Two members of a critically acclaimed rapper’s entourage were shot after a performance at Rough Trade Records in Williamsburg early on Tuesday morning, according to police and reports.
The shooter opened fire on the associates of hip-hop artist Freddie Gibbs as they were leaving the N. Ninth Street venue at 1:12 am, police said. One victim took a bullet to the leg and another suffered a graze wound, officers stated. Paramedics transported one to Bellevue Hospital Center in Manhattan and the other to Woodhull Medical Center in Bushwick, and both are in stable condition, according to the authorities. Online, Gibbs sounded relieved to have not been hit.
“Still Livin. Thanks NYC,” Gibbs wrote on Twitter.
Queried at the scene by a New York Post reporter Gibbs connected the attack to the slaying of Tupac Shakur outside a Las Vegas casino in 1996.
“They tried to kill Tupac. They tried to kill me,” he told the Post.
Gibbs hails from Gary, Indiana and is celebrated in independent rap circles for keeping gangsta rap storytelling alive as club anthems and tales of excess have come to dominate rap radio. MCs Remy Banks and Pell opened for him at Rough Trade, and the crowd chanted “F— police” throughout his set, according to a recap on xxlmag.com.
Police have not arrested anyone in connection with the shooting but say an investigation is underway.
