Rappers shot at over 'cranky old man' lyrics
Reuters | Tuesday, 16 December 2008A 70-year-old man opened fire with his hunting rifle on a rap group at a concert in northeast Senegal at the weekend because he felt their song lyrics were insulting him.
Five young people were wounded in the shooting incident at Lobali village in the Matam region on Senegal's border with Mauritania, some 700 km from the capital Dakar.
The man told the rappers to stop when they started singing about a "cranky old man," and when they did not, he opened fire with his rifle, a local police officer said.
"The elderly gentleman felt that these young people were insulting him in their songs," the officer added, saying the man was arrested.
Rap songs, whose lyrics often criticise political leaders, aspects of daily life or social behaviour, have become increasingly popular in recent years in mostly Muslim Senegal.
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