Female rapper Mina Mack was leaving a recording studio on 17th Street in Oakland Monday night when two women and two men jumped her. The video of the beating lasts less than a minute, but the attack caused damage -- serious cuts and bruises.
Mack showed us the shoe imprint one kick left on her forehead. She says the attackers pulled all the hair from the top of her head. She's now wearing a wig.
"I knew if I would have fought back, it would have just got worse, and it would have kept going, so I just sat there and I took it, covering my face waiting for them to stop," says Mack.
Mack says the disagreement began when the head of the Livewire rap music label, Nate Findley -- also known as "Shady Nate" -- told Mack she could appear on his next compilation CD for $100. Mack says she paid, but no C.D. So she told friends Findley had scammed her.
"Really, this is over $100. This is over $100, I'm like, 'This is stupid, this is petty,'" says Mack.
Mack didn't know about the video until a woman who calls herself "KiWi Da Beast" -- and who appears to be one of the attackers -- posted the video on her own YouTube site.
When asked what went through her mind when she saw the video, Mack says "I was angry, I was disgusted, I was disappointed, I was shocked."
Mack went to Oakland police headquarters Wednesday, filed a report, and identified her attackers.
"Any time you have video evidence in a case, it's a plus for us. Even though it's a tragedy what took place, with the beating, but we have evidence now and will follow up and take it to the DA's office and it will be a lot quicker in this process to get charges brought against the suspects," says Oakland police spokesman Officer Jeff Thomason.
Thomason says the department has experience dealing with this sort of issue, after the I-Team brought them a video of a salon owner being attacked in June that was also posted on the Internet.
"It seems to me that the suspects are pretty brave to post it on their web page or on the Internet. They think that nothing's going to happen to them, but they're absolutely wrong," says Thomason.
"I want justice, I want them all in jail," Mina Mack, Rapper
The I-Team reached KiWi Da Beast by phone, but she declined to comment, and Shady Nate did not return our calls and messages to his MySpace and Twitter accounts.
The I-Team will keep track of the case as it unfolds.
Also, the I-Team has posted the raw video of the beating in its entirety. The clip was posted on YouTube, but has since been taken down. Warning: this video contains strong language and violence.
