The New York “Times” Tries To Escalate A Rap Beef

Exciting stories must be trickling in today, because the New York Times seems like it’s trying to aggrandize a record label dispute over a song by rapper Gucci Mane–which is being concurrently released by both his new major Atlantic and his old indie imprint Big Cat–into Suge Knight-level drama, teasing you with the promise of “a story that involves an accused killer, allegations of recording-studio espionage and a lyrical tribute to Rick James.”

Which it does–Gucci Mane has run afoul of the law; there is indeed loose talk (and little more) that someone fliched the masters for the song “Freaky Gurl”; and the song interpolates “Super Freak”–but mostly I can’t quite figure out why Times writer Jeff Leeds would bother intimating that “it may not be wise to take a dispute with Gucci Mane lightly,” because “the rapper was charged with murder in connection with the fatal shooting of an aspiring rapper who had ties to Gucci Mane’s rival, the star Young Jeezy.” Except as a way to bring some of those murderous rappers and their crazy gun violence into what would have otherwise played out as a dry back and forth between label lawyers in a New York courtroom, warranting maybe brief mention on the rap blogs rather than a long, melodramatic Times story with uncomfortable racial/social undertones.

Rapper’s Old Label Cries Foul Over A New Version Of His Hit [NYT]