Publisher Description

As head of the first special force unit devoted exclusively to the investigation of hip-hop crime, first-grade detective Derrick Parker worked on some of the biggest criminal cases in rap history. From the shooting at Club New York to the murder of Tupac Shakur, Derrick was on the inside of hip-hop's most notorious crimes. Always straddling the fence between "po-po" and NYPD outsider, Derrick threatened police tradition to try and get the cases solved. He was the first New York detective on the Biggie Smalls' murder and discovered shocking and never-before-revealed information from an unlikely informant. He protected one of the only surviving eyewitnesses to the Jam Master Jay murder and knows the identity of the killers as well as the motivation behind the shooting. Notorious C.O.P. reveals hip-hop crimes that never made the paper--like the robbing of Foxy Brown and the first Hot 97 shooting--and answers some lingering questions about murders that have remained unsolved. The book that both the NYPD and the hip-hop community don't want you to read, Notorious C.O.P. is the first insider look at the real links between crime and hip-hop and the inefficiencies that have left some of the most widely publicized murders in entertainment history unsolved.

Author Biography

A twenty year veteran of the NYPD, Derrick Parker headed the first special units force dedicated to the investigation of hip-hop related crime. Now off the force, Parker serves as media's rap-related crime expert, appearing in Rolling Stone, New York Magazine, Blender, Vibe, The New York Times, Newsday and dozens of other magazines and newspapers as well as shows on MTV, Fox, VH1, Unsolved Mysteries and Court TV. Matt Diehl is a journalist whose work has appeared in Rolling Stone, The New York Times, The Washington Post, GQ, VIBE, Spin, The Village Voice and Blender. He served as the music columnist for Elle magazine for four years and is currently Contributing Music Editor at Interview. He is the author of My So-Called Punk and No-Fall Snowboarding.

Review

"A compelling examination of why so many rap crimes remain unsolved." --Entertainment Weekly "Frequently persuasive." --New York Times Book Review "A powerful and fascinating account of what Parker calls 'the truth about the rap music industry.'" --Publishers Weekly "Parker delivers in providing considerable illumination." --Time Out New York "A gritty memoir...entertaining, and likely to hold strong appeal for hip-hop fans." --Kirkus Reviews "As a sketch of a man pulled between two worlds and a look behind many of the hip-headlines, it's fascinating." --The Orlando Sentinal

Review Quote

Parker delivers in providing considerable illumination.

Excerpt from Book

Notorious C.O.P. 1. IT''S LIKE THAT, AND THAT''S THE WAY IT IS : The Unsolved Mysteries of Hip-Hop Tragedy The allure of breaking the law is always too much for me to ever ignore. --Jay-Z, "Allure"

Details