SOHH Squad
Blink-182 drummer/producer Travis Barker is calling foul on the Los Angeles Police Department, accusing local authorities of shady business practices.
According to Barker’s camp, he is getting profiled by the Los Angeles police.
Travis Barker believes an LAPD officer pulled him over, and immediately labeled him a drug-toting gang member — and says it’s second time he’s been “profiled” by law enforcement … TMZ has learned. Travis was on his way to pick up his daughter in L.A. Wednesday, when he got pulled over for not having a front license plate on his custom Chevy. According to Barker’s rep … the officer gave him the ole once-over, saw his head-to-toe tatts … and “then accused him of having drugs and weapons in the car.” Barker’s rep tells TMZ … he was also accused of having gang ties, and was asked to have his car searched by the officer — which Barker allowed him to do. (TMZ)
A similar incident reportedly took place some time last year.
Barker’s rep tells TMZ , the drummer ultimately got off with a fix-it ticket — but he’s still pissed because the same exact thing happened about a year ago … when an LAPD officer slapped him with a ticket for no plates and tinted windows. Barker believes profiling is NOT okay — but acknowledges that not all cops do it. TMZ spoke with an LAPD rep who refused to comment on Travis’ profiling accusation. The rep did say Travis is welcome to come in to any station to sit down and talk about the situation. (TMZ)
Back in 2009, Mobb Deep producer Alchemist shared a similar stance toward law enforcement.
“They profile rappers,” Al said in an interview. “They are knowledgable of who is in the rap game…They know who Alchemist is. They know who Prodigy is so when they drive around New York they see ’em, they follow where they’re going, they take pictures, they put together a book…cause they know all the rappers are friends with people in the street, they come from the street…They wanna make connections now so when somebody gets shot or some drug deal goes down, they got all the info…They wanna know the guys in the streets that hang out with the artists. If you listen to rap, nine times outta ten we’re snitching on ourselves…Like Supreme who was connected with Ja Rule…They start saying f*ck that, we’re gonna start watching all these rappers and see who they’re friends with.” (Vod Pod)
Barker’s last solo album landed on the sales chart in March 2011.
Rocker Travis Barker’s Give The Drummer Some debuted at No. 9 this week. After seven days on the chart, the drummer’s new LP stands at 28,500 sold records. (SOHH Sales Wrap)
