Rapper Kidd Creole — one of the founding members of the legendary hip-hop group Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five— fatally stabbed a homeless man after the victim said, “What’s Up?” according to details released Thursday.
Kidd Creole, a k a Nathaniel Glover of the Bronx, thought derelict John Jolly was hitting on him, prompting him to whip a steak knife from his sleeve and attack him on a Turtle Bay street on Tuesday night, prosecutors said in Manhattan court.
After Jolly, 55, was stabbed, his shirt stained with blood, he picked up his beer again, took a swig, staggered about a block, then collapsed and died, prosecutors said.
Glover, 57, sported a neatly braided gray ponytail as he was arraigned on one count of second-degree murder.
“He thought the complainant was hitting on him and thought that, ‘If this guy was hitting on me, he must think I’m gay, too,’ and that infuriated him,” Assistant District Attorney Mark Dahl told Judge Phyllis Chu, successfully arguing for remand.
Glover tried to ignore Jolly, who was leaning against a wall sipping a beer at East 43rd St. and Third Avenue, at first and kept walking, he told authorities. But he became concerned that Jolly, a registered sex offender, might rob him, he allegedly said.
As he looked over his shoulder, the victim allegedly moved toward him and barked, “All I said to you was, ‘What’s up?’ the prosecutor said.
Glover whipped the knife from his sleeve and allegedly stabbed Jolly twice in the chest, then ran.
The pair’s verbal confrontation is caught on surveillance video, but the stabbing is not, Dahl said.
“You see the defendant reach into his left sleeve, and both the defendant and complainant move out of the camera’s range,” the prosecutor said. The victim stumbles back into the frame, a blood stain on the front of his shirt, and “reaches down, picks up his beer and takes a swig.”
The ex-con, who served a six-year stint in prison for rape, made it about a block then collapsed on the sidewalk. He was rushed to Bellevue Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Glover told authorities that after the stabbing, he reported for a shift at a building in the neighborhood, where he works maintenance.
He greeted his co-workers, then headed to the bathroom, where he washed the alleged murder weapon. He changed into his work clothes but 15 minutes later decided he wanted to go home, Glover allegedly told authorities.
When Glover got off at his stop in the Bronx, he tossed the knife in a sewer, the prosecutor said.
Defense lawyer Patrick Watts said his client’s statements weren’t voluntarily obtained and told Dahl they shouldn’t be read in public.
Glover was identified through surveillance video and arrested at his home in Mt. Hope on Wednesday, cops said.
Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five was established in the 1970s in the South Bronx and inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.
The crew included DJ Joseph Saddler aka Grandmaster Flash and rappers Melle Mel, Keith Cowboy, Mr. Ness/Scorpio and Rahiem.