On April 25, 2008, three of the New York City police officers indicted in a shooting incident that took place on November 25, 2006 in which an unarmed African-American man was shot and killed and two others wounded in a hail of 50 bullets were acquitted on all counts. Popularly known as the Sean Bell incident, the shooting has sparked fierce criticism of the police from the public and drew comparisons to the 1999 killing of Amadou Diallo. The officers opted to have Justice Arthur J. Cooperman make a ruling rather than a jury. The ruling was handed down in a state supreme court in Queens.

The ruling has drawn more criticism and has caused many to liken the result to that of the Rodney King incident where Los Angles police officers were caught on tape giving the unarmed King a brutal beat down. Many rappers have come out voicing outrage over the verdict but calling for a non-violent response. Nas, Talib Kweli and Mos Def all voiced their displeasure with the verdict via BET’s 106&Park while most major media outlets had little to say about the incident while still being engrossed with the national Democratic Primaries. Nas commented saying “This is a warning to all of us. We in a war. “, “the way they portray us, it’s like we superhuman”, “it’s like because we jump so high and run so fast they need 50 bullets to stop us”. Talib Kweli commented saying “they’re creating a culture of fear to control us”.

HipHopDx, however, reports that Rap Producer and band member of The Roots ?uestlove called for Riots in New York City when he stated “My immediate response [to the verdict] was that, ‘I hope that muthafuckas are tearing the shit out New York City similar to Los Angeles [in 1992],’” said ?uest. “And [when I said that] my friend laughed at me like, ‘C’mon now, you know better than that.’ I was like, ‘That’s the saddest shit I heard.’” ?uestlove later seemed to retract his statement saying “I literally didn’t mean I hope that they’re tearing New York up,” he explained. “But I kinda hoped that [the response to the verdict] wasn’t just gonna be the normal Sharpton here, family members there, and about 12 people [expressing their outrage].”