Evening Roundup: NYPD Blames Drill Rap for Series of Bronx Shootings, and NYC’s Talent is Timeless Showcase

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Janae Pierre: The NYPD blames drill rap for a spate of shootings in the Bronx, and older New Yorkers hit the stage for the Talent Is Timeless showcase. From WNYC, this is NYC NOW. I'm Janae Pierre.

10 people are being charged in a series of shootings in the Bronx that left 4 people dead and 7 wounded over the Labor Day weekend. The youngest suspects are just 16 years old. The NYPD says the violence stems from long-standing neighborhood rivalries. Here's NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kinney.

Chief of Detectives Joseph Kinney: They basically disrespect each other based on where they live, what development they live on, and what block they live on, or in this case, what park they hang out in.

Janae Pierre: Among other things, Detective Kinney says drill rap is fueling the spate of violence. For more on this, I'm joined by WNYC's Charles Lane. For those who don't know, drill rap is a subgenre where artists make direct and often confrontational accusations in their lyrics and music videos. Charles, which shooting during that Labor Day weekend can be tied to drill rap?

Charles Lane: According to police, there were three shootings around Labor Day weekend. The first one was the weekend before, on August 23rd, where, allegedly, three people opened fire at a basketball tournament in Haffen Park in Baychester. Police said that a 32-year-old was killed at the scene, and a 17-year-old was shot in the head, and she later died in the hospital. Investigators recovered 57 casings from 11 different guns at the scene, so it was a very large shooting.

Then on the Monday of Labor Day, five people allegedly drove down Allerton Avenue and opened fire, killing a 24-year-old man who was the target, who had been present at the Hafen Park shooting, and in the process wounding four other people who were just standing on the street. They recovered a number of guns from this shooting. One of them was a .45 caliber pistol modified with what the investigators call a Glock switch, which essentially made this pistol into a fully automatic weapon. Then, a third shooting the next day killed a 21-year-old man who was shot and dumped on the street outside Barnabas Hospital.

Janae Pierre: This is all so tragic. I'm just wondering, though, Charles, if rap songs and music videos are playing a big part in this violence. Certainly, social media is, too, right? I mean, how is the department handling that?

Charles Lane: There was a really interesting moment in the news conference the other day, where Chief of Detectives Kinney blamed the rap musicians themselves. Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark responded very quickly and said, "No, it's not the music, it's social media." From the NYPD's perspective, they see drill rap as the problem. They have investigators listening to it and deciphering it and trying to predict any possible violence that comes from it. This is something that Mayor Eric Adams also attacked several years ago, saying that drill was leading to a culture of violence in the streets.

If you listen to what the rappers themselves have to say about their music, it's more about the trials and pains of living in their neighborhood. What they say is that they're talking about the violence that existed long before they started rapping about it. That was the interesting moment. What DA Clark said was, "No, it's not the music, it's people attacking one another through social media." She called social media the addiction.

Janae Pierre: Gang violence like this seems like something that happens far too often. How are today's rivalries different from those of the past?

Charles Lane: According to Kinney, they're less traditional. The gang alliances that we know, where you're with one gang and not another gang, that doesn't appear to exist anymore. According to what he said at the news conference, it's more about geography and shifting loyalties, where someone could be hanging out in one gang one day and then hanging out in another gang another day, which, to be honest, I have a little bit of a struggle trying to reconcile how much of a "gang" it actually is if you just jump from one to the other. At the end of the day, you can't really argue with the impact. Four people died and seven people were injured because of this.

Janae Pierre: Yes. Since those shootings in early September, Mayor Eric Adams has deployed more cops to patrol the neighborhoods there. How helpful has that been?

Charles Lane: Police say that it has helped, but it's part of several other moving pieces, so it's unclear exactly what was working and what wasn't working. Before the summer, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch pulled 2,300 officers off of desk duty and put them on the street and in the subways in what she called summer violence zones. These are very hyper-specific blocks where police commanders in the area are worried about potential violence, and so they put foot posts there.

