Kidd Creole, Rapper With Grandmaster Flash And The Furious Five, Gets 16 Years For Manslaughter

UPDATE, MAY 4:  Rapper Kidd Creole was sentenced today to 16 years in prison for the stabbing death of a homeless man.

The 62-year-old, whose real name is Nathaniel Glover, killed John Jolly, a 55-year-old vagrant.

“A life is a life, whether the person is homeless, whether the person is a CEO,” said Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Michele Rodney. “Within seconds … Mr. Jolly’s life was changed forever.”

The judge did not believe the defendant’s claims of self-defense.

“You didn’t know him,” she told him in court. “You didn’t know that he had a [history of] violence or was a sexual offender. Those things were not known and don’t have much relevance in terms of anybody’s action in this case.”

Kidd Creole was an original member of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, the first rap group to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Its songs include such classics as “The Message” and “New York New York.”

UPDATED: Rapper Kidd Creole has been found guilty of first-degree manslaughter for fatally stabbing a homeless man. The 62-year-old Creole faces a possible sentence of up to 25 years. He is slated to be sentenced on May 4.

EARLIER: Kidd Creole, part of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, the first rap group to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, is on trial for murder in New York City.

Creole, whose real name is Nathaniel Glover, is accused of stabbing a homeless man to death in 2017. His trial began on Friday.

The rapper is claiming self-defense in the case. Creole allegedly stabbed John Jolly twice in the chest with a steak knife after becoming enraged because, his lawyer said, he thought Jolly was gay and hitting on him.

The stabbing incident happened as Creole was heading to his maintenance job in midtown Manhattan around midnight on Aug. 1, 2017. Jolly allegedly asked him “What’s up?” to precipitate the confrontation.  .