Fivio Foreign has revealed the life-changing advice he received from the “Hip Hop Police,” admitting that it changed his outlook.
During an appearance on The Breakfast Club that aired on Friday (February 16), the Brooklyn drill MC talked about his new album, Pain & Love 2. Over the chat, the 33-year-old even spoke candidly about his relationship with NYPD’s “Hip Hop Police,” crediting them for his street smarts.
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“I just started moving smarter,” he began. “I think his name is Shawn — he retired. Before he retired, though, he was like, ‘Yo, come here for a second. Let me talk to you on the spot.’
“He sat me down and he spoke to me like, ‘Yo, you don’t want to miss this opportunity. You don’t wanna miss this money. Fuck this shit up.’ He told a couple of people before he retired that he spoke to me, like you don’t want to be in the way. Stay out the way, so it helped me out.”
Watch the “Big Drip” rapper talk about the advice at the 11:40 mark below:
Amid numerous nationwide protests that have triggered a reevaluation of law enforcement, many Americans are now challenging the mechanisms behind police brutality.
The relationship between the authotities and Hip Hop culture has been in focus amid this upheaval. At the center of discussion is the New York Police Department’s “Hip Hop Police,” also known as the Enterprise Operations Unit.
Its origins trace back to Derrick Parker, a detective who briefed fellow officers on the East Coast/West Coast rap rivalry after the murder of The Notorious B.I.G. in 1997.
In 1999, the “rap intel” unit was officially established under his leadership, tasked with monitoring the scene, compiling information on artists like JAY-Z, Cam’ron, Dame Dash, Busta Rhymes and 50 Cent, among others, and sharing it with police departments nationwide.
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The above interview wasn’t the the first time Fivio talked about the NYPD. In 2022, as drill rap came under fire for allegedly inciting gun violence, he defended the genre and stated that it is a positive outlet for artists coming out of the hood.
“This the drill community and I know the police and everybody be looking at n-ggas like, ‘N-ggas be starting trouble,’” he told TMZ. “And n-ggas ain’t really starting trouble, they just trying to feed their kids. They trying to take away the drill music off the radio. They trying to stop it from being on the radio …
“It’s not the music that’s killing people. It’s the music that’s helping n-ggas from the hood get out the hood. You feel me? So, we need that. You take that from n-ggas, n-ggas gon’ be in the hood killing each other and going crazy on each other.”
