One of the members of an iconic New York group that played an instrumental role in cementing hip-hop’s place in music was arrested Wednesday for the fatal stabbing of a homeless man in Midtown, police said.
Nathaniel Glover, best known as The Kidd Creole from Bronx-bred outfit Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, told officers that he thought the man uttered a gay slur before the stabbing in the vicinity of East 44th Street and Third Avenue just before midnight Tuesday.
A police source told NBC4 that Glover told police he had been wearing headphones when he thought the man made the slur and an altercation that led to the stabbing ensued.
The victim was identified as John Jolly, a 55-year-old convicted sex offender who had 17 prior arrests, authorities said.
Jolly, who had multiple stab wounds in his torso, was taken to Bellevue Hospital after bystanders called police and was later pronounced dead.
Glover, 57, confessed that he stabbed Jolly and was arrested at his Bronx home on Wednesday. He was charged with murder and is expected to appear in court Thursday. The former musician worked as a security guard in a building near the scene of the stabbing, NBC4 reported.
The former musician had four prior arrests, officials said. The most recent one, for possession of a knife, occurred in 2007, and he was also arrested in 1982 and 1995 for possessing a firearm. The fourth arrest is sealed.
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five formed in the South Bronx in 1976 and had mainstream success after the release of the 1982 song, “The Message,” the title track of the group’s debut album.
In 2007, it became the first hip-hop group to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
