THE DOSSIER

In the dynamic early years of hip hop, you could still see the influences of the disco era in the fashion the samples, and the party music played via car stereos in different neighborhoods in New York City. The hip-hop releases for 1982 and 1983, included Wildstyle the first feature film to reveal the nuances of hip-hop culture written by Fab Five Freddy and directed by Charlie Ahern. The film explores the work of artists such as Lady Pink, Daze, Grandmaster Flash, and the Rock Steady Crew. Hip Hop goes international with a tour featuring Afrika Bambaataa, Fab Five Freddy, Double Dutch Girls, and fashion icon Dapper Dan opened his first boutique in Harlem, while Edward Koch is the mayor of New York City. There's a case to be made that inside neighborhoods in New York City, hustlers still slinging heroin operate almost with impunity, as local police forces are overworked and underfunded. In 1982, & '83, there's a young man who is starting to corner the market for illicit narcotics, and that man is Lorenzo "Fat Cat" Nichols. **If you’re a fan of The Dossier, please visit our Patreon page for free and paid content featuring exclusive documents, unedited interviews, and monthly online meetups with other Dossier fans and the Dossier team. Go to Patreon.com/Dossier to subscribe!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In America in 2024, we have all watched major American cities burn the result of a powder keg that exploded around incidents of police killings. We should all know the names by now: George Floyd, Trayvon Martin, Breanna Taylor, Stephon Clark, Philando Castille, and more. As the list goes on, the debate surrounding race, policing, mass incarceration, and the war on drugs, it seems, has reached the tipping point. Fault lines have been drawn as our divided country simmers in a cauldron of internet conspiracy theories and news stories that may or may not be true. Commonly held facts and assumptions that should guide any democracy are hanging by a thread. To understand the vast societal shifts in contemporary America and the proposition of understanding where we are now, we have to analyze it through the eyes of an art form that, for close to 40 years, arguably has been the voice of many generations and an analytical mirror that has reflected the ills of the United States of America. That art form is Hip Hop. In an irony-filled twist of fate, the music that has caused thousands of controversies, internal war, and conflict has come to define America in 2024. This proposition is not easy, and the narrative will go down many roads. USA vs. Hip Hop will tell this 40-year story through the eyes of the gangsters, the cops, and the artists who wrote the lyrics and created visuals that not only have shifted the world, but are a living and breathing experiment where Crime and Punishment can be unpacked and traced. The starting point for our story is in two places: First New York City in 1980, as Reaganomics left the poor to rot, a new form of music was born in the South Bronx. Over in Harlem, Nicky Barnes, one of the 70’s biggest drug kingpins, decides to cooperate with the government against his fellow members of The Council. On the Left Coast, 1981 was engulfed with a crime wave in Oakland, California. While not an obvious place to start any story as it relates to hip-hop music, it is arguably one of the most important geographical cities where the symbiotic relationship between the fall of the Black Panthers and the rise of a young man named Todd Shaw. This is the 40-year odyssey of The United States of America vs. Hip-Hop. *Episode Note-We were honored to have Executive Producer Ice-T narrate Episode One! **If you’re a fan of The Dossier, please visit our Patreon page for free and paid content featuring exclusive documents, unedited interviews, and monthly online meetups with other Dossier fans and the Dossier team. Go to Patreon.com/Dossier to subscribe!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From its start, the art of Hip-Hop music has not only defined our countries generations, it has done so by reporting on social and criminal injustices in America. Referred to as the “Black CNN,” Hip-Hop music, throughout the past 40 years, has been reporting all of societies major issues and complex policies that remain to this day. Whether it is the subject of brutal and biased policing, over-crowded jails, marginalized neighborhoods, public education, and the imbalance of economic wealth — it has been holding up a mirror to the world casting a dark reflection of the state of our country. Rappers are the voice of poor, urban African - American youth, whose lives are dismissed or misrepresented by the mainstream media. Hip-Hop music, with its African roots, has become an American art that reflects itself and the times in our country in profound ways. A country at war with itself, is also at war with Hip-Hop. The music in 2024 has transcended race and class; it has become intertwined with the American Dream and the Amerikkkan Nightmare. Executive Produced by Ice T, USA vs. Hip-Hop, will trace in chronological order the defining events of the music as it pertains to criminal justice, the connection between federal & state law enforcement, mass incarceration, social justice reform, and public policy. These singular events defined the music, and how Americans have categorized race and American exceptionalism. You can’t have Hip-Hop without the War on Drugs and vice versa. This sprawling anthology will outline in sweeping detail — the Hip-Hop stars, American gangsters, and law enforcement agencies that were intertwined in a narrative that strangely connects like a puzzle starting in 1980 to present day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The History of Organized Crime in America

Join hosts Nicole Luciano and Johnny ‘The Greek’ Anagnopoulos, two of the producers of The Dossier, as they break down all things crime and hip-hop, gleaned from their years of investigative work on the topic. From the Biggie and Tupac murders, to the twenty plus killings that are tangentially related to Death Row Records, Suge Knight, the Bloods, the East vs. West rivalry, the gangster cops inside the LAPD and much more. This week, Johnny and Niki begin the episode with some current events and an explanation for their breif hiatus. Then they welcome a VERY special guest to look back at the Rampart Scandal and the actions of infamous ex-LAPD officer Ray Perez - his former friend and cellmate, Kenneth Boagni. Kenny walks listeners through his history testifying for the LAPD in numerous Board of Rights Hearings, the crooked detectives who threatened him to keep quiet, passing polygraph exams, LAPD's involvement in the murder of Biggie and MUCH more. **If you you’re a fan of The Dossier, please visit our Patreon page for free and paid content featuring exclusive documents, unedited interviews, monthly online meetups with other Dossier fans and the Dossier team. Go to Patreon.com/Dossier to subscribe! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices