Mugshot provided by Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.
Related story: Rappin’ 4-Tay out of jail. LINK
LAKE TAHOE — Rappin’ 4 Tay never made it to the Playaz Club Saturday night. His rap sheet preceded him.
It was a gamble, but Anthony Forte, 47, headed to the Stateline, Nev., 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, Nev., 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 on Monday. “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.”
Forte will remain in the Douglas County jail until he is picked up by Clark County and transferred there to face the charge. If Clark County does not get Forte after an undisclosed number of days, a Lake Tahoe judge can release him, Brooks said.
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…”
