Cam'ron: Snitching Hurts "Code Of Ethics"
Rapper Also Tells Anderson Cooper It Would Hurt His Business
April 19, 2007
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cam'ron, a.k.a. Cameron Giles (CBS)

(CBS) Rap star Cam'ron says there's no situation — including a serial killer living next door — that would cause him to help police in any way, because to do so would hurt his music sales and violate his "code of ethics."

Cam'ron, whose real name is Cameron Giles, talks to Anderson Cooper for a report on how the hip-hop culture's message to shun the police has undermined efforts to solve murders across the country.

Cooper's report will be broadcast on 60 Minutes this Sunday, April 22, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
"If I knew the serial killer was living next door to me?" Giles responds to a hypothetical question posed by Cooper. "I wouldn't call and tell anybody on him — but I'd probably move. But I'm not going to call and be like, 'The serial killer's in 4E.' "

Giles' "code of ethics" also extends to crimes committed against him. After being shot and wounded by gunmen, Giles refused to cooperate with police. Why?

"Because … it would definitely hurt my business, and the way I was raised, I just don't do that," says Giles.

Pressed by Cooper, who says had he been the victim, he would want his attacker to be caught, Giles explains further: "But then again, you're not going to be on the stage tonight in the middle of, say, Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, with people with gold and platinum teeth and dreadlocks jumping up and down singing your songs, either. We're in two different lines of business."

"So for you, it's really about business?" Cooper asks.

"It's about business," Giles says, "but it's still also a code of ethics."

Rappers appear to be concerned about damaging what's known as their "street credibility, " says Geoffrey Canada, an anti-violence advocate and educator from New York City's Harlem neighborhood.

"It's one of those things that sells music and no one really quite understands why," says Canada. Their fans look up to artists if they come from the "meanest streets of the urban ghetto," he tells Cooper. For that reason, Canada says, they do not cooperate with the police.

Canada says in the poor New York City neighborhood he grew up in, only the criminals didn't talk to the police, but within today's hip-hop culture, that has changed. "It is now a cultural norm that is being preached in poor communities … It's like you can't be a black person if you have a set of values that say 'I will not watch a crime happen in my community without getting involved to stop it,' " Canada tells Cooper.

Young people from some of New York's toughest neighborhoods echo Canada's assessment, calling the message not to help police "the rules" and helping the police "a crime" in their neighborhoods.

These "rules" are contributing to a much lower percentage of arrests in homicide cases — a statistic known as the "clearance rate" — in largely poor, minority neighborhoods throughout the country, according to professor David Kennedy of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

"I work in communities where the clearance rate for homicides has gone into the single digits," says Kennedy. The national rate for homicide clearance is about 60 percent. "In these neighborhoods, we are on the verge of — or maybe we have already lost — the rule of law," he tells Cooper.

Says Canada: "It's like we're saying to the criminals, 'You can have our community … Do anything you want and we will either deal with it ourselves or we'll simply ignore it.'"



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have we developed the same 'culture' of anti-police conduct...

I think its a little different here, many cops know the criminals here either as friends from school or family .. smaller community I guess. Many of the police stations in NY i believe the cops come from different parts of the city.

yes as a young black male and an observer HIP HOP/RAP is one of the main reasons for our escalating social problems in black societies

at the end of the day all I can do is my thing and be my self. who wanna stay in the ghetto's and stay uneducated and stay stress out witn a pile of chirren thats there problem

oh yeah i should also mention heavy metal is also doing the same thing in white societies. Too many rich white boys getting hook on drugs and overdosin

I think its a little different here, many cops know the criminals here either as friends from school or family

yep yep..i was shocked as hades to see one of my boys from highschool in a police uniform...i don't blame him..get that money.

with that said "STOP SNITCHIN'!!!!"

How can we collectively condone such straight-up nonsense?

Code of ethics? How about a code of honour? One which mandates that we protect our societies from predators, especially those who conscientiously choose to prey upon the helpless among us.

It's not snitching. It's making sure that those who choose to rob, rape, or kill OUR OWN face the consequences of their actions. Playing the rebel is all good until one realizes that an absolute rejection of the system which is designed to protect basic society only sets up the opportunity for abuse of the ENTIRE community. I must note that the systems in place at this time may not be perfect, but until we find better options they will have to do.

Though it is not good to wish evil upon anyone, I wonder what that so-called gangsta rapper would do if some devious organization decided to take full advantage of this culture of "no snitching"? Would he not cry out for help from the police and other entities designed to protect and serve ALL citizens? Or would he just do the "black thing" and complain that "the government/police/systems are not helping us because we're black". No stupid, they're not protecting you because you are saying openly that you will not help them to protect you!

