Five Hip-Hop Snitching Controversies

Keffe D claims to have helped murder Tupac

Yesterday LA Weekly brought you the shocking revelations of former LAPD detective Greg Kading, whose new book Murder Rap fingers Suge Knight for ordering Biggie's killing and Diddy for ordering Tupac's. At the center of the story is Duane Keith "Keffe D" Davis, who told Kading that Diddy offered him a million bucks to assassinate Tupac and Suge.

Keffe D's motivations are murky, but one thing is clear: Snitching is not looked upon highly in the hip-hop community. (We all remember those "Stop Snitchin'" t-shirts from a few years ago.) And so, with a nod to Dexter Isaac -- who recently claimed that he was paid to shoot 'Pac in 1994 -- here are five controversial cases of rap players snitching, or, in some cases, refusing to do as much.

5. Drake
Not just hip-hop's foremost chunky knit sweater aficionado, Drake is also a confirmed rap snitch, after helping local police track down a guy in Toronto who robbed him a couple of years before he got famous.

4. Busta Rhymes Israel Ramirez was Busta Rhymes' long-time bodyguard who was shot and killed during the filming of 2006 Busta video "Touch It." Ramierz was standing directly next to Busta at the time, but the rapper claimed to not see anything. Busta, in fact, embarked on a campaign of silence, even appearing on Vibe's cover with a big ol' piece of tape masking his mouth. To date, Ramierz's murder remains unsolved.

3. Clayton Hill
Earlier this year, an incarcerated man named Clayton Hill claimed to have been involved in Biggie's 1997 murder, by disposing of the semi-automatic gun that killed him. Hill also insisted that he knew the guy who pulled the trigger -- a Nation of Islam soldier named Dawoud Muhammad. This claim does not check out with those in Kading's book is neither confirmed nor refuted by Kading's book.

2. 50 Cent
In 50's early song "Ghetto Qua'ran," he revealed intimate details of the Supreme Team drug cartel, which terrorized Queens during the crack era. "When you hear talk of the Southside, you hear talk of the Team," he rapped. "See niggas feared Prince and respected 'Preme/ For all you slow motherfuckers I'ma break it down iller/ See 'Preme was the business man and Prince was the killer." It was a ballsy move, but one that some suspect contributed to the subsequent nine bullets that later came 50's way.