LOS ANGELES — Ice-T has a word of advice for any rappers visiting L.A.: This city is no place to show off your bling.
His comment came in the wake of the robbery this week in South Los Angeles that left Philadelphia rapper PnB Rock dead Monday afternoon.
“People are still hitting me up about my comments about LA Gang culture,” the actor-rapper tweeted Wednesday morning. “If you NOTICE, LA rappers don’t wear a lotta Jewelry... Me, Snoop, Cube, Dre, Game, Kendrick.. The list goes on.. It’s not cause we’re broke. LA is just a Dangerous place, rapper or not. Why test the streets.”
The gunman who killed 30-year-old PnB Rock at a Roscoe’s House of Chicken 'N Waffles restaurant demanded jewelry and other valuables before getting into a struggle with the rapper and opening fire, Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore said Tuesday.
The brazen robbery happened soon after the performer’s girlfriend location-tagged him in an Instagram post — since deleted — as being at the restaurant. Police are investigating whether that is what sparked the attack.
Rock, born Rakim Allen, was “enjoying a simple meal” when he “was brutally attacked,” Moore said. Police have put pawn shops on alert about the performer’s stolen jewelry and other items, which may help in solving the crime.
Rock’s attorney Dawn Florio told the Los Angeles Times on Monday that she had advised her client when she started working with him to be careful about what he posted on social media. “You cannot tell people where you’re going to be,” she said.
“‘LA….. Home of the Bodybag…’ Somebody said that 30 yrs ago….,” Ice-T wrote Wednesday in a follow-up tweet, referencing his 1991 track “Home of the Bodybag.”
Instagram has been at the center of several high-profile crimes in recent years. New York City rapper Pop Smoke — real name Bashar Barakah Jackson — was killed in the Hollywood Hills in February 2020 during an armed robbery. Jackson had accidentally revealed the address he was staying at in an Instagram post flaunting a bag from a luxury clothier.
The robbery suspects, four of whom were charged with murder in July 2020, got away with a watch they sold for $2,000.
Similarly, Kim Kardashian was the victim of an armed robbery in her Paris hotel room in 2016 after repeatedly posting her locations and showing off her jewelry and other expensive accessories on social media.
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