Sadly such idiocy as displayed by Cam'ron is becoming the norm. And we wonder why black culture continues to be judged as one that is largely ignorant and impotent. We need to pull up our socks collectively and stop allowing these mixed up messengers to be our voice to the world.

If a person consciously accepts to play the role of the victim, they will always be a victim. What's even worse is a victim who deliberately chooses not to punish the perpetrator of the crime committed against them, thereby handing over their power permanently (and further perpetuating the cycle of their abuse).

This BS has to stop somehow, because messages like the one Cam'ron is sending out only reinforces the perception that ghetto culture has no intention of stabilizing itself or achieving a higher power structure. What else could we expect when murderers can roam free within these communities with absolutely no fear of reprisal?

Power respects power and these dime-a-dozen studio gangstas are merely "mouthpieces", portraying a lifestyle that is an absolute farce - a pipe dream for today's youth which lulls them into a false state of security and no real means of preparing themselves for the REAL world. Combine this pipe dream of "ethics" with a sub-standard education and we have a recipe for continued mediocrity and a downward spiral into community breakdown.

We ALL should know better.

How can we collectively condone such straight-up nonsense?
Code of ethics? How about a code of honour? One which mandates that we protect our societies from predators, especially those who conscientiously choose to prey upon the helpless among us.
It's not snitching. It's making sure that those who choose to rob, rape, or kill OUR OWN face the consequences of their actions. Playing the rebel is all good until one realizes that an absolute rejection of the system which is designed to protect basic society only sets up the opportunity for abuse of the ENTIRE community. I must note that the systems in place at this time may not be perfect, but until we find better options they will have to do.
Though it is not good to wish evil upon anyone, I wonder what that so-called gangsta rapper would do if some devious organization decided to take full advantage of this culture of "no snitching"? Would he not cry out for help from the police and other entities designed to protect and serve ALL citizens? Or would he just do the "black thing" and complain that "the government/police/systems are not helping us because we're black". No stupid, they're not protecting you because you are saying openly that you will not help them to protect you!
Sadly such idiocy as displayed by Cam'ron is becoming the norm. And we wonder why black culture continues to be judged as one that is largely ignorant and impotent. We need to pull up our socks collectively and stop allowing these mixed up messengers to be our voice to the world.
If a person consciously accepts to play the role of the victim, they will always be a victim. What's even worse is a victim who deliberately chooses not to punish the perpetrator of the crime committed against them, thereby handing over their power permanently (and further perpetuating the cycle of their abuse).
This BS has to stop somehow, because messages like the one Cam'ron is sending out only reinforces the perception that ghetto culture has no intention of stabilizing itself or achieving a higher power structure. What else could we expect when murderers can roam free within these communities with absolutely no fear of reprisal?
Power respects power and these dime-a-dozen studio gangstas are merely "mouthpieces", portraying a lifestyle that is an absolute farce - a pipe dream for today's youth which lulls them into a false state of security and no real means of preparing themselves for the REAL world. Combine this pipe dream of "ethics" with a sub-standard education and we have a recipe for continued mediocrity and a downward spiral into community breakdown.
We ALL should know better.

are you going to watch sixty minutes tonight...tell me what you think...
i think we need to talk about responsibilty in radio broadcasting...and how djs play and moderate song influences/affects our perception /receiving the songs and their lyrics/themes...
wonderful contribution by the way...

yes as a young black male and an observer HIP HOP/RAP is one of the main reasons for our escalating social problems in black societies
at the end of the day all I can do is my thing and be my self. who wanna stay in the ghetto's and stay uneducated and stay stress out witn a pile of chirren thats there problem
oh yeah i should also mention heavy metal is also doing the same thing in white societies. Too many rich white boys getting hook on drugs and overdosin

Lol. Now let's compare the popularity of heavy metal with that of crap (rap), and hip hop. I listen to a lot of heavy metal and rarely if ever do I hear lyrics promoting drug use. Now I would imagine you would be hard put to find crap lyrics that do not promote violence, drug use, or promiscuity. :rolleyes:

Lol. Now let's compare the popularity of heavy metal with that of crap (rap), and hip hop. I listen to a lot of heavy metal and rarely if ever do I hear lyrics promoting drug use. Now I would imagine you would be hard put to find crap lyrics that do not promote violence, drug use, or promiscuity. :rolleyes:

its not all crap there are hundreds of hip-hop artists with powerful...positive...uplifting lyrics that just don't make it to mainstream media...
i had to get online to tune in to hip-hop...
most of the sh1t they play on the radio isn't fit for public broadcast.....

its not all crap there are hundreds of hip-hop artists with powerful...positive...uplifting lyrics that just don't make it to mainstream media...
i had to get online to tune in to hip-hop...
most of the sh1t they play on the radio isn't fit for public broadcast.....

