northenlad

Yeah, Stringer saw the bigger picture, and potentially his moves would have been beneficial for everyone in the long run, maybe even everyone beyond their own organisation (i.e. the the whole pj and beyond). Avon was stubborn, but I didn't feel going behind his back was the best way to go about addressing that, after all they were close. Stringer should have gone his separate way and Avon should have respected that decision. Obviously, this is a drama and accurate to real life because things don't play out ideally. That would've ruined the Wire though, it wouldn't have been the same show without that internal power struggle, plus it wouldn't have led to one of my favourite scenes when Omar and Mouzone take out Stringer in unison. I really need to watch this again as I think I'm having selective memory on how I remember it. Although I prefer Wire to Soprano's, I enjoyed both series, it's a close call for me though. It's sad watching the cycle with each season of the Wire, whilst the police are working at the top level criminals, it seems there was very little being done to stop the new stream coming through at the bottom end. Highlights the losing battle, can't remember the exact quote but one I liked was something about the war on drugs, and Herc makes some comment about wars ending.

Nah, i thought Avon kept it real. Stringer was next wannabe Clay 'sheeeeeittt' Davis, in my opinion. Would have supported String more in his approach if it didn't feel like he was only out for himself. Need to watch again tho, been a long time so maybe not remembering quite right, Wire >>> Soprano's though.

Just looking again, on the 5th January 2012 court report, it states that "Woods also wrote lyrics in praise of rapper Kevin Georgiou, 26, who was earlier cleared of involvement in the shooting." I can post it all if you like, this suggests it was Woods/Ginger. I'm not here to argue back and forth with you, to be honest I'm only here for the Bum Appreciation Thread...

@ OJ Simpson - I owe you an apology bro, I was quick to make a flippent reponse to you because I assumed you were being ignorant, but obviously you are clued up more so than me, evidently. Here is the full report below regarding the lyrics. From actually taking time to read it properly, it's the semantics of the report that led me to misinterpret it. It doesn't explicitly state that Samuel Woods wrote the lyrics, it only refers to an unnamed 17-year-old. Jospeh Mene-Otubu did not write the lyrics, based on the fact the report states clearly that he is 19 whilst the author of the lyrics (unidentified and accused of attempted murder) is only 17. If i've again misinterpreted this let me know. So your guess is as good as mine as to who actually answered bail with the lyrics. Do you mind if I ask if law/legal is your profession? Or just a personal interest? MENE-OTUBU: RAPPER WAS CAUGHT WITH LYRICS AT POLICE STATION A teenage shooting suspect wrote an incriminating rap praising an alleged accomplice's signing to superstar Jay Z's Roc Nation record label, a court heard. The 17-year-old carelessly kept the handwritten lyrics in his pocket when he answered bail at a police station over the gunning down of a 27-year-old footballer. Kevin Georgiou, 26, who performs under the name K-Koke, was on the brink of stardom when he was involved in shooting a man for straying onto their 'turf.' The 17-year-old, who is also a rapper, is accused of attempted murder on March 9, this year, along with Georgiou and three other teenagers, including a 17-year-old girl. He turned up at a police station following his arrest shortly afterwards, with a two-page rap reflecting on the 'AM', an abbreviation for 'attempted murder'. The, sheets featuring neat handwriting, were quickly found by officers who searched him. 'Right now my life is a mayhem,' he wrote. '..got nicked for an AM. 'Bailed till the 23rd and back 2 report in the AM. 'CCTV footage of the part we was playing. 'They just don't know all the thing we was saying. 'No comment all the way no-one's Betraying.' He went on to describe an important silver lining, jurors heard. 'Not everything's Bad some things are amazing,' noted the teenager. 'Koke's even signed 2 the nation. 'Youtube love's crazy he's the best their stating.' The victim was hunted down on his way home from a crime prevention football tournament and shot at Harlesden station, northwest London, Blackfriars Crown Court has heard. He has been granted anonymity by a judge and can be referred to only as 'Paul'. One witness has told how he overheard a quarrel and he was just feet away from the victim when he heard a 'very, very loud' shotgun blast. He watched as Paul's friends helped him onto a Bakerloo line train, which was halted at the next station, Willesden Junction, where the victim received treatment for his injuries. Surgeon's operated on him at St Mary's Hospital in nearby Paddington, jurors have heard. Georgiou, of Lawrence Ave, Harlesden, nw London, denies attempted murder and possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence. A 16-year-old boy, of Harlesden, two 17-year-old boys, of Harlesden and Wembley, nw London, and a 17-year-old girl, of Cricklewood, northwest London, deny like charges. Joseph Mene-Otubu, 19, of the Stonebridge Estate, denies intentionally encouraging or assisting the commission of an indictable only offence, namely the provision of a firearm. He is said to have received a mobile phone call from one of the gang members and 'made sure a gun was available'. The girl further denies perverting the course of justice. The trial continues. ends memo The stills were shown to the jury by Georgiou's barrister Michael Skelley to highlight an identification issue. There is clearly no issue with 'K Koke' name being published. Care should be taken not to show anyone else in the frame due to section 39 orders. There has yet to be legal argument about whether the actual video clip can be played as it contains explicit gun references about blasting people's heads off. News outlets should not use the clip until the judge has ruled it can be played to the jury.

