Rapper Kidd Creole is claiming that his alleged 2017 murder of a homeless man in New York City was self-defense, his lawyer told a jury as the murder trial began.
Creole, who cofounded Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five, allegedly stabbed John Jolly to death with a steak knife. Prosecutors allege the motive was that the Jolly was gay and was making advances on Creole, whose real name is Nathan Glover.
The murder happened around midnight as Glover walked to a maintenance job in Midtown Manhattan. Jolly saw Glover walking by and said, “What’s up?”
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is New York City. It’s 12 o’clock at night. Who’s saying ‘What’s up?’ to you with good intentions?” Glover’s attorney Scottie Celestin said to the jury during opening arguments. “His fear for his life was reasonable.”
Differing stories
Celestin also claimed Jolly died not from the stab wounds, but benzodiazepine given to him at the hospital.
Assistant District Attorney Mark Dahl told the jury that Glover confessed to the murder and that he didn’t give self-defense as a reason at the time.
“The defendant confessed to pulling out a kitchen knife and repeatedly thrusting it into the body of a stranger on the street, killing him,” Dahl said. “Was there anything that would prevent him from simply running away from Mr. Jolly? No.”
Surveillance video captured Glover and Jolly’s initial meeting, but the stabbing took place off-camera. Jolly later reappeared on the video, bleeding and collapsing after the stabbing, according to Rolling Stone.
Police then tracked down Glover and he confessed to the stabbing. “I should have just kept going, “It’s all my fault, as I chose to stab him. I have to take responsibility for that,” Glover told police.
Glover has been detained at Rikers Island for more than four years awaiting trial.
Claim to fame
Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five was formed in the Bronx in the late 1970s.
The group’s biggest hit was “The Message” in 1982. They were the first rap group to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which occurred in 2007.