Faith-based rapper Dee-1 became the subject of an unexpected North Carolina roadside police search on Sept 24, per The Source.
David Arnold Augustine Jr., known professionally as Dee-1, shared a clip of the encounter with his followers. In the footage, North Carolina Highway Patrol officers can be seen pulling over and searching his rental car during his Hipocritical Hop Tour.
The officers claimed that K-9 unit alerted them to the vehicle because of an “odor of narcotics.” One of the troopers explained, “When a narcotics odor gets on the car, and the K-9 hits on it, that’s what led to the car being searched.”
The NAACP award recipient, challenged the officers in the clip after one allegedly asked if he was a “dope dealer.” Instead of narcotics, troopers uncovered tour merchandise, including hoodies and a children’s book authored by the rapper.
“But he asked me if I’m a dope dealer, bro. Like, literally,” Dee-1 told viewers. “And you can see what it says on the top. That’s my children’s book. That I, uh… Yes sir. That’s my hoodies I was telling you about.”
“All they found was a man of God”
Instead of being irate, Dee-1 kept his composure, ultimately concluding the officers “Just knew they found some dope. Nope. Just a man of God on tour, right now.”
In the caption of the post, he doubled-down on his disaffiliation with drugs. “I have never used or sold drugs in my life. 🤷🏽♂️ They pulled my tour bus over and just KNEW they found something… 🤔 There’s much more that i didn’t get to say/show in this post… 😤 But ultimately, i stayed cool”
Dee-1 used the frustrating encounter to spotlight the challenges that black people and men, specifically, face with racial profiling. According to ACLU, 41% percent of Black Americans say they have been stopped or detained by police because of their race.