A gunman targeted rapper Freddie Gibbs outside his performance at New York's largest record store, injuring two of his companions, police and reports said today.
The assailant opened fire after the rapper, known for his dark tales of street life, left his sold-out show yesterday night at Rough Trade, a branch of the famous London store in Brooklyn's hipster haven of Williamsburg.
Two men inside Gibbs' car were hospitalized for bullet wounds. One, who is 29, was being treated for injuries to his left leg, while the other, 33, was shot in the right hand and later discharged, a police spokeswoman said.
Police were investigating the incident and have not made arrests, she said.
Gibbs was not injured. He posted a picture of himself on Twitter with the message, "Yep. Still Livin. Thanks NYC."
The New York Post said one of its reporters spoke to Gibbs soon after the shooting and that he likened the incident to the 1996 killing in Las Vegas of hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur.
"They tried to kill Tupac. They tried to kill me," he was quoted as saying without further speculating on the motive.
The report said the gunman had trailed Gibbs throughout the night and tried to blend in with his entourage.
Gibbs has won critical acclaim for his accounts of rough street life in his hometown of Gary, Indiana -- best known musically as the birthplace of the Jackson Five, but which has decayed as the steel industry declines.
On his latest album, "Pinata," made with fellow musician Madlib, Gibbs raps about street killings and dealing drugs. But a hit from the album, "Harold's," is a comparatively light and upbeat ode to Harold's Chicken Shack, a fried chicken chain on Chicago's South Side.
"A plate of chicken with the bread stuck to the bottom / But fuck my enemies / What are you looking for, bitch? / I got 'em," runs the refrain.
Rough Trade NYC opened a year ago in Williamsburg, with New York's biggest record store and an attached concert hall and bar amid a resurgence in vinyl sales. No spectators were injured in yesterday's shooting.
