Rappin’ 4-Tay is out of the jailhouse and headed back to the Playaz Club.
San Francisco police arrested the hometown rapper Sept. 24 on suspicion of first-degree residential burglary. Anthony Forte, 48, spent more than a month in county jail in lieu of $112,500 bail before being released in recent days. He posted a Happy Halloween message and photo on Facebook and indicated he’s ready to rap.
The San Francisco arrest came almost a year to the day after sheriff’s deputies in Lake Tahoe arrested Forte just hours before a scheduled show.
This year, he plans to celebrate New Year’s Eve in Lake Tahoe.
Here’s what happened in Lake Tahoe on Sept. 26, 2015:
Rappin’ 4-Tay never made it to the Playaz Club Saturday night. His rap sheet preceded him.
It was a gamble, but Forte headed to the Stateline, Nevada, casinos before a scheduled show at Whiskey Dick’s Saloon with Andre Nickatina. It was there that the San Francisco rapper fell into the custody of Douglas County Sheriff’s deputies, who arrested Forte on a warrant from Clark County, Nevada, for failure to appear. Forte missed his 2014 court date on a charge of failing to register with authorities, a sheriff’s spokesman said.
An incident at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino led to his detainment.
“The reason for the call was there was a verbal domestic situation between him and his wife,” Sgt. Pat Brooks of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office told the online magazine Tahoe Onstage. “We got called there and then we went to go talk to him, we ran him out and it came back with a warrant. He went to jail just for the warrant.”
At Whiskey Dick’s, back on the Cali side of South Lake Tahoe, fans learned of the breaking news in a hand-scrawled sign posted at the entrance: “Rappin’ 4-Tay was arrested today at the casinos and will not perform tonight. No refunds. (Sorry for any inconvenience.)”
“It’s disappointing, but ‘Dre (Nickatina) is still there, so we’re not tripping,’’ summed up one fan.
The place was packed with more than 250 people from the time the iinTerCepTerz opened the show until Nickatina closed it down early Sunday. “Not a lot of elbow room,” the fan noted. Nickatina twice took breaks to step into the Tahoe night for some fresh air.
Rappin’ 4-Tay, though, must have been tapping his toes in a Nevada jail cell.
Perhaps his best known song is 1994’s “Playaz Club.”
“Me and my homies we tighter than a glove/ Chop a lot of game is how we do it in the Playaz Club/ Check the pool or kick it in the tub/ Cause we kick much ass at the Playaz Club…”
Early in his career, Forte was convicted of drug charges and spent 10 months in prison, according to published biographical accounts. After serving his time, he released “Rappin 4 Tay is Back” in 1991 and “Don’t Fight the Feeling,” which featured “Playaz Club,” in 1994. The “Gangsta Gumbo” album followed in 2003, then “That’s What You Thought” in 2007. Last year, Forte was honored with the Bay Area Legend title at the West Coast Hip Hop Awards in Los Angeles.
“I am honored to receive the Bay Area Legend Award,” Forte said after the ceremony. “After all of the obstacles and bumps in the road, I feel like I am making some progress. I’ve been going around the world representing the Bay Area for years, and I am proud to have been recognized as a Bay Area icon.”
“…Now homie, what you all about? / I stack paper and kick it with the O.G.’s/ Some got nine-to-five some drink a lot of keys/ You can learn a whole lot from a playa/ A lot of these playas make a damn good rhyme sayer…”
The day before he was arrested in San Francisco, Rappin’ 4-Tay announced he would participate at this year’s SnowGlobe festival in Lake Tahoe on New Year’s Eve. He is scheduled to appear with a number of hip-hop legends who will perform their classic hits at a “Snow Sessions” jam.
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