A Detroit battle rapper is feeling the heat today after a video showing his possible connections to dog fighting surfaced on the Internet, going viral in a matter of hours.
In the video, rapper Young Calicoe takes viewers on a tour of what appears to be the home base of an illegal dog-fighting operation.
“Anyone want fighting dogs?” the rapper asks. “I hope we don’t get indicted for that — that Michael Vick-type [expletive],” Calicoe adds in a reference to the NFL quarterback who served 19 months in prison for his role in an illegal dog fighting ring.
“We’ve got some more fighters over here, making that real money,” the rapper brags, the camera panning from cage to dilapidated doghouse, Pit Bulls barking, puppies whining. Calicoe calls the puppies, who appear to be mere weeks old, “champions in the making.”
The rapper also boasts about a rooster he keeps in a small cage between cockfights, one that he refers to as a “grand champ” while a colleague uses his hand to prod and provoke the large bird.
According to FOX News 12 Detroit, who spoke with Young Calicoe Monday, the rapper believes that the issue is being blown out of proportion and that he has done nothing wrong.
Calicoe claims that, despite what the video suggests, the video is about image and does not depict something in which he actually participates. In fact, he says the animals in the video aren’t even his — that they belong to a friend who is a real animal lover.
But many, concerned with the animals’ wellbeing, aren’t buying Young Calicoe’s denials, taking their anger out on the rapper’s Facebook page. One of the tamer wall posts refers to Calicoe as being responsible for giving the American Pit Bull Terrier the worst reputation in the dog world.
Michigan Humane Society spokesperson Kevin Hartman told the Detroit Free Press that the organization has received numerous calls and emails since Young Calicoe’s video went viral.
“Cruelty investigators are aware of it and are currently investigating,” Hartman said.
The Detroit Police Department has also been notified. Charges have yet to be filed, but the matter is under review.
Young Calicoe responded to the allegations via Twitter Sunday night, writing, “If u find a video of me ‘FIGHTING DOGS’ PLEEEEZE LET ME KNO.”
Sources: FOX News 12 Detroit, Detroit Free Press, MLive.com