Ok officer, cps, solicitor, law student or whatever you are, I obviously haven't considered this as thoughtfully as you so i stand corrected.

@ 'O.J. Simpson' Ok, firstly, just because YOU don't know something doesn't mean it isn't true, or hasn't occurred. I should have said arrested rather than imprisoned, which would be more accurate. If you don't believe that people have been arrested for posing in pictures with guns then that is up to you, but that my friend it is a fact. With regards to paperwork, it's not uncommon for a snitch to appear as an unknown or anonymous source, especially more recently in cases whereby the information has been gained from police posing as young people in order to access Facebook pages etc, and in order to effectively spy on those they believe to be involved in criminality. They don't want that person to know they are spying on them. If I'm wrong about Ginger then I accept that, but what the report stated on the case was " The 17-year-old carelessly kept the handwritten lyrics in his pocket when he answered bail at a police station over the gunning down of a 27-year-old footballer." So if that is not true then obviously the police or whoever have made it up.

It was written by Gwenton Sloley, came out in 2010 and was called 'From the Streets to Scotland Yard' - wouldn't bother wasting your money on it though.

Don't really know anything about OC to be honest with you. I'm not from south. Just searched 'polow' - allow calling me polow, from the posts I saw of his, I take that as an insult.

It's kind of accurate, but most of the Hackney section is based on secondary sources, like the court news archive. All of Hackney's business has already been baited up intimately in a book by Gwenton Sloley (Que) who ran with LOM, Holly Street, Pembury, Rowdy. He talks about the motives behind cases such as Poops etc, he started working with police sort of, so he called his book 'from the streets to scotland yard', but it hypes alot! Does the book mention Fox? I don't remember Gwenton's book mentioning Fox. Maybe there is a bit that says about him still robbing youths despite been a fully grown old man, but can't remember anything of note. To the person who said about dry snitching, open your eyes bro. Nobody needs to dry snitch because man on road aren't exactly inconspicuous about their business (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter feed, SpiffTV, Streetz Selected, MySpace...). How many people you know got locked up for posing with guns, it's ridiculous. Then they coming out saying who snitched? Look at Ginger from Stonebridge, was called to return to the police station, and the lyrics that helped convict him were in his back pocket. Nothing is a secret in the ends, everybody knows everybody's business and the internet has given them a voice to share it with the masses.

It's kind of accurate, but most of the Hackney section is based on secondary sources, like the court news archive. All of Hackney's business has already been baited up intimately in a book by Gwenton Sloley (Que) who ran with LOM, Holly Street, Pembury, Rowdy. He talks about the motives behind cases such as Poops etc, he started working with police sort of, so he called his book 'from the streets to scotland yard', but it hypes alot!

Dropping 9th June, think there is going to be a launch event for those with a vested interest in making a difference 9th of June is the date Jadie Brissett was shot dead on the Fields estate by members of the Holly Street Boys. Robyn was friends with Jadie from school days, so will be in memory of him

/thread Funniest thing have seen in a while - what made you think of something so arbitrary? There would be no racism perhaps? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i9iTYe6tEk

