Suspect in 4 Killings Posted Violent Rap Songs

As controversy over Buju Banton's (Banton is pictured at left) scheduled performance this week at the NORVA Theater continues to swirl, news of brutal murders in sleepy Farmville, Virginia, suggest that violent songs about murder and violence can just maybe lead to terrible consequences. Banton can say whatever he wants, but sing about shooting gays and throwing acid on the victims bodies may be all that some deranged folks need to put them over the edge - especially when such performers appear at what are allegedly respectable venues. I continue to hope that the NORVA will see the light and if the venue doesn't, the planned protests at the theater will bring the NORVA some less than flattering media coverage. Here are highlights from the Virginian Pilot about a case of song lyrics becoming reality:

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Richard Alden Samuel McCroskey III rapped about the thrill of murder in songs he posted on the Internet. Police believe the fantasy lyrics became a gruesome reality in a small Virginia college town. McCroskey, 20, was being held Sunday in the killings of four people who were found at a Longwood University professor's home near campus in Farmville, which is about 50 miles west of Richmond. McCroskey, of Castro Valley, Calif., faces charges of first-degree murder, robbery and grand larceny of an automobile, said Farmville police Capt. Wade Stimpson.

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The aspiring rapper in the underground horrorcore genre, which sets violent lyrics to hip-hop beats, was arrested Saturday at a Richmond airport, where authorities believe he was trying to catch a flight back to California. A day earlier, authorities discovered the bodies in the home of Debra S. Kelley, an associate professor of sociology and criminal justice studies, school spokeswoman Gina Caldwell. Authorities have not released the names of those killed or said how they died. McCroskey recorded songs that spoke of death, murder and mutilation under the name Syko Sam.

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"You're not the first, just to let you know. I've killed many people and I kill them real slow. It's the best feeling, watching their last breath. Stabbing and stabbing till there's nothing left," McCroskey sings in "My Dark Side."

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I am all for free speech, but do we really need such vile garbage being sung on the airwaves? It is beyond sick - just like Banton's songs about murdering gays.