the mean streets they grew up on.

Of course, not all rap music is violent and filled with expletives. Some is. Certainly, Antoine Crittenden's songs are.

This brings up a chicken and the egg question.

Did rap glamorize the thug life and entice the Crittenden brothers and others mentioned in the article to go down that path?

Or were they amoral thugs to begin with and naturally latched on to the thug life portrayed in some rap music?

Who knows?

But where there's rap glorifying violence, there MIGHT (I said "MIGHT") be criminals.