Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series)

Broken Rhymes (2016)

Ice-T: Detective Odafin 'Fin' Tutuola

Photos 

Quotes 

• Dominick Carisi, Jr. : Vic's legal name is Eric Carson. She's a twenty-four year old art student from Montclair, New Jersey. Seems like she goes by the name Eva these days.

  Olivia Benson : Parents?

  Odafin Tutuola : They're on their way.

  Dominick Carisi, Jr. : This is the nurse.

  Olivia Benson : Hey. What do we got?

  SANE Nurse : Rape kit showed forced penetration, severe tearing and bleeding, perforated colon. Significant blunt force trauma to the head and torso, as well. She's lucky to be alive.

  Olivia Benson : Okay. Semen? Is there any sign of... of intercourse?

  SANE Nurse : No.

  Amanda Rollins : Defensive wounds?

  SANE Nurse : Bruises on her wrists and arms. We're checking her nails for DNA.

  Olivia Benson : Thank you.

  Dominick Carisi, Jr. : [as the nurse leaves]  Okay. So a transgender art student from the suburbs gets beaten and raped with a pipe in a public restroom just months after New York State signs the gender neutral bathroom bill. Media's gonna be all over this.

  Olivia Benson : Yeah, for good reason. This is a hate crime.

• Olivia Benson : Do we have anything on Hype's past that suggests that he's good for this?

  Dominick Carisi, Jr. : One prior. Armed robbery. Plead it down to a misdemeanor, didn't do any time, but I listened to some of his music. It's hardcore.

  Amanda Rollins : You mean hateful. It's full of homophobic rants, gay slurs.

  Olivia Benson : So he may not be the spokesperson for the LGBTQ crowd, but it doesn't mean that he's good for the assault.

  Amanda Rollins : This might. Look at this.

  [turning her laptop around] 

  Amanda Rollins : "Look who I just ran into at Cypress market! #HypeRules." Posted yesterday at 11:54 a.m. I mean, that's twenty minutes before Eva's attack.

  Odafin Tutuola : Yeah, so much for being in the studio all day working on his rhymes.

  Olivia Benson : Let's bring him in. I want to find out what he was doing at Cypress market and why he lied about it.

• Odafin Tutuola : You Hype?

  Hype : Yeah. What can I do for you fellas?

  Dominick Carisi, Jr. : NYPD. We're here about Eva Carson.

  Hype : Who?

  Odafin Tutuola : The friend you met in the club Thursday night.

  Hype : [Carisi shows him Eva's picture]  Oh, that freak? Look, dude slapped me. You should be arresting his stupid ass.

  Odafin Tutuola : Maybe we will. Once she gets out of the coma.

  Hype : Coma?

  Odafin Tutuola : Yeah, somebody did her with a pipe.

• Odafin Tutuola : That's Cash Lewis. That's Hype's business parter and producer.

  Amanda Rollins : Well, he's got quite the rap sheet. Felony assault. Weapons. Narcotics. And gang affiliation for added measure.

  Dominick Carisi, Jr. : Okay, so Cash is hanging out with Eva behind Logan's back. Why would he beat and rape her?

  Odafin Tutuola : Lots of reasons.

  Olivia Benson : All we need is one.

• Olivia Benson : Hype, we have your DNA under Eva's fingernails. We have you near the crime scene twenty minutes before the attack, and as for motive, there's too many to choose from.

  Odafin Tutuola : Hate. Greed.

  Olivia Benson : Not to mention that you were heading toward the hospital, to what? To kill her? To make sure that she never woke up so she couldn't ID you?

  Odafin Tutuola : Hype. You gotta come clean, man. We already have enough to charge you.

  Olivia Benson : He's right. We're just being polite.

• Olivia Benson : We're giving you a chance to tell us what really happened.

  Odafin Tutuola : Now, you can start by telling us how your DNA got under Eva's fingernails.

  Hype : Okay. But if I tell y'all, will you promise to keep it private?

  Olivia Benson : Absolutely. We won't say a word.

  Hype : Like, for real? You can't tell no one.

  Olivia Benson : For real.

  Hype : Okay. Cool. I appreciate that. So... the reason my skin is underneath her fingernails is because... we had sex. We... we're dating. We're in love.

• Dominick Carisi, Jr. : I listened to a few of your songs. You're obviously not a big fan of gay and transgender people.

  Hype : Man, it's just music, a'ight?

  Dominick Carisi, Jr. : You know what? My favorite line is, uh, "when a tranny looks your way, got to make sure the dude pays. Cap to the head. Boot to the grill. All you bitches know I ain't 'fraid to kill."

  Hype : Keep at it, G. You could be the next Eminem.

  Odafin Tutuola : And you could be the next brother from Harlem doing time if you don't tell us what your punk ass was really doing yesterday afternoon.

• Dominick Carisi, Jr. : $50,000, payable to Eric Carson, aka Eva. We found it in a wastebasket in her apartment.

  Odafin Tutuola : Written on a 187 checking account.

  Olivia Benson : Okay, so why did she rip it up?

