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  • Zahmire Lopez, an 8-year-old with dance moves and rap skills, killed by gun violence in his Jersey home | CNN

    Zahmire Lopez, an 8-year-old with dance moves and rap skills, killed by gun violence in his Jersey home | CNN

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    Editor’s Note: This story is part of a series profiling American youth killed this year by guns, a leading cause of death of children in the US. Read more about the project here.



    CNN
     — 

    Yeah my name Lil Zah, G.

    Bout to hop on this beat.

    At the top,

    You can’t take my spot.

    I’m all the way up,

    You cannot.

    Delivered in an excited pre-pubescent voice, this untitled rap song is a lasting memory of the joy and bravado 8-year-old Zahmire Lopez always brought to the world.

    “I was like, ‘Wow!’ I was shocked when I heard it,” his mother, Leontine Niangara, told CNN. “It’s like a real song. I think it’s at least two minutes long. So I’m like, OK!”

    There won’t be another one like it. Zahmire, or “Zah,” was shot and killed at his home in Newark, New Jersey, in May.

    Zahmire is one of more than 1,300 children and teens in the US killed by gunfire so far in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive. Firearms became the No. 1 killer of children and teens in America in 2020, surpassing motor vehicle accidents, which had long been the leading cause of death among America’s youth.

    “It’s very hard,” Niangara said. “It’s not an hour goes by that I don’t just think about him. It’s hard. Some say when time goes by it gets easier but it doesn’t get easier.”

    The shooting took place in Niangara’s Newark home on the night of May 3, according to the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office. Police received a 911 call that people had been shot inside a Johnson Avenue residence and responded at just after 8:30 p.m., the office said.

    Inside, police officers found Zahmire had been shot, and he was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 9:14 p.m., the office said.

    Read other profiles of children who have died from gunfire

    Wyleek Shaw, 27, was also killed in the shooting, according to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office. Tajion Simmons, 24, of Fords, New Jersey, was treated for non-fatal injuries, the office said.

    Outside the home, police officers say they encountered a man, later identified as 29-year-old Everett Rand, leaving and discarding an item in a dumpster, the NJ Attorney General’s Office said. Police gave chase and during the pursuit, two officers shot at Rand, fatally wounding him, according to the office.

    A handgun that did not belong to law enforcement was recovered from the scene, and a semi-automatic handgun with a large capacity magazine was later found in the dumpster, the office said.

    The office on September 18 released footage from four police body-worn cameras showing the foot chase and shooting. After the shooting, one officer kicked a handgun away from Rand, and another officer told his colleagues, “I got shot at, but I shot him,” according to the footage.

    The investigation is ongoing.

    Niangara said Rand, the suspected shooter, was her boyfriend, who had spent considerable time with her son at school dropoff and getting their hair done. Shaw was Rand’s best friend, she added.

    Niangara said the shooting happened “very fast” and that Rand was on drugs.

    “We were all laughing and then it just turned into hearing gunshots,” she said.

    “Everybody’s body or everybody’s mind can’t handle drugs, or you don’t know how your body is gonna react to drugs, and it just happened to react badly,” she added.

    Gun violence is an epidemic in the US. Here are 4 things you can do today

    A mother and her ‘shadow’

    The death was particularly difficult for her given that Zahmire was born prematurely and weighed just 1 pound, 8 ounces at birth.

    “He fought to even get in this world, so then for his life to end short, it’s just devastating,” she said.

    In his life, Zahmire and Niangara were adjoined at the hip; she described him as her “shadow.”

    He was outspoken, the life of the party, a comedian and a dancer bursting with laughter and energy. He celebrated his 8th birthday in January with a trip to American Dream Water Park in East Rutherford, New Jersey, with his best friends and cousins.

    Zahmire loved flag football and was excited to begin playing tackle football.

    He loved to play basketball and football, and he was particularly excited to put on pads and a helmet and play tackle football this year. Perhaps too excited.

    “Sometimes they had to remind him, ‘Zahmire you’re on flag. You don’t have to get too excited. It’s just flag football,’” Niangara said.

    After his death, his football team presented his mother with the equipment and helmet that would have soon been his. “They knew how much Zahmire wanted to play tackle football,” his mother said.

    More about Zahmire Lopez

  • Death: May 3, 2023.
  • Age at death: 8 years old.
  • Cause: Gun violence.

Zahmire loved to be around music, football and family, and he got his biggest smile from his dog, Ghost, a blue nose pitbull. He took some warming up though.

“Zahmire used to be scared of dogs, so I got a dog so he could get over his fear of being scared of dogs,” his mother said. “And it worked.”

