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'As me come out of the house me a think and me a wonder What police officers could want with Smiley Culture'?'


Mame Biram Diouf

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British reggae star Smiley Culture has died during a police raid in Surrey.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has said it will investigate the death of the musician, whose real name was David Emmanuel.

The Metropolitan Police said the force was carrying out an arrest warrant at a house in Warlingham at 0700 GMT.

Emmanuel, 48, was due to face trial at Croydon Crown Court next Monday for conspiracy to supply cocaine. His biggest hit was 1984's Police Officer.

The record reached number 12 in the UK charts. His other singles included Cockney Translation and Schooltime Chronicle.

Rise of reggae

A Met spokesman said officers from the Serious and Organised Crime Command were carrying out an arrest warrant.

He said: "While they were at the address, an incident occurred during which a 48-year-old man died.

"Officers from Surrey Police attended the incident and it has been formally referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission."

Smiley Culture made a cameo appearance in the David Bowie film Absolute Beginners in 1986, but failed to achieve mainstream exposure.

He recently featured in the BBC4 documentary Reggae Britannia which explored the rise of UK reggae.

f*ck*ng murdering pigs no doubt this will be seen as an accident and be swept under the carpet

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A nice piece in the guardian.

Few people are surprised any more by a reggae artist's untimely death, not even when it is as bizarre as Smiley Culture's seems to be. My biggest fear is that this icon of British reggae rap will end up as a mere footnote in the annals of rock'n'roll.

Say Smiley Culture and pop pickers of a certain age will go, "Wasn't he the one-hit wonder who did that record Police Officer? My kids love it and so does my mother ..."

They don't know the half of it.

At the time – 1984 – being pulled over and being issued with the ignominious "producer" (a notice to produce driving documents at a police station within seven days) was a recreational hazard for young black drivers like me in flash cars. It was one of the many issues that made us feel immigrant.

Smiley's Police Officer made us all see the funny side of it. Cause he was the cheeky chappie from south London who told it like it would have been if Cheech & Chong had written the script. And the punchline when it comes is what we all wish would be the outcome whenever the cops pull us over.

But that's not all. I'd go as far as to say that through his musical slapstick, Smiley made it OK for guys like me to chat cockney without being regarded as "coconuts", and for white guys to speak "yardie" without being regarded as wiggers – or, worse, Jim Davidson.

Smiley's first and best hit Cockney Translation with its classic line, "Cockney have names like Terry, Arthur and Del Boy / We have names like Winston, Lloyd and Leroy" stopped you dead in your tracks at the very moment when black Britons were wrestling with the Tebbit acid test.

I didn't realise that I could support England and the West Indies until I heard it. Because 25 years ago black guys were still struggling to get into a lot of the white clubs – which were of course playing black music. Our parents stood up to this discrimination by building mobile discos called sounds or sound systems, playing tunes from "back-a-yard".

My pioneering generation of black Britons wanted our own MCs, just as lovers rock a few years before had given us our own reggae singers. Out of that grew a much more vibrant and entertaining expression of second-generation black Britons based around the Saxon Sound System in Smiley's end of southeast London.

It was at a Saxon dance in Deptford in 1984 or 1985 that I first saw Smiley perform his cockney anthem. And you know, for the first time in my life I relished in being black and British ... and was proud of it. And it wasn't just me. I could see the same feeling in the 500 or so other youngsters in the place.

Above all Smiley Culture made us laugh. Together. Because white guys could see the funny side of it, too. And in just the same way that 2-Tone made a lot of white guys realise that black guys were OK, Smiley Culture and Saxon Sound made a lot of black guys feel that white guys weren't too bad either.

If Smiley hadn't made it cool for black Brits to chat "British" on record UK rappers would probably still be chatting "yankee" and there would have been no UK vocal flava to drum and bass, two step, dub step or grime. There would be no Dizzie or Tinie Tempah.

And if Smiley had been born a generation later he would have probably been picking up all those gongs at the Brits as well. But I fear that Smiley's story, like the story of the many pioneers of the first generation of black Britons (the second generation of "black immigrant" to Britain) will never be properly told because our revolution in this country was never televised.

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http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/13375130

f*cked, interesting. guy was a diamond n gold trader.

During a press conference for the singer Smiley Culture (real name David Emmanuel), who died from a single stab wound to the heart during a police raid on 15th March, the family and well wishers inferred that foul play may have taken place.

Such allegations are very easy to dismiss as emotion driven conspiracy theories (I admit I originally did so myself), however the questions that the family asked are not easy to answer, and have not been answered.

The pertinent question is:

• Why would experienced police officers let a person caught in a drug-related raid get up and stroll into the kitchen in order to “make a cup of tea”?

The story that arises as a result of the question above is, as the family described it, peculiar.

• Did David really stab himself in the heart so hard that it penetrated right through his body and came through the other side?

• Would the calculated risk of a drug-related potential prison sentence drive a person, described by those that knew him best as calculating, very calm and pleasant really drive him to such a brutal suicide?

• Why on earth are anonymous police sources engaging in public relations management by speculating to the press about this issue when the family of a man (who died in police custody) has not even had their questions answered?

This could all be a result of a very unfortunate blunder. I personally hope that it is.

With that said, both those who have been subjected to police raids and actual police officers agree that it sounds at best strange and certainly contrary to procedure for officers to let a person pop out of the room – unsupervised - to make a cup of tea, during a drug bust.

The job of policing London is a difficult and thankless one (not to mention underpaid). You’ll always be identified with, and remembered for, your errors and mistakes regardless of how minute they are or how well you do the job. I sympathise with the Met but there are times when the police could be better friends to themselves. This could quite easily emerge as one of them.

There are very serious questions that require clear and loud answers. For its own sake the Met needs to answer them.

Smiley police 'have lot to answer'

(UKPA) – 1 day ago

The family of reggae star Smiley Culture has demanded that police reveal details of his "bizarre" death during a raid.

The singer, whose real name was David Emmanuel, died of a single stab wound through the heart after four Metropolitan Police officers executed a search warrant at his Surrey home early on Tuesday morning.

His relatives were told he stabbed himself while making a cup of tea despite officers still being in his home. But they said the explanation of his death was "bizarre" and are demanding a public inquiry into how he died.

Smiley Culture, 48, found fame and appeared on Top of the Pops with a string of 1980s' hits including Cockney Translation and Police Officer.

His nephew, Merlin Emmanuel, told a press conference: "We haven't had a clear, coherent, official explanation as to what happened to Smiley.

"The police have a lot to answer to. Until our questions, queries and suspicions have been fully and competently answered to dispel any notion of foul play, we will not rest. The truth must be known. Justice must be served."

Police watchdog the IPCC has launched an investigation into the death.

IPCC commissioner Mike Franklin said: "I send my condolences to Mr Emmanuel's family and friends. I understand their concerns and am under no illusion about the seriousness of this case, its impact on them and the wider community.

"I want to reassure people that we will thoroughly scrutinise this incident and will update all those involved as we progress.

"I will also make the findings of our investigation public at the earliest opportunity. Until then, I would ask that speculation is avoided."

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Guest Esquilax

You would have to absolutely caked off your mind to stab yourself in the chest, to the point where you wouldn't feel it

But by that point I'm not sure you'd possess the motor skills for it

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Nah somebody has to be held accountable for this.

I seriously hope they get what they deserve based on the fact that it's wrong but even more so for the pitiful attempt they made at covering it up, he stabbed himself in the chest when we allowed him to go make a cup of tea? ^)

gtfoh, the fact this is the best excuse a team of police officers could come up with speaks volumes about the level of intelligence required to be on the force.

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