Kidd Creole Pleads Not Guilty to Second-Degree Murder

On Thursday (Aug. 23), Nathaniel "Kidd Creole" Glover, a founding member of the legendary hip-hop group Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, pleaded not guilty to a second-degree murder indictment from a New York grand jury in the stabbing death of a homeless man.

Earlier this month, Glover and a 55-year-old homeless man named John Jolly were allegedly involved in an altercation, which lead to Jolly being stabbed on Aug. 1. Jolly was stabbed twice in the chest and once in the arm after supposedly calling Creole a gay slur. The rapper was arrested and charged with murder of Jolly the following day. Five days after his arrest, the Furious Five member was indicted for murder.

When police asked Creole why he stabbed Jolly, the rapper explained that he thought Jolly was propositioning him or wanted to rob him. According to a criminal report that was retrieved by ABC News, Creole allegedly, "pulled out a knife that he had attached to his forearm with rubber bands and stabbed [Jolly] in the chest with the knife two times."

Before this incident, Kidd Creole was off hip-hop's radar, working as a security guard in Manhattan. More than 20 years ago, he was a hip-hop staple as part of the Furious Five. Creole along with the rest of the group were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame a decade ago. Their song, "The Message," ranks among one of the most important and influential songs of all time. It is arguably the first rap song to address issues that affected urban environments. Candid, straightforward and brutally honest lyrics like, "A child is born with no state of mind/Blind to the ways of mankind/God is smilin' on you but he's frownin' too/Because only God knows what you'll go through/You'll grow in the ghetto livin' second-rate/And your eyes will sing a song called deep hate," set the blueprint for the entire hip-hop genre.

Kidd Creole will return to court on Sept. 6 for a defense motion and the potential for a bond application.

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