Much has been said following the chaotic incident that took place during Pete Rock and Smif-N-Wessun’s album release party in New York City last week and earlier this week Smif N Wessun’s General Steele shared his version of what happened and gave his thoughts on the incident in an interview with PlanetIll.com.
Steele explained that to his knowledge things were going relatively smooth before attendee’s were forced to exit the club, but upon exiting the venue things began to take a turn for the worse.
“I was totally not clear on anything that was happening inside or outside the club. I didn’t see anything going on inside the club but Hip-Hop and people taking pictures, stuff like that. When they started to turn the lights on in the club you know that’s a sign that it’s time to go. So the people began exiting the club,” said Steele. “Before the people began to fully exit, I notices two officers begin to come in to the club and then exit the club. At that point, I was still wondering what was going on, but at that [point} you know, it’s time to go. As we’re leaving, I see my friend, also my artist, Louie Pena who goes by the name Louie Skaggs, I seen him on the floor being beat to shit by police officers.”
The rapper went on to explain much of the chaos that took place and which was seen by the first-hand video posted by Jay Diamond. The video of the incident was posted on YouTube shortly after the event and has received close to 100,000 views from viewers around the globe.
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“I had people calling me from Germany. I had people calling me from Canada. I had people texting me from Africa; emailing me from Africa, like we seen this thing and we’re talking mere hours after it happened,” Steele explained. “They were furious and they wasn’t even there, so…this really touched a lot of folks. A lot of folks can identify with the brutality and they want to know what they can do about it.”
New information regarding the incident is still surfacing with many left wondering if the “Hip Hop cops” had any involvement in what happened after the release party.
“I’ve heard so much after the fact, man! So much more information is developing after. Like these guys were the riot police, I heard. I heard there was another section of cops that were there that’s from the community that were told to leave because this is a job for the riot cops,” said Steele when “Hip Hop cops” were mentioned in the interview. “So many different things are unfolding now, so what we’re trying to do is get accounts of everyone that’s willing to speak; people that were inside the club, enjoying the party, people that were outside getting air or having a smoke and witnessed whatever went on before.”
RELATED: Details Emerge In Police Scuffle At Pete Rock & Smif-N-Wessun’s NYC Release Party
