Those who may want
to help police bring criminals to justice will run into a conflict with rapper
Cam’ron. The
Diplomats leader, who will be featured on this week’s edition of 60 Minutes,
tells Anderson Cooper that helping the authorities would not only hurt sales of
his music, but also violate his "code of ethics." "If
I knew the serial killer was living next door to me?…I wouldn’t call and tell
anybody on him — but I’d probably move…but I’m not going to call and be like,
‘The serial killer’s in 4E,’ " said Cam’ron in response to a hypothetical
question posed by Cooper. The
interview is part of Cooper’s report on the concept of "snitching" and
how certain artists’ message to shun the police has undermined efforts to solve
murders across the country. Hip-Hop
has recently come under fire in the aftermath of radio personality Don Imus’ comments
regarding the Rutgers women’s basketball team. "It
would definitely hurt my business, and the way I was raised, I just don’t do that,"
Cam’ron explained, when asked about why he refused to help police catch the person
who shot and wounded him years ago in Washington D.C. In
addition to Cam’ron, Cooper talks to Geoffrey Canada, an anti-violence advocate
and educator from New York City’s Harlem neighborhood. According
to Canada, the refusal to cooperate with police could stem from rappers working
to maintain their "street credibility." "It’s
one of those things that sells music and no one really quite understands why,"
he told Cooper, adding that fans look up to artists if they come from the "meanest
streets of the urban ghetto." Canada
also noted how the practice of not talking to authorities has changed from when
he was growing up in New York City. "It
is now a cultural norm that is being preached in poor communities….It’s like
you can’t be a black person if you have a set of values that say ‘I will not watch
a crime happen in my community without getting involved to stop it,’" he
said. Cooper’s
interview with Cam’ron is slated to air on 60 Minutes from 7-8 p.m. EST
on Sunday (Apr. 22) on CBS.
