DAHV BOMB - Tweenage hip-hopper to threatening thug: 'Don't be silly'

Obviously targeting the tweenage demo, these songs aren't exactly striving for hard-core hip-hop street cred. So it was a little strange when some dude showed up on Dahv's message board (www.teamdahv.com) last week and called out her hip-hop bona fides. "[W]hat you all need to do is get off this site, pick up a gun, and have a suicide party, cuz this is the biggest joke ever, fuckin losers," he wrote. "[F]uck wanna be's [sic]." Then, it got worse. The guy posted again with lyrics of his own: "wastin time, thinkin you it/so i waste ya, bit by bit/pick up my gun, and kill that bitch."

Jeff Greenfield, executive vice-president of World Class Media, the consulting firm hired by Dahv's parents to help promote her, explains that "last week, out of the blue, someone found her site and posted it on one of the underground hip-hop message boards. They were saying, 'Can you believe this girl thinks she's a rapper? She can't rap, yadda yadda yadda.' But we've never marketed her as a rapper; she's been marketed as a girl who sings pop-style music with age-appropriate lyrics. Rap is in every music these days, so she happens to rap a little. But she's not a 'rapper' per se." Still, within a week, "she was being discussed on about 500 Web sites. As this started to accumulate, a person from Iowa went on her message board and posted death threats."

Greenfield tracked the guy's IP address to Iowa Telecom, which in turn traced it to a library in a town called Lake View. An e-mail address is required to log onto computers there, so police were able to track down the individual. Greenfield says the cops were familiar with him, and that "they characterized the young man as being 'a future highway sniper.' "

When reached by telephone, Dahv just shrugs the whole thing off. "Yeah, it was kinda silly," she says, her chirping voice belying her maturity. "Some people that are older, and not age appropriate for my site, they're just gonna go a little crazy and think I'm a little strange for being so young and performing. I just thought it was kinda silly."

The message-board malefactor - whose Yahoo profile identifies him as a 23-year-old "muthafuckinundergroundhiphopartist," with a photo depicting a hulking, tattooed thug - has been banned from the Lake View library, and Greenfield says police there have referred the case to county prosecutors, who will decide on further punishment.

Meanwhile, Davh is just gonna keep rapping. (Look for a debut album this spring.) "Hip-hop today, sometimes it's about inappropriate stuff, like drugs and sex," she says. "That's not what I talk about. I talk about what I do, like sleepovers and just talking about me."

Greenfield wonders why some fans find it so hard to tell the difference. "On certain boards, people have spoken up and said, 'Hey, I think her music is supposed to be for, like, nine-year-olds.' This kid didn't seem to get that point. Music can make you happy or make you angry, but when it's obviously not meant for you, you should just go away."

Dahv puts it more plainly. "Those 22-year-olds, they're just kinda confused." So what would she say to the creep if she ever got the chance? "Oh, you mean the bad guy? Well, my manager made it so he couldn't go back on the site. But if he tried to get on, I'd just say, 'Hey, welcome to Team Dahv!' or whatever. That's what I usually say to people there who are a little crazy."

Listen to Dahv's music at www.dahv.com, or say hello - nicely! - on her message board at www.teamdahv.com.

Issue Date: December 24 - 30, 2004 Contributed by: Mile Miliard Contributor organisation: Boston Phoenix This category needs an editor