In a shooting Thursday a Vallejo hip-hop rap artist Demar Bernstein aka Turf Talk was shot in the face in a drive-by attack outside a small recording studio about 12:45 a.m. The suspect escaped, and witnesses told police they saw nothing, which police said they don''t believe.

Police first encountered the victim, Demar Bernstein, 26, after he walked into Sutter Solano Medical Center, where he was treated and apparently released.

Turk Talk told officers the shooting unfolded after he left a studio at 777 Tuolumne Street, which is on the second floor of a business complex several blocks from the Vallejo courthouse.

Rap artist Turf Talk said he was sitting in a maroon sport utility vehicle on nearby Louisiana Street when someone drove by and fired several rounds, Cpl. Sid DeJesus said. Several shots from a small-caliber pellet shotgun hit Bernstein in the face at a range of about 20 feet, DeJesus said.

Turf Talk told police he drove into a nearby alley to escape the assailant, but the suspect followed him and continued to fire before eventually fleeing, Cpl. Sid DeJesus said. Turf Talk told police he did not know the suspect and could not describe the suspect's vehicle.

The exact name of the studio was unclear. Police said the owner of the studio is in jail on unrelated charges.

Turf Talk's cousin and mentor is legendary rap and hip-hop artist E-40. E-40 is a Vallejo hip-hop pioneer who has spent more than a decade perfecting his own idiosyncratic version of California gangsta rap

The motive for the shooting is under investigation, Cpl. Sid DeJesus said.