For Niangara, a nurse at University Hospital in Newark, his death has left her lonely and has made her own home a reminder of his loss.

“At first I didn’t want to move because his last memory was here, and I feel like I didn’t want to leave him,” she said. “But I feel like for my state of mind, I need to (move) because every time I close my eyes, I just relive that night.”

She’s left with the memories, bolstered by photos, videos and, of course, that rap song. At another point in Zahmire’s rap, he offered up a bar that now reads as tragically prophetic.

Yeah my name Lil Zah, G

One day I’mma be on TV.

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  • Jay-Z-themed library cards spark increase in Brooklyn Public Library memberships | CNN

    Jay-Z-themed library cards spark increase in Brooklyn Public Library memberships | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    If anyone can make a trip to the library feel like a party, it’s Jay-Z, apparently.

    To celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, the Brooklyn Public Library and Roc Nation have released 13 limited-edition library cards with artwork from Jay-Z albums. The initiative, which ends later this month, has already resulted in 14,000 new library accounts, a spokesperson for the Brooklyn Public Library told CNN.

    The library cards are tied to a Brooklyn’s Central Library exhibit that explores Jay-Z’s career through rare photos, original recordings, videos and other artifacts.

    “The community’s enthusiastic response to this exhibition is a testament to Jay-Z’s immense impact,” Linda E. Johnson, President and CEO of the Brooklyn Public Library, told CNN.

    The Jay-Z-themed library cards are available for free for New York State residents. New Yorkers can collect all 13 versions – but only one will be activated to a New York Public library account to check out resources, according to a library spokesperson.

    Though some people are trying to sell the limited-edition cards online, a library employee told CNN they represent only a small fraction of the thousands who have signed up for a new card.

    Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter grew up in the Marcy Homes, a public housing complex, in the Brooklyn neighborhood Bedford Stuyvesant, more commonly known as “Bed Stuy” or “the Stuy.” His rise to music fame came in the early ’90s as a performer and later a record label owner and entrepreneur. He became the first billionaire hip-hop artist, selling more than 140 million records and winning 24 Grammy Awards – the most any rapper has received.

    New York City’s other library systems have also released distinct cards for the hip-hop anniversary, as has the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). In collaboration with Universal Music Enterprises, 80,000 MetroCards featuring LL Cool J, Pop Smoke, Rakim and Cam’ron have been made available at various stations on a first come, first serve basis.

    This photo depicts the Blueprint 2 album on a library card.

    “From standing on top of the Empire State Building to grabbing a slice at the corner pizza shop, NYC creates iconic moments that are recognized around the world,” Rakim said in a news release for the collaboration. “It’s an honor to be celebrating the 50th Anniversary on the streets… and now below them… of the city where hip-hop was born.”

    A South Bronx house party in 1973 is credited as the birthplace of hip-hop, when DJ Kool Herc found a way to isolate the percussion and repeat the “break” on the vinyl he was spinning, according to the New York Public Library.

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  • Man indicted for the murder of rapper Takeoff | CNN

    Man indicted for the murder of rapper Takeoff | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A grand jury in Harris County, Texas, on Thursday indicted a man for the murder of Takeoff, a member of the rap group Migos.

    Patrick Clark, 33, was arrested in connection with the death in December.

    Takeoff, 28, was shot to death outside a private party at 810 Billiards and Bowling in Houston on November 1. “There was an argument outside the bowling alley which led to the shooting,” Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said at the time. Another man, Cameron Joshua, was arrested and charged with unlawful carrying of a weapon in relation to the shooting.

    Police described Takeoff as an “innocent bystander” to the argument that preceded the shooting.

    In the arraignment document, the state claims Clark “unlawfully, intentionally and knowingly commit the felony offense of Deadly Conduct by knowingly discharging a firearm at and in the direction of” Takeoff.

    Clark’s defense attorney, Letitia Quiñones-Hollins, told CNN that the indictment was expected.

    “We would ask people to remember that getting an indictment requires meeting a very, very minimal standard of proof,” she said in a statement. “When we get inside a courtroom and in front of a jury, where we will be able to put on our evidence and cross-examine the state’s witnesses – where the standard of proof is guilt beyond reasonable doubt – we expect the jury will come back with a verdict of not guilty.”

    Clark remains under house arrest on $1 million bond.

    Takeoff was the youngest member of the trio Migos, alongside his uncle Quavo and rapper Offset. Artists including Justin Bieber and Drake remembered Takeoff as a talented rapper and loving friend and family member at his memorial last year.

