Miami Police Department Thinks Jay-Z Looks Like a Gangbanger

Jay-Z is on the cover of this month's Forbes. But the Miami Police Department still thinks he looks like your typical member of a street gang. The department's website is currently featuring a large mural-esque banner depicting five tough-looking characters, including one holding a bat and one throwing up a...

By Gus Garcia-Roberts

October 7, 2010

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Jay-Z is on the cover of this month's Forbes. But the Miami Police Department still thinks he looks like your typical member of a street gang.

The department's website is currently featuring a large mural-esque banner depicting five tough-looking characters, including one holding a bat and one throwing up a gang sign, and the plea: "Report Gang Activity".

By our estimation, forty percent of the gang's population is Jay-Z.

Here's the banner-- click on it for a closer look:

Here's the Jay-Z photo the central figure in the banner is clearly modeled after:

Note the hat, watch, pinky, arm band, folds of the football jersey, and the guy's damn face. The fellow on the left doing something gang-y with his fingers looks a lot like Jay-Z too, ~~but we haven't been able to find the source photo for that one yet~~. Update: Commenter "HipHopGame" has found the inspiration for the figure on the left:

Department spokesperson Napier Velasquez told Riptide he would contact MPD's IT department to learn more about the origins of the painting before commenting.

Our question is this: Couldn't they have found a photo of a real gang member on which to base their art? They are the police.

Update 2: While still refusing to comment, the Miami PD has removed the art from its website.

Gus Garcia-Roberts

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