Just seen posted: http://londonstreetgangs.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/book-review-freedom-from-womb-prisoner.html For those who can't be f*cked with reading, there's a video also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiaCEXoiDNk Book Review Freedom from the womb, prisoner to the streets Author: Robyn Travis I had the privilege of being one of the very first people to read Robyn Travis’ new book, Freedom from the Womb, Prisoner to the Streets (abbreviated as P2TS from herein). Here at London Street Gangs, we have spent over several years documenting what has been regarded as a burgeoning gang culture facing the streets of London, even before the police and politicians were willing to publicly accept that gangs might even exist. Following the extremely concerning rise in the volume of teen homicides in 2007 and 2008, which saw almost 60 teenagers lose their lives, Londoners descended into a moral panic spurred on by exaggerated and sensationalised media reports of a feral underclass and a gang culture approaching something akin to the United States. This crucial period where we should have been attempting to understand the problem in real terms and begin to address the root causes was lost, and instead the problem was simply reduced to one of “gangs”. Gangs were deemed to be the issue, and all of a sudden a reluctance to label young people in groups as gangs was turned into a situation where every group of young people, especially in deprived inner city communities, was now being afforded the label. Whilst the government and authorities came up with knee-jerk responses, focussed predominantly on enforcement tactics, a number of journalists and authors capitalised on the issue. Swathes of media reports and books were published, often taking insight from young men purporting to be gang members who appropriately confirmed many of the stereotypes we might gain from watching US urban dramas. Even Ross Kemp jumped on the bandwagon with the at times ludicrous ‘Ross Kemp: Teenage Gangs of South London’. Michael W Story sums it up well in his brief presentation on ‘London’s 66,000 guns’ where he points out such stereotypes – the gritty urban scenes, rap music, council estates and claims by young people that they ‘can get access to sub-machine guns in a matter of minutes’. Many of those gang members that defined the content of such media reports and other publications were young men, impressionable and wanting to tell their story, about how theirgangs were violent, that they had atrocious upbringings that confined them to lives of crime as long as they could remember. The stories we saw were bleak, and to many people they would have been shocking eye-openers to a world alien to most. However, it would not be completely out of the question to consider that young people are quite capable of telling lies, of boasting, and trying to boost their ego and enhance their own reputations, you all saw the Sky News interview with alleged looters by the River Thames in south-east London following the riots. Did anyone buy it? Robyn, was perceived to be a gang member, although he wouldn’t describe himself as such despite earning a bad boy reputation with the Holly Street Boys. The Holly Street Boys and London Fields Boys from E8 in Hackney, separated by less than half a mile laying either side of Queensbridge Road, was the first ever war within a post code. Robyn was a key figure within the Holly Street Boys. He was the definition of a prisoner to the street and is not afraid to admit it. He would ride or die for the estates namesake and for his friends. This wartriggered a breakdown in the relationship between groups of young people within estates in the borough of Hackney, a trend which later followed across London. The ‘Postcode Wars’were born. A competitive mentality that had never been so localised, to the extent that reppin’ boroughs transcended to ‘Reppin the ends’. His account in P2TS is one of an articulate young man who has had time to reflect on his teenage years as a ‘gang member’. This book is not about boasting of gang exploits, violent crimes and portraying a hard life. P2TS is a brutally honest reflection of Robyn’s own life and that of his peers who grew up to be part of the London Fields and Holly Street rivalry. I spoke to a friend who has worked with gangs in London for 10 years and we agreed that it is about time someone wrote a book to rival the more salacious texts that have dominated in recent years. This book will do much to balance the skewed picture, often perpetuated by those wishing to keep the gang alive, by simply telling the truth. Robyn, like many who we read about that have been involved with gangs, has certainly had tough times and struggled through a series of unfortunate events. But he doesn’t use these as excuses or as mitigation for his own involvement with gangs. He does not accept that young people are born as ‘Soldiers’ from a young age, something many young people try to portray when interviewed on their gang experience. Throughout P2TS you will learn the human side of those the authorities are quick these days to label ‘gang member’. Through the hard times Robyn shares personal moments of good times and happiness, his love of football and desire to one day play with the Arsenal, his loving grandmothers home cooked meals and the celebration of his own children and re-entry into education. There are no stereotypes in P2TS, the gangster dealing drugs and making a nice living is a distant reality. Robyn quite openly accepts that as a gangster he was broke, broke as a joke. Even so broke that at times he went without food. Whilst at the peak of his time with the Holly Street Boys, having a fearsome reputation on the streets of Hackney, young Robyn briefly made a living cleaning tables at a Chiquito’s restaurant in London’s West End, never was he a stranger to hard work. When he asked for more hours and an opportunity to progress from minimum wage he was continuously shunned, taking offence. The branch manager then accused Robyn of petty theft and he lost his job. Another male, who looked nothing like Robyn, was found to be the culprit and caught on CCTV. You can’t help but feel that had he remained in work, he might never have become even more involved in the streets. Robyn’s life has taken him close to death, he has lost many people close to him and has served time in prison. He can now reflect on the rivalry that still burns to this day between Holly Street and London Fields, and can see it for what it is, pointless. Groups of boys who once were friends and attended school together fighting for the title of Hackney amidst two run down council estates owned by a system they so openly detest, yet continue to play into the hands of. Robyn’s book is the sad truth, he isn’t afraid to let his ego stand in the way of that, and sees it as a key obstacle in brokering understanding between rival groups of young men. P2TS offers the full spectrum of human emotions that we can all relate to and most importantly it gives us real insight into the mindsets and mentality of young people caught up in gangs. This is unquestionably the most authentic portrayal of life on the roads.

When I say 'Don of Dons', I mean as in don of all the Shower dons, rather than D-of-D period. He was in charge of Shower, and also in charge of Shower dons based in other countries. It's funny you mention Skeng, there is a Jamaican national in south London who goes by the name Skeng, he is from Tivoli.

Loads of people linked to Shower in London, mainly from Ghetto (now Shower) and N17N15. Current worldwide don of dons, Christopher Dudas Coke - his father first came to London with other Shower dons in 1980's