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  • Ex-Fugees rapper Pras Michel found guilty in scheme to help China influence US government | CNN Politics

    Ex-Fugees rapper Pras Michel found guilty in scheme to help China influence US government | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    The rapper Pras Michel was found guilty in federal court in Washington on Wednesday of 10 criminal counts related to an international conspiracy reaching the highest levels of the US government.

    The Grammy-winning artist and former member of the Fugees faced multiple counts over the failed conspiracy to help Malaysian businessman Jho Low and the Chinese government gain access to US officials, including former presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump.

    Michel was found guilty of conspiracy to defraud the US, witness tampering and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government. He faces up to 20 years in prison. No sentencing date was set.

    Michel sat stoically as each count came down on Wednesday and did not comment to reporters outside the courthouse.

    His attorney, David Kenner, expressed disappointment about the verdicts, but said he was confident that his mistrial motions will work out in their favor.

    “We are extremely disappointed in that result but are very, very confident in the ultimate outcome of this case,” Kenner told reporters, adding: “If we do move to a sentencing hearing I remain very confident we will certainly appeal this case. This is not over.”

    Michel testified last week that Low paid Michel $20 million in 2012 in order to get a picture of himself with Obama and prosecutors alleged Michel funneled over $800,000 of that money to Obama’s campaign through a number of straw donors.

    In his defense, Michel testified he never used the money at Low’s direction but instead saw it as his money which he could spend however he wanted.

    “I could have bought 12 elephants with it,” he told the jury.

    When Trump came to power in 2017 and investigations started to ramp up into Low and his alleged role in billions of dollars being embezzled from 1MBD, the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund, Low went to Michel again, prosecutors alleged.

    According to the prosecutors, Low directed over $100 million to Michel to help push the government, including Trump, to drop its investigation into Low. Prosecutors also say Michel advocated for the extradition of a Chinese dissident, Guo Wengui, on behalf of the Chinese government.

    Michel, however, testified he only tried to help Low find an attorney in the US and only told authorities about Guo because he thought he was a criminal. The former Fugees member also said the $100 million was for a media business he was starting and the investment wasn’t from Low.

    Low, who was charged along with Michel, is believed to be in China. Guo has since been arrested and charged by the Justice Department with defrauding investors in an unrelated case.

    This story has been updated with additional details.

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  • The shooting deaths of 3 missing rappers were ‘gang violence related,’ Michigan police say | CNN

    The shooting deaths of 3 missing rappers were ‘gang violence related,’ Michigan police say | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The deaths of three Michigan rappers whose bodies were found in an abandoned apartment building in early February were related to gang violence, state police said, asking members of the public who might have information about the case to come forward.

    In a series of tweets Friday, Michigan State Police confirmed they were continuing to investigate the triple homicide of Armani Kelly, 28; Dante Wicker, 31; and Montoya Givens, 31, who were reported missing after their January 21 performance at a Detroit club was canceled.

    Their bodies were found almost two weeks later in the apartment complex in Highland Park, about 6 miles northwest of Detroit, and state police later said they each died of multiple gunshot wounds.

    “This was a gang violence related incident,” Michigan State Police said on Twitter on Friday, addressing what it said were “rumors” circulating about the investigation. “This homicide was not random and had nothing to due (sic) with music or a performance.”

    While no one is in custody, police said, “There are other people that know the details and we need them to come forward.”

    “Together we can bring closure to these families,” state police said.

    Police were first alerted to the men’s disappearances by Kelly’s mother, who reported him missing on January 23, Michael McGinnis, commander of major crimes at the Detroit Police Department, previously said.

    As the story of Kelly’s disappearance gained media attention, “other family members of the other missings come to realize that that’s a friend of their loved ones and they haven’t seen them either, so then they both get reported missing,” McGinnis said.

    The bodies were discovered February 2, in the complex police described as “rat infested.” Several days later, state police confirmed “this was not a random incident” and said investigators believed they had determined a motive.

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  • Inspired by a trip to Indonesia, Snoop Dogg launches new coffee line | CNN Business

    Inspired by a trip to Indonesia, Snoop Dogg launches new coffee line | CNN Business

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    Hong Kong
    CNN
     — 

    Rapper and entrepreneur Snoop Dogg is expanding his business empire yet again, this time branching out into a line of premium coffee products with beans sourced locally from Indonesia.

    He has partnered with Indonesian coffee entrepreneur Michael Riady to launch INDOxyz: “a premium lifestyle coffee brand created for and inspired by the next generation of entrepreneurs and innovators,” according to a press release sent to CNN.

