Rappers Go to the Source for Anti-Gang Video : Pop: They tape ‘All in the Same Gang’ and hold a no-more-wars summit at the Nickerson Gardens housing project. Some onlookers doubt the effort will do any good.

Nickerson Gardens, the poverty-plagued Watts housing project, is the classic breeding ground for rap music. But when some of the top West Coast rappers held a summit meeting there Tuesday to shoot an anti-gang rap video, they seemed strangely out of place.

It wasn’t the way most of them dressed--the black T-shirts, caps and jackets sported by the likes of Eazy-E and Tone Loc looked right at home. It was more the spectacle of the lights, cameras and (limited) action taking place amid the blue buildings of the compound.

A certain amount of life as usual went on. People came and went and took care of their daily business. Laundry swayed in the breeze from lines strung between the buildings, even while the mass of rappers themselves swayed to a funky beat while lip-syncing “All in the Same Gang,” a new song calling for an end to gang wars.

The venture was put together by Mike Concepcion, who calls himself a co-founder of the Crips gang. He has left gang violence behind in favor of starting a record company called Grand Jury Records.

The song and video scheduled to be released through Warner Bros. Records on May 15 are the company’s first recordings. The song will also be the centerpiece of an album that will feature new rap artists, scheduled for June 12 release. Proceeds will benefit Project Build, an employment counseling, assessment and referral service for six Watts housing projects.

“I’m never out (of the gang)--it’s always in my heart,” said Concepcion, a paraplegic as a result of a bullet fired in a street gambling dispute. “But I’m tired of all these guys killing each other.”

Through the taping, a security force of mostly white off-duty police officers surveyed the scene, assisted by community members decked out in Amnesty International “Human Rights Now” T-shirts.

The onlookers--kids and adults alike--seemed more interested in the performers than their message, though. Each star arrival brought screams from the onlookers, who took every opportunity for photo and autograph hounding.

And while in front of the cameras the rappers shook their bodies, the Nickerson residents stood behind the yellow police tape security line shaking their heads about the potential effect of the video on the community.

“When they all leave it’s gonna be same old same old,” said Imogene Cosey, 26, a former Nickerson resident who had come to watch after hearing about the taping on rap radio station KDAY-AM.

One 15-year-old boy who claimed gang affiliation said it would have no impact on him.

“You die one day anyway,” he said, acknowledging the risks of gang violence.

“Too much money in dope,” said Sylvin Flores, 18, standing next to the gang member. “You have to understand why they create the violence so you can create your own peace.”

Even some of the performers expressed doubts about the reach of the video. Eazy-E, whose hits as a solo act and as a member of the controversial group N.W.A have depicted gang activity in a way some believe glorifies the violence, had in the past said he would never take part in any such “message” project.

During a lunch break he admitted that his tune had changed a little.

“It can help,” he said. “Some are gonna listen to it, some gonna be hard-headed and not listen. There are other ways to make money other than (gangs) and dope. You could be a producer like me. You just gotta give them a chance.”

But Eazy stressed his lyrical contribution to “Same Gang,” in which he raps “Eazy’s no sell-out” and “I’m not tryin’ to tell ya what to do / You have your own freedom of choice who to listen to,” and concludes by refering to himself as “the violent hero.”

“It’s up to people what they do,” he said, shrugging.

Most of the performers admitted that they had little hope for saving any current gang members. The video, they said, is for the next generation.

“It’s not going to stop anything right away,” said Loc, whose “Wild Thing” is one of the biggest-selling rap singles ever. “The older ones are too set in their ways. No one can tell them what to do. No one can tell me what to do.

“But it may stop some of the 8-, 9-, 10-year-olds. If we can start from this and build and move on, go into the community and do something, we can let those kids know there’s hope and more to life than getting high and kickin’ with the homeboys.”

To Concepcion, the very act of making the video showed hope. “The fact that we could bring N.W.A and Tone Loc to do a video here and to have me, a Crip, come to this (rival gang) Blood neighborhood to do this is a sign,” he said.

According to some members of the production crew, arranging for the video shoot did present some problems. One person, who asked not to be named, said that some of the performers who had had gang affiliation in the past expressed concerns about coming to the site for fear of rival gang presence.

As it was, there seemed little to worry about, with the high security presence.

“But the police are leaving at sundown,” said the production crew member. “So we’re leaving at sundown.”

And after sundown, the gang problem would again be in the hands of the people who live in the middle of it. And that suits Nickerson resident Sharon Robbins fine. The 21-year-old mother of three young children said that she, not rap stars, bears the responsibility for eventually keeping her youngsters out of gangs.

“I know they’re not gonna get in gangs,” she said. “ I got a good leather belt. I’ll whip their (behinds).”