Former rapper Nathaniel Glover, aka “the Kidd Creole,” who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, has been convicted for the fatal stabbing of a homeless NYC man.
Glover was arraigned in 2017 for stabbing 55-year-old John Jolly on the streets of midtown Manhattan. On Wednesday, a New York Supreme Court jury found the 62-year-old Bronx native guilty of first-degree manslaughter.
Glover was one of six members of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five inducted by Jay-Z into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. The group was responsible for the pioneering hip-hop smash “The Message.”
The fatal encounter occurred just before midnight on Aug. 1, 2017, as Glover was walking to his maintenance job. Creole told authorities the altercation began when Jolly, whom he had never met, approached him on the streets and said, “What’s up?”
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is New York City. It’s 12 o’clock at night. Who’s saying ‘What’s up?’ to you with good intentions?” Glover’s lawyer, Scottie Celestin, posed to the jury. “His fear for his life was reasonable.”
Soon into the confrontation, Glover pulled out a steak knife and stabbed Jolly twice in the chest. The victim was then transported to Bellevue Hospital, where he consequently died.
The former rapper’s legal team argued the crime should be considered self-defense and claimed Jolly — who was allegedly intoxicated during the attack — sustained non-life-threatening stab wounds, and that his death was caused by an unfortunate mix of alcohol and a sedative the hospital had provided him with.
However, prosecutors questioned the self-defense claims, referring to a police interview in which Glover allegedly admitted to attacking Jolly because he believed he was being hit on.
In a 2021 interview with Source, Glover shared his disdain for the “homophobic rapper” narrative that he said the press had begun to build.
“They basically portray me as the villain when I was the one just walking down the street minding my business,” stated Glover. “I had no intention when I left my house that night to do anything harmful to anybody, for any reason.”
“Now I’m fighting the image that they portrayed me as a person who’s intolerant of people with alternative lifestyles and that’s not true,” he told the magazine.
Glover’s sentencing hearing is set for May 4.