LOS ANGELES - Despite concerns witnesses would be too fearful to come forward, police investigators said Monday that a number of people have provided valuable information about the gunman who killed rap star Notorious B.I.G.
"Things are moving along," said Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Mike Partain. "They haven't had a problem talking to the people they're getting a hold of. The witnesses have been very cooperative."
The 24-year-old rapper, whose real name was Christopher Wallace, was gunned down shortly after midnight Sunday following a music industry party, as he sat in a parked GMC Suburban.
Wallace was the second so-called gangsta rap sensation in six months to be slain. The other victim was Tupac Shakur, who was killed during a drive-by attack in Las Vegas in September.
Several top record executives said Monday that they were stunned about the assassination of another rap star. They also adamantly rejected the notion that the culture of hip-hop music was responsible in either case.
"This isn't about music. It's about territorial gang warfare that has spilled over into the world of hip-hop," said one executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "It's about the Jets and the Sharks. It's about the Bloods and the Crips. It's about the East and the West. It's a gang war that was going on long before hip-hop was created. Hundreds of inner-city kids get gunned down every month across the USA This is a horrendous social tragedy that seems only to get noticed when a rap star gets murdered."
But C. DeLores Tucker, chairwoman of the National Political Congress of Black Women and an outspoken opponent of gangsta rap, said Wallace's death was "a tragic reminder of the real impact of gangsta rap on our lives. ... Gangsta rap glorifies violence."
Police have no motive for Wallace's slaying, but they have not ruled out the possibility that his death was linked to a feud between Wallace's East Coast-based Bad Boy Entertainment record label and Los Angeles-based Death Row Records, whose marquee artist was Shakur.
Those in music circles speculated Monday that someone in the West Coast rap community took offense at Wallace's high-profile presence last Friday at the Soul Train Music Awards and at his appearance at a number of parties around Los Angeles, including Saturday night's party at the Petersen Automotive Museum, hosted by Vibe Magazine and Qwest Records.
In the Wallace killing, bad blood dates back to when Shakur accused Wallace - his former friend - of being involved in a 1994 robbery in which Shakur was shot several times and lost $40,000 in jewelry.
Wallace, who also went by the name Biggie Smalls, denied any involvement.
The tension between the two men escalated last year when Shakur taunted Wallace in a song, claiming he had sex with Wallace's wife with the line "I fucked your bitch you fat motherfucker."