  Dominick Carisi, Jr. : I'm guessing out of principle.

  Odafin Tutuola : Cash the check first. Worry about principle later.

  Olivia Benson : All right. So Cash and Vincent Love try to bribe Eva. She says no. Then what?

  Odafin Tutuola : Well, Hype's worried about some transgender girl telling the world that she writes all his hardcore raps.

  Olivia Benson : Okay, that sounds like possible motive to me.

  Dominick Carisi, Jr. : Yeah, but for who? Cash? Hype? Vincent Love?

  Amanda Rollins : My money's on Hype.

  Olivia Benson : What do you mean?

  Amanda Rollins : I just spoke with the lab. They found his DNA under Eva's fingernails.

  Olivia Benson : Sit on his studio. I'll send Anti-Crime to the apartment.

  [to Fin and Carisi as she leaves] 

  Olivia Benson : You two, work on an arrest warrant. Now!

• Olivia Benson : So, Hype, I just want to go over everything again and make sure that I... that I fully understand. So you and Eva were involved, and that's the reason that you went to the hospital? To check on her condition?

  Hype : Yeah. I mean, I just wanted to make sure she was okay. But like I said, I ain't gay. Not even close. I just... you know, I just like her, that's all.

  Olivia Benson : So when did you and Eva first meet?

  Hype : Three months ago. At some party for some photographer. We liked each other. Started hanging out.

  Odafin Tutuola : Why'd she slap you?

  Hype : 'Cause I pretended I ain't know her. Started making some stupid jokes. I just ain't want nobody to know, that's all.

  Olivia Benson : So this had nothing to do with the songs she wrote.

  Hype : What are you talking about?

  Odafin Tutuola : Your boy Cash told us she wrote some of your tracks, but you didn't want her name on the album. That's why he and Vincent Love had to give her 50k to remain anonymous.

  Hype : What the hell are you talking about? Eva didn't write no tracks. She don't even like rap. Look, I write my own rhymes, from day one, a'ight?

  Olivia Benson : Then why were you at Cypress market?

  Hype : Eva wanted to have lunch. In public. She was tired of our relationship being on the DL. It was a big deal to her.

  Olivia Benson : And?

  Hype : I freaked out. Changed my mind. I mean, I wanted to have lunch, but I just couldn't do it. So I left. Went to the bar down the street, drank some peach schnapps, and went back to the studio.

• Odafin Tutuola : The bartender at the Golden Goat says he remembers Hype. Says he's the first person in five years to order peach schnapps. Surveillance video show him there from 12:10 to 1:05.

  Olivia Benson : Okay, so if Hype didn't do it, then who did? The boyfriend, Logan, is in the clear, right?

  Amanda Rollins : Yeah. The office manager confirms he was at the doctor's office from 12:15 to 1:10.

  Olivia Benson : So if it wasn't Hype and it wasn't Logan...

  Dominick Carisi, Jr. : It's gotta be Cash.

  Olivia Benson : Okay, so get the mother and the daughter down here right away and see if they can ID him.

• Odafin Tutuola : Just got off the phone with the event planner. He says he doesn't know the name of the guy who got slapped, but he does know he was a guest of Vincent Love's.

  Amanda Rollins : Vincent Love, the rap guy?

  Odafin Tutuola : Yeah, the founder of 187 Music. He works with the biggest names out there.

  Olivia Benson : So I'm guessing that big-name rappers don't appreciate getting slapped by transgender models. All right. Let's find Vincent Love and find out exactly what happened.

• Dominick Carisi, Jr. : So Hype's in love with Eva.

  Odafin Tutuola : That's what he says.

  Amanda Rollins : And you believe him?

  Olivia Benson : He seems credible, but he's told so many lies. It's really hard to tell where he's coming from.

  Odafin Tutuola : That's what makes me believe he's telling the truth.

  Dominick Carisi, Jr. : How so?

  Odafin Tutuola : I mean, Hype's an up and coming rapper. Hardcore, at that.

  Amanda Rollins : So he's been lying to protect his image.

  Odafin Tutuola : His career. I mean, this style of rap is all about reputation. It's all about street cred. For him to tell his fans that he's in love with a transgender woman, they'd laugh at him. His whole brand would go up in smoke.

  Olivia Benson : It's 2016, for god's sake.

  Odafin Tutuola : Not for people selling gangster rap.

  Dominick Carisi, Jr. : Yeah, or some of my relatives.

  Amanda Rollins : Or mine, too.

  Odafin Tutuola : Look, this whole gender fluidity thing is coming out more nowadays, and that's cool, but the truth is it's confusing, and a lot of people can't make sense of it all. Me included.

  Olivia Benson : And our friend Hype.

  Dominick Carisi, Jr. : Okay, so let's... let's say we believe this guy, that he really does love Eva. That still doesn't make him innocent.

  Olivia Benson : Listen, I agree. All that denial and... and self hatred. Who knows? Maybe Hype did just crack and took out all his rage on Eva. Let's go back inside and see if we can learn anything.