Steven Cuevas
November 19, 2008
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A popular Inland Empire rapper is waging a battle in the courts to avoid a San Bernardino County gang injunction. More on the story from KPCC's Steven Cuevas.

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Steven Cuevas: His real name is Lawrence White. His fans know him as 40 Glocc.

["Yo what up, this is 40 Glocc..."]

Cuevas: As 40 Glocc, White inked a deal with 50 Cent's G-Unit Records. He's recorded two albums and showed up in cameos on records by Eminem, Mobb Deep, and others. His songs mix socially conscious lyrics with gangsta rap bravado.

["If you knew it you might just try to use the advice/Like me, I'm a G, I done made it in life."]

Cuevas: Those alleged gang ties he brags about landed White on a preliminary gang injunction against 60 members of the Colton City Crips. San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael Ramos filed the injunction last summer.

Michael Ramos: You are banished from continuing to terrorize the citizens of not only these complexes, but the citizens in the areas that are located close to in this community.

Cuevas: Those named risk arrest if authorities catch them at the Arbor Terrace Apartments and the nearby S-B Liquor Market. Law enforcement says both are drug-dealing hubs under the control of the Colton City Crips.

Lawrence White: S-B Liquor – that's Colton across the street. Now you come back here and you in San Bernardino.

Cuevas: Lawrence White – a.k.a. 40 Glocc – has shot homemade videos at both places. They show him and others flashing handguns, assaulting an alleged rival gang member, and boasting about gang life in Colton.

White is the only person trying to get off the injunction. He insists he's not a gang banger. But two years ago, he told a hip hop magazine that he's still a Colton City Crip. "That's where I'm from," he said. "I can't ever change that. Nobody can." A judge might. A ruling on the injunction is expected in a few weeks.