Rapper Wais P was arrested Wednesday (April 8) for his role in promoting prostitution in Midtown Manhattan.
“Wais P, whose real name is Malcolm Byer, was arraigned Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court, a day after police arrested him on a single count of promoting prostitution,” The Wall Street Journal reports.
Wais P was in court Wednesday on DWI charges from 2014 and was placed under arrest in the prostitution case before leaving the courthouse.
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“A few minutes later, the Teaneck Police Department, with help from the NYPD, searched [Wais P’s] home and storage locker, seizing electronic equipment including computers, cellphones, tablets and media storage devices along with financial records, journals, and other evidence,” according to the Wall Street Journal.
Wais P was the fourth individual targeted by cops in the ongoing “Bright Lights…Big City” investigation. The men are alleged to have trafficked at least 12 women.
“Evidence obtained through court-authorized wiretaps and financial records revealed a loose network of pimps trafficking women in the area, authorities said, and led to the four indictments,” The Wall Street Journal says. “Investigators were able to identify trafficking victims among those already arrested on prostitution charges and gather ‘intelligence about the most important targets: those who operate sex trafficking rings.’”
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Wais P was featured on the Swizz Beatz-produced Jay Z track “If I Should Die,” which was on Jay’s Vol 2… Hard Knock Life. He was part of Da Ranjahs, a group that rapped under the Roc-A-Fella network.
“We were there from the beginning,” Wais P said to AllHipHop in 2007. “We were there when the Roc was a pebble and the records used to come to Jay’s house. It’s bigger than music with us. I still go to Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners with Jay’s aunt in Brooklyn. It’s a family thing.”
The rapper is being held without bail in Manhattan.
