Cops Stop Mos Def's NY Street Show

Fri., Sep. 1, 2006 5:05 PM PDT by Natalie Finn

Excuse me, sir, Radio City is that-a-way.

Not thinking too much of Mos Def's attempt to serenade the people crowded outside of the building where, inside, the MTV Video Music Awards was taking place, New York police arrested the rapper-actor Thursday night and charged him with disorderly conduct. He was released early Friday morning.

According to authorities, the Black on Both Sides artist drove up to Radio City Music Hall in a flatbed truck sometime close to 10 p.m. and set up shop, soon after which he was asked to cease and desist out of respect for the crowd's safety.

A person close to Mos Def (whose real name is Dante Smith) told MTV News, however, that the NYPD initially asked the rapper and his entourage whether they had a permit to perform on the street and, when officers were told that the gig was legit, they let the one-song concert go on. Per a statement released Friday by Mos Def's publicist, he actually did not have a permit.

The tune of choice was the free-style "Katrina Clap," which targets the Bush administration for its much-criticized response to Hurricane Katrina last year.

It was then, according to MTV's source, that additional cops approached the group and ordered the operation shut down. Mos Def was performing and was not aware of the order, the person said, and police started arresting members of his entourage, including Mos Def's brother.

"Mos Def chose to use his voice to speak for those who are losing their own during this critical period of reconstruction," the performer's rep, Carleen Donovan, said in a statement. "[He] was in the middle of performing and as soon as he was made aware of the police's presence, he shut everything down. His staff and team were willing to comply as well but the police overreacted. Mos Def was not charged but given a summons for operating a sound-reproduction device without a permit, which he is going to contest."

Mos Def, whose film credits include The Italian Job, HBO's Something the Lord Made and the upcoming musical Dreamgirls, has a new album, Tru3 Magic, coming out Sept. 19.

On the other side of Radio City's hallowed walls Thursday, a dependably hyper Jack Black was doing a routine job of hosting the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards. Panic! at the Disco picked up Video of the Year honors for "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" and James Blunt and Gnarls Barkley picked up the most wins of the night with two apiece.