The NYPD is beefing up its hip-hop surveillance teams following the beef between rapper 50 Cent and his former protégé The Game, law-enforcement sources said yesterday.
“They’re going to feel the police presence,” said one source after cops met to update the department’s “Who’s Who in Rap” – a years-old database giving the lowdown on some of hip-hop’s top names and their associates.
“They want to know their nicknames, who their friends are, what their criminal records look like, where they live, where they’re hanging out,” said one source.
One source said cops were determined to keep a close eye on where rappers and their entourages live and party.
The department’s patrol, gang and intelligence units will also establish a “heavy presence” monitoring the clubs and hip- hop hangouts to try to stem a perceived escalation in rap-related mayhem.
Cops will also monitor the small private armies of bodyguards that traditionally surround the top players. The most successful rappers move around town in more than one vehicle, with the weapons kept in a separate car, the source said.
Meanwhile yesterday, rapper Lil’ Kim insisted she’s a “role model” – despite the raunchy and violent lyrics in her songs, according to her grand-jury testimony read to jurors in her perjury trial.
“I am a role model – to my fans,” said Kim.
She is charged with lying about two members of her posse – Damien “D-Roc” Butler and Suif “Gutta” Jackson – spraying gunfire outside Hot 97 the day she appeared at the station for a promotional event on Feb. 25, 2001.
Prosecutors rested their case yesterday.
Additional reporting by Carl Campanile