Recently, conversations around snitching have moved to the forefront in hip-hop. Artists and fans are now wondering what qualifies as cooperating, prompting Gangsta Gibbs to speak out and reaffirm some ground rules.
On Tuesday, Freddie Gibbs took to Twitter and argued that appearing on the Crime Stoppers TV program is the same as writing a statement.
"If u was on crime stoppers TV u a snitch," Gibbs wrote. "Ain’t no way around it."
If u was on crime stoppers TV u a snitch. Ain’t no way around it.
Although his tweet isn't specifically aimed at anyone, the shoe could fit a few rappers. While airing out his issues with Young Thug and Gunna, Tec posted a video of Gunna speaking during a news interview about the death of his cousin. The video first went viral last year with Tec claiming it was an episode of "Crime Stoppers."
But during a recent interview with the Breakfast Club, Gunna explained that it wasn't Crime Stoppers nor was he directly connected with the case.
"Yes, that's me, but that wasn't on no crime stopper," he said. "I don't know what the hell niggas are [saying], 'cause I wasn't in no case or nothing. … 'Oh you snitched on who?' I was never in no case. See what I'm saying? But you know, niggas, it be—that go back to that internet shit, I don't really be seeing into it 'cause motherfuckers don't know. I'm really from the street. Where I'm from like, if you snitch, bruh, that shit is in paperwork, that shit is in a document."
Although he's still waiting on someone to produce paperwork, Freddie Gibbs seemingly thinks that this is the equivalent.
Yet on the off chance that Freddie isn't referring to Gunna, the tweet could also hold true for another Atlanta artist. T.I. appeared in a Crime Stoppers ad for the Greater Atlanta area in 2008.
This combined with the light bid for his weapons charges led some people to believe Tip was actually working with the authorities. Like Gunna, he's combatted this by asking his accusers to produce paperwork.
"Ain’t no such thing as a secret snitch," T.I. said during 2007 interview with Vibe Magazine. "If there was there’d be no need for the witness protection program. Pull up my agreement. It’s public record. Ain’t no way you could hide it, especially being a public figure. And as much as people saying that it is happening, don’t you think somebody would have did the research to say, ‘Okay look, we got proof, here it is?’ People just know that it could have been a lot worse and they wanted it to be a lot worse, but lies will never overrule the truth."
