Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Rhymes about guns

"I’m just speaking about urban life. I’m a storyteller, nothing more."

Brandon "Tiny Doo" Duncan, released on reduced bail, sees no justice in his time served.
Brandon "Tiny Doo" Duncan, released on reduced bail, sees no justice in his time served.

This is the first weekend that Brandon Duncan has seen his family since June 17, when he was taken from his Lincoln Park home and booked into the George Bailey Detention Center. His grandfather died while he was in jail.

“My grandfather raised me my entire life. I had to walk in my grandmother’s home and he wasn’t there. It was tough.”

Video:

Tiny Doo, "24 Hours"

Duncan, who uses the name Tiny Doo when he raps, is now back in the same house on La Paz Drive he’s lived all his life and which he shares with his grandmother and fiancée.

“I got back just before my first child is born.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

Duncan tells the Reader his son Messiah is due February 5.

Duncan, 34, was arrested in connection with nine shootings between 2012 and 2014. He was never connected to those shootings but prosecutors maintain his lyrics and his album artwork “glorified” gang violence and that was enough to arrest him and charge him with “criminal street gang conspiracy.”

“I’m sitting in jail and I’m watching people go home every day who committed actual crimes. I watch them go home and they admit I haven’t even done anything. They admit that. They admit I knew nothing about these crimes but that I am promoting violence with my music. I’m just speaking about urban life. I’m a storyteller, nothing more.”

Duncan was released Friday after his bail was reduced but must return to court for a preliminary trial hearing April 20.

Duncan blows up when I bring up that Ice T, now a cultural icon, once wrote songs that glorified killing police.

“Bob Marley wrote I shot the sheriff and he is loved. I guarantee if I would have written ‘I shot the sheriff but I did not shoot the deputy,’ they would have brought that up against me in court. This is ridiculous. Al Pacino played a drug dealer in Scarface, yet it is considered artistry. I’m not famous so they say what I wrote was inciting gang violence. Rap is an art form. It may not be an art form they like, but it is an art form people do love.”

Duncan is on a list that says he is a member of the Lincoln Park Bloods, the same list that also includes former neighbor and rap artist Charles Mitchell, a.k.a. Mitchy Slick. I told Duncan that I was informed two years ago by a sheriff’s detective that if he wanted to get his name off of that list, all he had to do was appear in court and prove to the judge that he was not an active member.

Duncan says that is not true.

“No way. That came up in court. The only way to get your name off that list is to either die, move away, or go to jail for the rest of your life. I have never been arrested for any crime.”

There was a total of 15 Lincoln Park Bloods arrested in this case. It appears the case is falling apart.

The 15 arrestees were divided into two groups. Judge David Gill dismissed the conspiracy charges against one group, and the other group (including Duncan) expected the charges to be dismissed as well. But on Friday, Judge Gill said he wasn’t sure if he could do that for Duncan’s group. Duncan was released only because his bail was reduced.

I ask Duncan if he thinks District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis should ultimately be on the hook for prosecuting him, or if Deputy D.A. Anthony Campagna specifically should be held professionally responsible for saying in court his prosecution of Duncan was based on the cover art for his CD No Safety, saying, “We’re not just talking about a CD of anything, of love songs, we’re talking about a CD cover. There’s a revolver with bullets.”

“I don’t know how to speak on that,” says Duncan. “But I do feel what they did was wrong. [Law enforcement] should do real police work and actually find the person who shot the gun, not the person who rhymes about guns. Not only are they harming the family of the person who got shot by not finding who shot them, but they are harming another family on top of that. Mine. Where is the justice in that?”

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

OSHA rules wall falls our fault

Who, U.S.?
Brandon "Tiny Doo" Duncan, released on reduced bail, sees no justice in his time served.
Brandon "Tiny Doo" Duncan, released on reduced bail, sees no justice in his time served.

This is the first weekend that Brandon Duncan has seen his family since June 17, when he was taken from his Lincoln Park home and booked into the George Bailey Detention Center. His grandfather died while he was in jail.

“My grandfather raised me my entire life. I had to walk in my grandmother’s home and he wasn’t there. It was tough.”

Video:

Tiny Doo, "24 Hours"

Duncan, who uses the name Tiny Doo when he raps, is now back in the same house on La Paz Drive he’s lived all his life and which he shares with his grandmother and fiancée.

“I got back just before my first child is born.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

Duncan tells the Reader his son Messiah is due February 5.

Duncan, 34, was arrested in connection with nine shootings between 2012 and 2014. He was never connected to those shootings but prosecutors maintain his lyrics and his album artwork “glorified” gang violence and that was enough to arrest him and charge him with “criminal street gang conspiracy.”

“I’m sitting in jail and I’m watching people go home every day who committed actual crimes. I watch them go home and they admit I haven’t even done anything. They admit that. They admit I knew nothing about these crimes but that I am promoting violence with my music. I’m just speaking about urban life. I’m a storyteller, nothing more.”

Duncan was released Friday after his bail was reduced but must return to court for a preliminary trial hearing April 20.

Duncan blows up when I bring up that Ice T, now a cultural icon, once wrote songs that glorified killing police.

“Bob Marley wrote I shot the sheriff and he is loved. I guarantee if I would have written ‘I shot the sheriff but I did not shoot the deputy,’ they would have brought that up against me in court. This is ridiculous. Al Pacino played a drug dealer in Scarface, yet it is considered artistry. I’m not famous so they say what I wrote was inciting gang violence. Rap is an art form. It may not be an art form they like, but it is an art form people do love.”

Duncan is on a list that says he is a member of the Lincoln Park Bloods, the same list that also includes former neighbor and rap artist Charles Mitchell, a.k.a. Mitchy Slick. I told Duncan that I was informed two years ago by a sheriff’s detective that if he wanted to get his name off of that list, all he had to do was appear in court and prove to the judge that he was not an active member.

Duncan says that is not true.

“No way. That came up in court. The only way to get your name off that list is to either die, move away, or go to jail for the rest of your life. I have never been arrested for any crime.”

There was a total of 15 Lincoln Park Bloods arrested in this case. It appears the case is falling apart.

The 15 arrestees were divided into two groups. Judge David Gill dismissed the conspiracy charges against one group, and the other group (including Duncan) expected the charges to be dismissed as well. But on Friday, Judge Gill said he wasn’t sure if he could do that for Duncan’s group. Duncan was released only because his bail was reduced.

I ask Duncan if he thinks District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis should ultimately be on the hook for prosecuting him, or if Deputy D.A. Anthony Campagna specifically should be held professionally responsible for saying in court his prosecution of Duncan was based on the cover art for his CD No Safety, saying, “We’re not just talking about a CD of anything, of love songs, we’re talking about a CD cover. There’s a revolver with bullets.”

“I don’t know how to speak on that,” says Duncan. “But I do feel what they did was wrong. [Law enforcement] should do real police work and actually find the person who shot the gun, not the person who rhymes about guns. Not only are they harming the family of the person who got shot by not finding who shot them, but they are harming another family on top of that. Mine. Where is the justice in that?”

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego's Uptown Planners challenged by renters from Vibrant Uptown

Two La Jolla planning groups fight for predominance
Next Article

Navy solves San Diego homeless crisis by retiring four locally moored ships

Decommision Accomplished
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.