Hip-Hop Lives Here
Hip-Hop Lives Here
New York City, NY - Meek Mill has had his say on the video footage of prison inmate Robert Brooks being beaten by correctional officers shortly before his death.
Bodycam footage of the incident at Marcy Correctional Facility has been released to the public after 13 guards beat Brooks while he was handcuffed in a medical room with the inmate dying a day later.
Brooks’ death was ruled a result of “asphyxia due to compression of the neck”. It is not known what led to him being taken to the medical room.
Meek, who was previously incarcerated himself, and since become active in prison reform, hit out at the conduct seen in the video.
He wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “I never fully watched this til today … this what it is for Black men in America if you get caught without them cameras around. If you been to jail b4 you seen this with your own eyes!”
As a result of the incident, New York governor Kathy Hochul has announced the firing of 13 prison officers involved in the incident as well as one nurse.
Hochul added in a statement: “The state of New York has zero tolerance for individuals who break the law, and I am committed to holding everyone involved fully accountable.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James has also opened an investigation into Brooks’ death.
James also said: “I release the videos because I have a responsibility and duty to provide the Brooks family, their loved ones, and all New Yorkers with transparency and accountability.”
Brooks was reportedly serving a 12 year sentence for first-degree assault and had only been transferred to the New York prison on the day of the incident.
Brooks’ family have since hired legal representation and said in a statement: “He deserved to live, and everyone else living in Marcy Correctional Facility deserves to know they do not have to live in fear of violence at the hands of prison staff.”
The prison was criticized in a report by Correctional Association of New York last year which found instances of “pervasive allegations of racial discrimination” such as Black inmates being refused entry to mess halls and “mistreatment by staff”.
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Justin Bieber is just as bummed as fans are that he didn’t get to see Rihanna‘s latest impromptu performance.
Over the weekend, RiRi made a pitstop at Manhattan’s Girls Love Karaoke, where she took over the stage to perform “Needed Me” and “Sex With Me” from her 2016 album Anti.
“Missed seein u sing Queen,” he wrote on his Instagram Story Friday (Jan. 3) with the goat, crown and shocked reaction emojis over a clip he reshared of his Def Jam labelmate performing “Needed Me.”
“Don’t do too much because, you know, I got five minutes. My battery’s about to burn out. There’s a lot of cameras. I didn’t come here for this s–t,” Rihanna said in a video recap of the event posted to Girls Love Karaoke’s Instagram.
The last time the “Work” hitmaker delivered a full concert was in March, when she performed during the pre-wedding celebration for Anant Ambani, the son of Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, and Radhika Merchant in Jamnagar, India. It was the first time she put on a full show since her Anti World Tour in 2016. Coincidentally, Bieber performed at another of the same couple’s pre-wedding celebration months later, marking the “Sorry” singer’s first performance since he canceled the remainder of his Justice World Tour in 2023 due to health concerns.
Both superstars have been quiet on the music front and have prioritized starting their own families, but Rihanna previously teased that she and her partner A$AP Rocky have been cooking up something new. “I already got stuff that I feel like I could make hits out of,” she told Entertainment Tonight in April. “Me and Rocky are really trying to figure out who’s gonna use what because it’s so good.”
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