    “My relationship with coffee goes way back,” Snoop Dogg, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, said in the statement. “The many long nights in the studio making hit after hit, coffee provided the fuel which kept us going. Today marks the launch of a new company I created along with my partner Michael, who introduced me to the best tasting Indonesian coffee,” he said. “All it took was one sip and Snoop was hooked.”

    Snoop added: “Indo is going to change the industry, I can promise you that,” referring to his coffee brand, which is also a common abbreviation for Indonesia. The country is a top global producer of coffee.

    Coffee cultivation began in the late 1600s during the Dutch colonial period. Indonesia produces both Arabica and Robusta beans as well as Kopi Luwak, or civet coffee, a historic yet controversial brew which consists of partially digested coffee berries from civet cats.

    Snoop’s coffee beans will be sourced from Gayo, a region in Aceh on the island of Sumatra.

    “The Gayo region is renown for producing a high quality Arabica, grown in the lovely mountain basin surrounding Lake Tawar and the town of Takengon,” the statement said.

    In addition to releasing more than a dozen studio albums and receiving multiple Grammy nominations as a rapper, Snoop Dogg has been expanding his business empire. The rapper has expanded into pet accessories and a gluten-free cereal called Snoop Loopz.

    In 2020, he launched his own wine label. As a vocal cannabis advocate, he has his own line of cannabis products.

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  • De La Soul rapper David Jolicoeur, known as Trugoy the Dove, dead at 54 | CNN

    De La Soul rapper David Jolicoeur, known as Trugoy the Dove, dead at 54 | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    David Jude Jolicoeur, better known under stage name Trugoy the Dove as one third of iconic rap trio De La Soul, has died.

    The news was confirmed to CNN via Tony Ferguson, the music group’s publicist. Jolicoeur was 54 years old. Ferguson said Jolicoeur’s passing was “a huge loss” in a phone call to CNN.

    Jolicoeur, a Brooklyn, NY native is widely considered to be one of the most influential hip-hop artists of the 1980s and 1990s to produce music in the genre that reflected a gentler tone.

    Jolicoeur and De La Soul members Vincent Manson, known as Pasemaster Mase, and Kelvin Mercer, known as Posdnuos, formed the rap trio in 1988 after attending high school together in Amityville, New York.

    De La Soul released their debut album “3 Feet High and Rising” in 1989 that included the hit “Me, Myself and I,” which spent 17 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The album’s interlude skits, conceptual sound and samplings of James Brown’s music influenced artists such as A Tribe Called Quest, Public Enemy and N.W.A. to emulate the group’s unique style.

    “I think the element of that time of what was taking place in music, hip-hop, and our culture, I think it welcomed that and opened up minds and spirits to see and try new different things,” Jolicoeur told Billboard last month.

    Over the course of their performing career, De La Soul was nominated for six Grammy Awards, winning one for best pop collaboration with vocals for “Feel Good Inc.” in 2006.

    “The Magic Number,” another song off their debut album “3 Feet High and Rising,” was featured as the end-credit song in “Spider-man: No Way Home” in 2021.

    The placement of the hippie-inspired song in “No Way Home” drew in renewed interest in De La Soul, but the song wasn’t available on streaming services due to decades of legal complications related to sample clearances with group’s former label Tommy Boy Records.

    Since Reservoir Media acquired De La Soul’s catalog in 2021, the way was cleared for the legendary trio to finally stream their music on popular streaming sites. The group’s first six albums will be available to stream in March 2023, according to Billboard.

    The most recent album that Jolicoeur and De La Soul released was “And the Anonymous Nobody…” in 2016.

    De La Soul was scheduled to perform three shows in the United Kingdom starting April 8, 2023.

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  • Bodies found in apartment building believed to be those of 3 Michigan rappers missing almost two weeks, city official says | CNN

    Bodies found in apartment building believed to be those of 3 Michigan rappers missing almost two weeks, city official says | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Three bodies found Thursday in the Detroit area are believed to be those of three rappers missing for almost two weeks, a municipal spokesperson said.

    The bodies were found in a “rat infested,” abandoned apartment complex in Highland Park, roughly 6 miles northwest of Detroit, said Michigan State Police, which is leading the investigation.

    The Michigan State Police Second District tweeted Friday afternoon that the homicide task force identified the three bodies but are not releasing names until the families have been notified.

    The state police tweeted a day earlier that the agency has yet to confirm a manner of death.

    “Please remember all victims have families and we don’t have the luxury of guessing on their identity and then retracting if we didn’t get it right. Once information is confirmed we will update,” the state police tweeted on Thursday.

    Lt. Mike Shaw said via Twitter Friday morning that “due to weather conditions and the conditions of the victims” their identities were “unable to be determined just by sight alone.”

