In the wake of T.I.’s recent arrest and Prodigy’s claims of set-up, Newark, New Jersey hip-hop sensation Fierce has been arrested on 11 charges for allegedly shooting up a house party and stabbing attendees. Fierce, whose government name is Qandeel Nixon, is facing charges of aggravated assault and attempted murder stemming from a violent attack that occurred October 21st at a Newark, New Jersey house party.
One week after the incident Mr. Nixon was picked up in the area based on the claim that he fit a vague description of the suspect and had been identified by a juvenile. However, on the night in question, Fierce was at Carli’s Bar in Hillside, NJ. Far beyond a mere claim, his alibi can be verified by both the bartender and an off-duty police officer who was present at the bar. Upon leaving bar, a friend drove Mr. Nixon home. Yet and still Quandeel “Fierce” Nixon remains behind bars with a $200,000 bail.
Just 2 weeks before being arrested Fierce had performed with KRS-One and Hakim (of Channel Live) at a New York CMJ event and was on his way to taking his career to the next level having also been added to Funkmaster Flex’s Franchise Record Pool. Fierce first received national acclaim when he was featured as The Source Unsigned Hype in 1997. He then went on to appear on BET Rap City, BET Teen Summit, MSNBC, Lyricist Lounge, and Billboard Magazine. Over the span of his career, Fierce has collaborated with Kanye West, Carl Thomas, Black Rob, Lady May, No I.D., and Charlemagne. At one point Fierce even had a production deal with Elektra Records and was signed to Arista Records under Deric (D-Dot) Angelletie.
With all of this one must question why this emerging artist who has a supported alibi, no prior record, and works a full time job is still sitting behind bars with the only evidence being that he fits a very vague description. Also one might ask if he did the crime, why the hell was he in the area one week later chilling?
These charges add Fierce to the ever-growing roster of hip-hop artists that are behind bars or facing charges and we are not saying that rap artists never commit crimes, but we are saying we need to start questioning why such a large number of artists are constantly being arrested? Why is there a hip-hop task force and what tactics do they use? (Especially when we know illegal tactics used by other similar programs of the past such as COINTELPRO)
These questions need to be at the forefront in a society where over 2million people are incarcerated and though Black men make up only 6% of the overall population, they account for 40% of the prison population. With the majority of hip-hop artists being of African and Latino descent, it is imperative that we start to go beyond the fact that hip-hop artists are being locked up and start to look at the overall system especially since almost everyone reading this probably knows at least one person who is locked up.
For more information on Fierce please visit his Myspace page and check out his work with the Franchise Record Pool:
www.myspace.com/fiercenjlive
www.franchiserecordpool.com
For all those concerned, Fierce is alive and well. He is home and not behind bars, life is good for him. I actually have an interview coming up with you. I’ll let the world know when it takes place. But rest assured he is back in the studio and doing his thing! Watch out for him!