As another day goes by without an arrest in the murder of rapper Chinx, the hip hop community continues to go about its business. But there is a growing fear of the killer who is on the loose. And now gun arrests at a video shoot are only adding to the unease.
Exclusive video shows NYPD officers searching rapper Bynoe, a close childhood friend of Chinx. He was not carrying any weapon and was not arrested. Bynoe was there to perform on French Montana's song "Off the Rip," which featured Chinx. The video shoot in Brooklyn also drew rap superstars Busta Rhymes and Ja Rule, who participated in a moment of silence for the 31-year-old father of three who was shot and killed in his Porsche in Queens on May 17, 2015.
Sources say the video shoot had a permit, and there were undercover officers in the crowd. The NYPD says that when an officer noticed a bulge in a security guard's pants, cops found a loaded, semiautomatic 9mm handgun. Then police say they found four other illegal guns, ranging from a .22 caliber to a .40 caliber semiautomatic. Five people were arrested -- none of them hip hop artists.
Derrick Parker, a former NYPD detective known as the "Hip Hop Cop," says it's not always the rappers themselves.
"Sometimes it's the people around them. They go to these video shoots or events and sometimes they carry weapons," he said. "Because of the fear in the neighborhood, retaliation and they might get robbed."
The murder of Chinx on Queens Boulevard reignited old fears of previous unsolved murders of hip hop stars like Biggie and Tupac and dismay that the connection between hip hop and violence seems difficult to break.
"We have a bunch of rappers murdered through the years from Biggie to Tupac to Jam Master Jay," says Rob Markman, senior hip hop editor at MTV News. "And none of these have been solved. So the community is very nervous when it comes to cases of violence like this."
The widow of Chinx, Janelli Pickens, told me she believes her husband's death will not be another unsolved hip hop murder mystery.
"I have a lot of confidence in the lead detective, and he reassured me that they're doing everything possible. I know they've questioned countless amount of people -- I've seen them coming and going myself," Janelli says. She wants her husband to be remembered for his music, and as a family man who was trying his best to create a better life for her and their children.
The NYPD says detectives are still working to make an arrest in the case.
--LISA EVERS
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