You're Nobody 'til Somebody Kills You

Shit. Fuck I care about a Cipha?

Better yet, should say "siphon."

Hey, yo, stop suckin' off my raps,

lying about you're killin' cops.

Nigga, loofah the dead skin off of your career.

Yeah yeah, I know. I know, your whole life ain't been your year.

You feel me?

Shit. Man, I'm the first, the now and the evermore.

I'm the pasha of verb and the king of metaphor.

I'm the shadow of Ciphas past lurking at your door,

looming large,

invading your space.

I'm the motherfuckin' unholy ghost

touching your dome,

slaying you and your motherfuckin' spirit.

Shh.

Be quiet, nigga.

I just killed your whole career.

Can't you hear it?

Yeah, baby,

I'm about to take this whole rap shit and put it on smash.

I might deal with some of my new shit. You feel me?

No, what-- fuck off!

Wait, no!

I pap up like sunshine, 6:00 in the morning

Smack a nigga while he yawning

Before he piss or brush his teeth

I'm coming with breakfast, I'm bringing the beef

There's gonna be a lot of blood

- On the sheets - Ward

There's gonna be a toe tag

- On your feet. - Whoo!

- Yeah! - Yo yo, that was hot.

Of course that shit was hot, son.

Yo, let's lay down that hook, a'right?

Yo, hold up, man, I gotta pay this water bill first.

This Henny is running right through me, man.

Hurry up, man. We've got to get this done by tonight, a'right?

Hey hey, relax, a'right?

Let's not forget who's paying who, a'right?

Whoo, man.

I feel 10 pounds lighter, you feel me? Whoo.

Ahhh!

You!

What the hell is taking him so long?

Can somebody please go and tell him to hurry his ass up?

I'll go.

Oh, I'll bet you will.

Yo, light this up, woman.

Cipha, you in here, baby?

Ahhh!

Ahhh!

What the hell is this?

Some kind of damn rap rivalry gone bad?

Detective Johnson?

Who wants to know?

Uh, Joseph Francelli, Gang Intel.

It's a pleasure to finally meet you.

Let's just kill the small talk, okay?

Sorry about that, buddy.

Right right.

Down to business.

Same shit, different day. Right, guys?

- You getting anything? - Nothing.

It's like they cleaned this place up with Mr. Clean or something.

Well, give me the bag.

I think I see another note.

Here we go.

"The rap industry, modern slavery.

You sell your soul and play your role,

lie and kill to get a record deal.

Slave to the headmaster, another slave dead, master."

Shit don't make sense to me.

Yeah, it wouldn't.

You think this is the same handwriting as the last note?

Yeah, looks the same,

but till the analyst checks it out, we won't know for sure.

Keep it close.

High-profile

And each time the killer leaves behind a little fortune cookie for us.

You think it's the same guy?

Same profile.

You don't think it's as simple as a beef between rival rappers?

Happens all the time.

'Pac, Big, Nas, Jay-Z, Game and 50 now.

Yeah, it's more than that.

Think we got a-- tsk tsk tsk-- sicko on our hands?

Yeah, maybe.

Yeah, but these guys are always beefing with each other.

You know, they're always writing these songs, dissing each other.

You know what I mean?

"Beef in', dissin"'?

You want to try talking like a cop?

Detective, I'm just trying to help.

Captain said to play nice so I'm trying to play nice.

I know this is your show. I know you're calling the shots.

- Remember that. - I'll try and stay out of your way.

Mr. Thompson, we just need a few minutes of your time.

Sure.

What are you so nervous about?

You got something to hide?

Excuse me if I seem a little shaken,

but my man was just murdered, okay?

We're just trying to find out what happened.

I don't know what happened.

We were in the studio working on a new song.

He goes to the bathroom to take a piss;

he never comes back.

And the next thing you know, he's dead?

Why would I do anything to him?

- Any enemies? - Of course.

There's always gonna be haters out there.

- You know what I'm sayin'? - Yeah, we know what you're saying.

No one ever made good on their threats,

I guess until now.

Did you see anyone leave the room after he left?

No, I don't think so.

Did you see anybody leave the bathroom before you went in?

No, sir, I didn't. Is he really dead?

As a doornail.

It's hard to just say it's the lyrics.

I think there's a psycho out there. That's just me.

But who knows? I mean, that's the whole point.

Nobody knows. The cops-- they claim they're close to solving the case.

I don't believe they're close to solving it.

Somebody is coming after these rappers.

I don't understand why; I don't understand where...

You know better than to sit at that table with your hat on, boy.

Somebody's coming for them.

As I reported earlier,

a second rapper has been murdered.

Ma, could you turn that up?

It's loud enough as it is.

You're lucky I'm letting you listen to the radio

at the breakfast table at all.

This is the second murder in the last week

in what is quickly becoming known as the hip-hop homicides.

Now the police won't comment on whether the two incidents are linked,

but they claim they're close to solving the case.

Yeah, right, don't hold your breath...

Dad, do you know anything about Ciph's murder?

Who?

Cipha the rapper.

You never heard about Cipha, Pops? His shit is hot.

- Excuse me? - Are you crazy?

Boy, don't make me have to snatch you--

I mean he's like the hottest rapper out.

You know I can't talk about cases I'm working on.

Oh, so you are working the case. That's what's up.

His album was supposed to drop this week.

So, like, is he dead for real, for real?

See, you need to worry less about who's got a new album coming out

or a new music video and start worrying about them grades.

Calm down, baby. Let me fix you a plate.

No, I'm already late.

You work on my last nerve, boy.

So where's this great detective I've heard so much about?

He'll be here. And I don't appreciate

you sending one of your special-division guys

in here to babysit one of my guys.

Johnson's the best there is and this is his case.

It was never his case.

Sorry I'm late, Captain.

Nice of you to join us.

- This place is crawling with reporters. - You see this?

I'm starting to feel like we're getting

secondhand information here.

Are these freakin' reporters better detectives than we are?

Of course not, Captain.

Then what are we doing wrong?

This is Lieutenant Jeff Harrington with Special Divisions.

He's here to help out on the investigation.

And you already met Francelli, one of his lead detectives.

We've met.

No prints, no murder weapon, no suspects, no nothing.

Well, we've got a handwriting analyst

working on the note left at the scene.

We're going through the studio security tapes--

Sounds real good, Detective.

Trying telling that to the horde of fans

calling this station with cries of conspiracy.

There's even talk of a link between these killings

and the murders of Tupac Shakur,

uh, the Notorious-- what? Biggedy Big,

and Jam Master what's his name?

Jam Master Jay.

The-- the killer is trying to make a statement.

These notes that he's leaving behind are--

So what do we think?

We think we've got a serial killer on our hands?

We got, what, some whacko out there killing rappers? What?

Captain, these murders are premeditated, well-thought-out.

Hold up. There's a simple beef

between rival rap crews that's gotten out of hand.

And everybody's a tough guy these days-- "My dick is bigger than yours."

This is strictly a case of retaliation--

"You hit me, then I hit you."

Is that it, Captain?

No. We also heard from our boys downstairs

that Marcus Malone might be the next target.