A shooting incident outside Echo Sounds studio in LA, where rapper Kurupt was recording his new album ‘Tha Streetz Iz A Mutha’ with collaborator Daz Dillinger has left one man dead and another two injured.
Two armed men shot at the three victims around 11.40pm (PST) last Sunday (October 17). The dead man was confirmed as Dwayne “Draws” Dupree, a 23 year old security guard for Kurupt, who was pronounced dead at the scene as a result of multiple gunshot wounds to the chest.
Two other rappers Willard “Act Da Fool” Givers and Jevon “Realistic” Jones were also shot in the calf and foot respectively, and were taken to local hospital before being treated for their injuries. Currently the police have arrested no suspects, and have no motive for the shootings.
Kurupt‘s label, Antra Music released two statements, on Monday and Tuesday respectively. Initial speculation was to whether ‘Calling Out Names’, a track from Kurupt‘s new LP, may have led to a retaliation attack on the rapper’s studio by a number of rappers namechecked in the song including Kurupt‘s ex-girlfriend Foxy Brown, and her alleged new boyfriend DMX.
Within hours, both DMX and Brown had denied any connection with the shootings, with a spokesperson for DMX saying: “DMX is in Miami recording his album. It is unfortunate that an act of that nature happened. DMX is not knowledgeable of this. I just got off the phone with him.”
Following this Antra issued a statement Tuesday, clarifying their position: “In the confusion and grief over the recent shooting of colleagues and friends of Kurupt and Daz on October 18, an Antra staffer was misquoted on the Internet. Although no one at Antra has ever speculated, on or off the record, the cause of this tragic shooting, we deeply regret that names of other artists were dragged into this report, and we apologise if unintentionally anyone at Antra contributed to such speculation.
“All of us with Antra are only concerned with the grief of the family of Dwayne Dupree and will have no further comment except to express our fervent hope that there be no more violence in the hip-hop community.”
Kurupt was discovered by Dr Dre at a Death Row Records launch party, while Daz Dillinger is the cousin of Snoop Doggy Dogg. Both were former members of Snoop‘s ‘Dogg Pound’. Following his departure, Kurupt formed Antra Records, which was the first rap label to have offices on both the East and West coasts of the United States.
This latest incident has led to renewed speculation on a possible escalation of the East Coast / West Coast rap wars. Earlier this month gunmen shot at Sean ‘Puffy’ Combs‘ studio in New York, leaving one woman injured.