Stars Rap Gang Violence in Nickerson Gardens Video

Top stars of rap music, including Tone Loc, Def Jef, NWA and MC Hammer gathered Tuesday afternoon at the Nickerson Gardens housing project to film an anti-gang violence video.

“We’re All in the Same Gang” follows a familiar format, featuring top recording stars lending their talent to a record with the proceeds going to a charity, in this case Project Build, a local anti-gang outfit.

Rappers came to the Watts housing project to film a video for the song, due for release May 15 by Warner Bros. on the Grand Jury Records label.

While publicity for the event said participants would call for a truce between gangs, rappers and others chose their words carefully.

“I’m not trying to stop gang violence, I’m just doing my part to slow it down,” rapper Def Jef said. “I most definitely think it should be stopped, but before you can stop it, you have to go to the source of where it started.”

While about 200 Nickerson residents watched, the rappers gathered in front of a building to begin filming the clip, which will take three weeks to produce, said Laurice Bell of Fragile Films. She said scenes of gangs will be cut into the music.

Eazy E, who also performs with the rap group NWA, said rappers are the best mediums for the anti-violence message.

“We’re in the middle. We tell you what could happen. We don’t tell you what to do and what not to do. . . . We give an example: ‘If you go through the whole day doing wrong, you might end up dead or in jail. Sometimes you might get away,’ ” he said. “We just let them see what could happen, and they take it from there.”

Tone Loc grew up in West Los Angeles, the son of a successful businesswoman, but was so attracted to gangs as a teen-ager that he rode buses into South-Central Los Angeles to hang out with them.

“It’s much more easier for me to come out and express my point of view, because I’ve already been there. . . . We were all brought up in the same era,” Loc said. “These young brothers are rapping about stuff that’s going on with the environment, with gangs, with drugs.”