According to police, in the 72 of these designated summer violent zones around the city, shootings fell 47% in these areas compared to the same time period last year because of the extra 2,300 officers. Still, if you look at overall crime today compared to before the pandemic, it is higher, but at the same time, shootings and murders are at historic lows.

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Janae Pierre: That's WNYC's Charles Lane. A citywide talent competition showcases the spirit, resilience, and limitless potential of older adults. We'll have more on that after the break.

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Janae Pierre: Later this month, older New Yorkers will take their skills to the stage in a citywide talent competition. WNYC's Hannah Frishberg has more on New York City's third annual Talent Is Timeless showcase.

Anchor: Welcome to the Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theater.

Hannah Frishberg: Barbara Grey has been a songbird as long as she can remember. She's been in talent competitions before, but never as a senior competing against her fellow seniors.

Barbara Grey: Not professionally my whole life, but I've been singing my whole life.

Hannah Frishberg: Barbara got the gold at the Bronx's Talent Is Timeless regional competition. There's a contest in each of the five boroughs, and the winners compete with each other at the citywide finale next month.

Barbara Grey: I won at Riverdale Y, I won in my senior center, and now I won here. That's the next step.

Hannah Frishberg: Barbara's competition at the Bronx regional was fierce. Other talented 60 plussers sang, danced, and played piano. Mary Shea from the Riverdale Older Adult Center even did stand-up.

Mary Shea: Everybody remembers their first kiss. I remember my first girdle.

[laughter]

Hannah Frishberg: Mary's performance was the only comedy set of the day and a huge hit.

Mary Shea: My father was yelling, "To hell with Ed Sullivan, to hell with Ed Sullivan." My mother was saying, "Be quiet, the mouse is coming on."

[laughter]

Hannah Frishberg: There could only be four winners: the audience's vote and the judges' top three. Barbara's rendition of Patsy Cline's Crazy ended up stealing the show.

[MUSIC - Barbara Grey: Patsy Cline's Crazy]

Audience Member: Sing it, Barbara.

Hannah Frishberg: When she heard the audience singing along, she had a good feeling she might take home a prize.

Barbara Grey: It's so nice when you feel the enthusiasm from the audience. I could hear people yelling out, and I said, "Wow." Then I changed back to sit down. The woman next to me, who I didn't know from anyone, said, "That was perfect. You're getting number one with that."

Hannah Frishberg: The three-year-old competition is intended to combat ageism. That's according to NYC Department of Aging Commissioner Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez.

Commissioner Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez: It is our way of saying ability is ageless. They can dance, they can sing, they can still work, they're still contributing.

Hannah Frishberg: Above all else, the point is to have a good time.

Commissioner Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez: They have more fun than anything. That's all that matters.

Hannah Frishberg: Have a good time, they did.

Barbara Grey: It's exciting. It's fun.

Hannah Frishberg: Barbara and the other qualifying Bronx winners will square off against the other borough finalists at the United Palace Theater in Washington Heights on October 16th. You can learn more about how to get tickets at our news site, gothamist.com.

Janae Pierre: That's WNYC's Hannah Frishberg.

[MUSIC - Barbara Grey: Patsy Cline's Crazy]

[applause and cheers]

Janae Pierre: Before we go, some good news for Long Island drivers. Smoother rides are ahead on the Long Island Expressway. Governor Kathy Hochul announced the completion of a nearly $18 million restoration project between exits 67 and 69 in Brookhaven. Crews replace deteriorated concrete dating back more than 50 years with new high-strength pavement, improving safety, durability, and comfort for thousands of daily commuters. Funded by state and federal infrastructure dollars, the project is part of New York's ongoing investment to strengthen roads, bridges, and communities across the state.

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Janae Pierre: Thanks for listening to NYC NOW from WNYC. I'm Janae Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.

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