    The missing men – Armani Kelly, 28; Dante Wicker, 31; and Montoya Givens, 31 – were associates whose January 21 performance at a Detroit club was canceled, police have said. Activity on their cell phones stopped early on January 22, according to authorities.

    Police were first alerted to their disappearance by Kelly’s mother, who reported him missing the next day, said Michael McGinnis, commander of major crimes at the Detroit Police Department.

    “That mother became very proactive in the investigation and started searching for her vehicle through OnStar,” McGinnis said this week.

    She found the car in Warren, Michigan, just a few miles from Highland Park, McGinnis said, and authorities recovered the car on January 23.

    As the story of Kelly’s disappearance gained media attention, “other family members of the other missings come to realize that that’s a friend of their loved ones and they haven’t seen them either, so then they both get reported missing,” McGinnis said.

    A homicide task force was at the Highland Park complex Thursday evening, state police said.

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  • Rapper Meek Mill vows to ‘spread the word’ against antisemitism after Auschwitz visit | CNN Politics

    Rapper Meek Mill vows to ‘spread the word’ against antisemitism after Auschwitz visit | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Some 10,000 people from all over the world gathered last week in Poland for the annual March of the Living, a 2-mile walk from Auschwitz to Birkenau, where Nazis murdered over a million civilians – mostly Jews – during World War II.

    One of the most famous marchers was Meek Mill, a 35-year-old African American rapper from Philadelphia without any prior connection to the atrocities that happened there.

    But at a time of rising antisemitism in the US, his presence spoke volumes, and that was the point.

    “I always stand on anything that condemns racism, but now that I had an education, I’ll definitely spread the word to people in my culture about what I’ve seen and what I felt at that concentration camp today,” Mill told CNN during the march.

    Mill is a friend of New England Patriots owner and philanthropist Robert Kraft, whose Foundation to Combat Antisemitism is in the midst of a $25 million national campaign, #StandUpToJewishHate. The effort, identified by a blue square emoji, includes paid television ads that share stories of antisemitic incidents in the US, which are on an alarming rise.

    Data from the Anti-Defamation League traces a spike in recent incidents against Jews to repeated, hateful comments by rapper Kanye West, now known as Ye, who is unapologetic about his pro-Hitler, anti-Jewish language.

    “We are two different artists. We represent two different things,” Mill said.

    Mill said he “wasn’t educated to even know right from wrong” when Ye was making his remarks.

    “But I know a lot of the things he was saying was wrong because it sounded like hate,” Mill said. “Now that I’m educated to a small degree, because I’m at the beginning point, just, you know, spreading the word for humanity. Pushing the cause.”

    Kraft got to know Mill during the rap artist’s 12-year legal fight stemming from an arrest on gun and drug charges when he was 19 years old.

    The two were introduced by a mutual friend, according to a Kraft spokesperson, and Meek would occasionally reach out to the Patriots owner for some friendly advice. When Meek was incarcerated, Kraft visited him in prison, and the two stayed in touch and have remained friends.

    Mill’s case helped spur activism among many high-profile figures, including Kraft, on the issue of criminal justice.

    “It’s important for me to learn humanity’s history,” Mill said. “But I think it’s also important for me to support Robert, all my Jewish friends, everyone that always supported me. Robert supported me at a very high level. When I was going through what I was going through, he learned my lifestyle. He learned my cultures, where I come from, my background.”

    Mill said he went to Auschwitz to “see this for myself and learn about it for myself,” describing what he saw there as “terror, pain, something you can’t really explain.”

    “He’s a man who’s very caring, and it’s very important to him to build bridges between people of the Jewish faith and people of color in America,” Kraft said of Mill.

    “He’s a sensitive man who has gone through some difficult situations where he wasn’t treated fairly. And I think for him to understand the culture of our people, what we’ve gone through and how many of the experiences are similar – where people, for no good reason, just stand up and hate,” added Kraft.

    Mill not only toured Auschwitz and took part in the March of the Living, but he also participated in events around the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in Poland. The popular artist has nearly 25 million Instagram followers and said he now intends to use his megaphone to make sure his fans understand that all hate – whether racism against Blacks or antisemitism – is rooted in the same ignorance and cannot be tolerated.

    “Through my music, I always use my platforms. I come from the ghettos of America – from the streets. That’s what I started talking about because that was my lifestyle,” Mill said.

    “But through education and learning more and seeing more, I think I would be able to deliver some things that will touch on moments like this and be able to express and tell a story about what I witnessed and what I’ve seen.”

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