‘I’m definitely not gonna walk away from a problem,’ MC says of altercation in Miami.
By Shaheem Reid
N.O.R.E. arrest mug shot
Photo: AP Photo/ Miami Beach Police Department
N.O.R.E. made an unofficial remix of Jamie Foxx’s “Blame It on the Alcohol,” and after being arrested early Sunday morning in Miami, the Queens MC is doing exactly that: blaming the incident on alcohol. The only thing is, the MC didn’t even have a drink.
“It was crazy,” Noreaga said via phone Monday about the altercation at a Miami Beach Fatburger. The rapper is accused of punching an unidentified in the face and throwing yellow liquid on him. “At the end of the day, I’m not the type of person that runs around starting trouble. But I can’t be provoked too much. I was walking to the bathroom, the guy offered me to have a drink with him. I told him I don’t drink, but even when I do drink, I don’t drink brown liquor.
“That’s what people do — they have liquor left over from the club,” Nore continued. “They take the liquor out of the club and have it in their cars. This was 4 or 5 in the morning. So the dude, he kept offering me something I don’t mess with. It got out of control at one point. I went to the bathroom, came back, told the dude, ‘Yo, chill. I’m not that type of person.’ I’m not an instigator, but I’m definitely not a chump. I’m definitely not gonna walk away from a problem.”
N.O.R.E. said he couldn’t elaborate much further, but he did say that he didn’t throw yellow liquid on anyone. He thinks the alcohol he was offered might be what ended up on the other man. The Queens rapper also said that when he asked, according to the police report, “Do you know who I am?,” he was not being arrogant. He said he was unsure if the other man knew who he was or mistook him for another celebrity.
“I don’t wanna say that part is fully made up,” he said. “At the end of the day, I’m a person who hates fame. I wish I could be the original Ghostface when Ghostface came out with the mask and all that. I couldn’t understand. I think that’s what the dude told police. The guy changed around the story to make it seem like we were antagonizing him, when in fact, it was the other way around. That’s not who I am. Honestly, I’m not sure, if the dude knew who I was or if his friends knew who I was. If he didn’t know who I was, why would I provoke him like, ‘Listen, a–hole, this is who I am so you know who to tell the police’? Maybe somewhere along the line he thought Nore was a sucker, or maybe he didn’t really know who I was. All my crew got locked up. Everybody is out. I’m able to laugh at the incident, because nobody was hurt. Even the ‘victim,’ him, his friends, nobody was injured. It was a good night gone bad. At the end of the day, love to homeboy, [but] I hope I don’t ever see him again in life.”
Nore’s humor about the incident isn’t just about those involved. He also wants to poke fun at blogger Perez Hilton. N.O. said he was surprised to see Perez had the incident on his blog Monday. Hilton wrote “Busted!” on Nore’s mugshot and called the rapper a “Queen” and a “d—–bag.”
“Perez Hilton called me a d—–bag,” Nore laughed off. “This dude is hilarious. I’m gonna let Perez Hilton have it, because it’s so funny that a fat gay guy called me a d—–bag. He called me a ‘queen’ too. He called me ‘Pitbull.’ I’m gonna have fun with it.”
N.O.R.E. didn’t waste any time. On his Web site, 57thAve.com, he posted a spoof video in which someone impersonating Hilton robs him of all his jewelry, including his iced-out carton of Newport cigarettes.
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