Thug Life Army

Yesterday folks from coast to coast were inundated with troubling news that Hip Hop artist Paris was shot dead during a home invasion here in Northern Cali.

Frantic calls to hip-hop rap artist Paris's cell phone were not returned. Calls to his home which normally has an answering machine found no answering machine. This immediately led to people thinking the worse.

Calls to the Northern California's sheriff department resulted in information seekers being told that there was no record of a homicide or home invasion robbery in or around Paris'' neighborhood; however what was discovered was the shooting death of a Taurus Jackson who is a new member and hype man for The Coup which features Boots Riley.

The similarities in name had people thinking that Taurus who shares the same last name as Paris (Jackson) was the same people. While people were happy to finally hear back from Paris who had turned off his phone yesterday to go hiking, people were sad to hear about the Coup's lost. Our condolences go out to Boots and Pam the Funkstress.

I met Taurus a couple of months ago during The Coup's performance in Washington DC at an anti-war demonstration. Boots explained that he was a local cat from West Oakland who was trying to be put on and had al to of energy and enthusiasm. Boots was giving him that much needed break by allowing him to be the hype man for the group. He will definitely be missed.

Below is the news story in the Bay Insider

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Robbers kill man inside his home

Victim, 36, pistol-whipped and shot after he is approached by pair outside West Oakland house seeking cash

FROM STAFF REPORTS

OAKLAND — Robbers pistol-whipped and then shot to death a West Oakland man Tuesday morning, moments after threatening one of his relatives to force him to reveal where his cash was, police said.

"It looks like he didn''t move fast enough, so they killed him," homicide Sgt. Phil Green said.

Slain was Tarus Jackson, 36, also known as Terrance Jackson, who police said was a "hype man" for The Coup, a widely known West Oakland rap group he joined a year ago.

Police said Jackson was outside his home in the 800 block of Wood Street just before 7 a.m. when he was confronted by the two armed robbers and forced back inside.

"He was definitely the target," Green said. "They had good reason to believe he had a sizable amount of money inside."

Green said the robbers demanded money from Jackson. It was not until they threatened to kill another person in the house that Jackson finally told them where some money was.

The assailants got a large amount of cash, but Green would not say how much.

Before leaving, the robbers ordered Jackson to lie on the floor. When he apparently did not move fast enough for them, he was pistol-whipped and shot, Green said.

No one else was injured, and Jackson was pronounced dead at Highland Hospital at 7:53 a.m.Green said Jackson's duties with The Coup included getting the audience primed for their performance. Relatives told police he returned Thursday from a three-week, 36-city tour, Green said.

Green said that before joining the group, Jackson worked at a car rental agency. He left after being injured on the job.

Jackson's killing was the city's 75th homicide of the year.

Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland are offering up to $12,000 in reward money for information leading to the suspects'' arrest. Anyone with information can call police at 510-238-3821 or Crime Stoppers at 510-238-6946.

Again to say the least this is a sad day for Bay Area Hip Hop. I did speak with Paris yesterday and he was shocked. Also in the mix was Paris'' rap artist T-Kash who was also a hype man for the Coup. People thought he was the one who had been killed..