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War of Words Ends With Whimper Over Hip-Hop Airways
12-May-2006
Written by: Alexander Rogers
It’s all fun and games until someone gets f*and%ed up.
WWPR-FM, AKA Power 105, one of Manhattan's hottest hip-Hop broadcasters, is now one D.J. short. No worries, the fellow wasn't shot, stabbed or "served" outside of a trendy nightclub, as seems to be the common cause of D.J. loss in this chaotic 21st century of ours. No, gentle readers, D.J. Star, whose secret identity is Troi Torain, is as healthy as a man being investigated by Manhattan's district attorney's office can be.
The former hip-hop radio host's legal woes stem from alleged on-air comments he made in which he apparently threatened the lives of rival radio personality, D.J. Envy. Excerpts of the tape played at a news conference held by members of the City Council were, according to reports, suitably ghastly and included Torain threatening to find and molest Envy's 4-year-old daughter. Already dismissed from his job, Torain now must contend with the possibility of an aggravated harassment. Though City Council members have called on the Federal Communications Investigation to open its own investigation, it remains unclear what, if any charges might be leveled at the station.
For his part, Torain contends through his lawyer that he never would have hurt anyone, and that it was in fact Envy, real name Raashaun Casey, who had started the tit-for-tat with fellow host Miss Jones, real name Tarsha Jones (Clever, huh?). Hot 97, the oft-embattled hip-hop station on the other side of the dispute has suspended both Casey and Jones before for their behavior on the air after they played a song lampooning the victims of the tsunami in East Asia. Unfortunately, the artists in this case seem stuck between a rock and a hard place. Whether they use bullets or words, people end up getting hurt or put in the slammer either way.
The only real winners here are the enterprising City Councilmen who will surely be able to milk this incident for all the political clout it can bestow.
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