Bigidagoe was called a drill rapper in several news reports, but that is not correct according to criminal lawyer Vito Shukrula. He has represented a number of drill rappers himself and knows that world well. “He was more of a gangsta rapper. The difference between those rappers is that drill rappers run around with large and dangerous machetes, gangsta rappers don’t do that,” he says in NOS With an Eye on Tomorrow. “They are more concerned with the typical bling bling phenomena of hip-hop. Think of expensive cars, beautiful scantily clad women and expensive chains.”
Zone 6
Bigadagoe was part of the rap formation ‘Zone 6’. “It is a club from Holendrecht, a neighborhood in the Bijlmer. One of the most vulnerable neighborhoods in the Bijlmer,” says Shukrula. “That neighborhood has deteriorated quite a bit over the years.” The police would have the idea that this rap formation would have the neighborhood in its grip. “They also said: if you live in the neighborhood and want to belong to us, you must keep your mouth shut. The omerta, the duty of silence. So you are not allowed to talk to the police and if you come to us and you do what we want , then you get a Rolex or pocket money as a reward.”
The group was a thorn in the side of the police, says Shukrula. “Bigidagoe would drive up in a Lamborghini and a little boy would look at the rapper with his mouth open. That was an idol for them. Like: do you want to be just like me? Then come join our group. The police also keep seeing younger boys who are recruited to remove cocaine from the containers at the ports.”
Known to the police
“If you also saw that he had a court case in which someone was allegedly kidnapped and that was also in the drug circuit. So the rap world, where they rap regarding these kinds of things and the reality where they were really concerned with drugs and shootings, blended together,” says Shukrula.
Bigidagoe, according to Shukrula, was also in danger. “He had to look around, he was shot at.” The police also kept an eye on him. “He lived an eventful short life.”
Perpetrator
“We can assume that he did move in the serious criminal environment,” says Shukrula. “He had been in a studio, he put that on social media. Then he was in a club, in a VIP piece. Then he went outside and then they shot him.” It might well be that they were other criminals. “Maybe he had a fight at the party. That would still be investigated by the police.”
Shukrula thinks that a perpetrator will eventually be arrested. “You can hardly get away with murder anymore, there are cameras everywhere. People are talking and he is a well-known boy in that circuit, someone will probably be arrested.”
