Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five’s Kidd Creole sentenced to 16 years in prison for manslaughter

Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five’s Kidd Creole has received a 16 year prison sentence for stabbing a homeless man, John Jolly, twice in the chest with a steak knife on a New York City street. The victim later died in hospital.

The rapper, real name Nathaniel Glover, 62, was found guilty of manslaughter last month. Prosecutors working on the case accused the defendant of committing a hate crime due to the content of a videotaped interview with police recorded while in custody. 

“To tell the truth, I thought he was gay. And because I thought he was gay, and he was saying that to me, ‘What’s up,’ I was thinking that he was thinking [that] I was gay,” Glover said while under interrogation.

“So I was a little annoyed by that. He approached me. I got a little nervous,” Glover claimed. “So then I tried to back up a little bit, and he moved forward, and then I just took the knife and stabbed him … I wish I never would have seen him. It’s all my fault, because I chose to stab him. I have to take responsibility for that,” he continued. 

Glover has insisted his actions were purely self-defence, with his lawyer asking the jury “who’s saying ‘What’s Up?’ to you with good intentions?” in New York City at midnight. Assistant District Attorney Mark Dahl responded by suggesting “simply running away” would have been a better reaction to the situation, which unfolded in 2017.