Well I admit there might be some inspiring rap that just doesn't make it to the main stream. Quite frankly the abusive language and themes are what makes music get to the mainstream now-a-days. Hiphop, by definition, is complete bull however no matter how you slice it.

blah...whatever...if something happened to me i would never seek the help of cops..seeing as how i dont have any reason to confide in them, and i think many others feel the same way. who would seek the help from the very ones that harass you?

Cam'ron: Snitching Hurts "Code Of Ethics"
Rapper Also Tells Anderson Cooper It Would Hurt His Business
April 19, 2007
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cam'ron, a.k.a. Cameron Giles (CBS)
(CBS) Rap star Cam'ron says there's no situation — including a serial killer living next door — that would cause him to help police in any way, because to do so would hurt his music sales and violate his "code of ethics."
Cam'ron, whose real name is Cameron Giles, talks to Anderson Cooper for a report on how the hip-hop culture's message to shun the police has undermined efforts to solve murders across the country.
Cooper's report will be broadcast on 60 Minutes this Sunday, April 22, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
"If I knew the serial killer was living next door to me?" Giles responds to a hypothetical question posed by Cooper. "I wouldn't call and tell anybody on him — but I'd probably move. But I'm not going to call and be like, 'The serial killer's in 4E.' "
Giles' "code of ethics" also extends to crimes committed against him. After being shot and wounded by gunmen, Giles refused to cooperate with police. Why?
"Because … it would definitely hurt my business, and the way I was raised, I just don't do that," says Giles.
Pressed by Cooper, who says had he been the victim, he would want his attacker to be caught, Giles explains further: "But then again, you're not going to be on the stage tonight in the middle of, say, Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, with people with gold and platinum teeth and dreadlocks jumping up and down singing your songs, either. We're in two different lines of business."
"So for you, it's really about business?" Cooper asks.
"It's about business," Giles says, "but it's still also a code of ethics."
Rappers appear to be concerned about damaging what's known as their "street credibility, " says Geoffrey Canada, an anti-violence advocate and educator from New York City's Harlem neighborhood.
"It's one of those things that sells music and no one really quite understands why," says Canada. Their fans look up to artists if they come from the "meanest streets of the urban ghetto," he tells Cooper. For that reason, Canada says, they do not cooperate with the police.
Canada says in the poor New York City neighborhood he grew up in, only the criminals didn't talk to the police, but within today's hip-hop culture, that has changed. "It is now a cultural norm that is being preached in poor communities … It's like you can't be a black person if you have a set of values that say 'I will not watch a crime happen in my community without getting involved to stop it,' " Canada tells Cooper.
Young people from some of New York's toughest neighborhoods echo Canada's assessment, calling the message not to help police "the rules" and helping the police "a crime" in their neighborhoods.
These "rules" are contributing to a much lower percentage of arrests in homicide cases — a statistic known as the "clearance rate" — in largely poor, minority neighborhoods throughout the country, according to professor David Kennedy of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
"I work in communities where the clearance rate for homicides has gone into the single digits," says Kennedy. The national rate for homicide clearance is about 60 percent. "In these neighborhoods, we are on the verge of — or maybe we have already lost — the rule of law," he tells Cooper.
Says Canada: "It's like we're saying to the criminals, 'You can have our community … Do anything you want and we will either deal with it ourselves or we'll simply ignore it.'"
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Check out http://www.myspaceg raphichelp. com/

he's an arse...what a disgrace...a serial killer come on now!

Well I admit there might be some inspiring rap that just doesn't make it to the main stream. Quite frankly the abusive language and themes are what makes music get to the mainstream now-a-days. Hiphop, by definition, is complete bull however no matter how you slice it.

have you ever heard of little brother? the roots? de la soul? a tribe called quest? dead prez (from tally-ho)?

actually original hip hop never had violent lyrics in it. Society changed is all.
Now most of it is rubbish.

Yall youngins probably dont remember the good days of Hip Hop though ..
well for me it was the 80's.

actually original hip hop never had violent lyrics in it. Society changed is all.
Now most of it is rubbish.
Yall youngins probably dont remember the good days of Hip Hop though ..
well for me it was the 80's.

You mean like the Sugarhill gang those