Derrick Parker, the former NYPD detective known as the "Hip-Hop Cop" for his work in the city's rap-related intelligence unit in the 1990s, has died.He was 65.His brother, Ralph, told Fox News Digital Monday he died unexpectedly on July 24 at a hospital in New York's Nassau County.
He did not give a cause.A funeral is scheduled for Thursday at the J Foster Phillips Funeral Home in Jamaica, New York.Derrick J.Parker was the former head of the NYPD's rap intelligence unit when the city's hip-hop scene exploded in popularity in the 1990s.
His work included monitoring high-profile artists and their entourages as they came and went from the Big Apple.He said he shared his strategies to reduce violence in the music industry in other parts of the country, including in Miami and Atlanta.TUPAC SHAKUR MURDER SUSPECT TAKES CENTER STAGE AT TRIAL NEARLY 30 YEARS AFTER SHOOTING SHOCKED MUSIC WORLDLongtime NYPD Detective Derrick Parker pictured in New York in 2024.
He was part of an intelligence unit that focused on hip-hop artists and their entourages during the 1990s.(Stefano Giovannini)He also served as a homicide and cold case detective during a career that spanned more than 20 years and worked alongside the US Marshals, the ATF, the DEA and the FBI, according to his website."You have to watch and see who's coming to your city.
Who's there and who's what," he told Fox News Digital in a 2024 interview."We can't track everybody, but when certain people come to the city, you should know who, especially certain people that are on your radar.
That's the way I look at it."Much of the job, he said, involved keeping law enforcement and nightclub management aware of who was going where in order to avoid potential confrontations between rival groups.CASSIE VENTURA FLED THE UNITED STATES AFTER TESTIFYING AGAINST DIDDY IN SEX CRIMES TRIAL: DOCSSean "Diddy" Combs, the Notorious B.I.G.and Lil Kim — three of rap music's biggest '90s stars.
(Getty Images)He played a role in the 1999 i...