Hip-Hop Culture Strikes Again II

It seems that those hip-hop heads at the Getty Museum tried to get totally gangster with Italian artifacts. Rome, with its own hip-hop history of bling (Milan style) and bang (Sicilian style) was having none of it. The Getty Museum will be returning some pieces, but reserving the right to 6 pieces still disputed. (Now that’s gangster.)Kudos to Getty for trafficking in stolen goods and having the balls to dictate to rightful owners when those stolen items would be returned. Only a true gangster could tell to shut up and wait for three years while they maximize returns on ill-gotten goods.

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk The Getty Museum in Los Angeles has agreed to return priceless artefacts allegedly stolen from Italy. Under a compromise deal, 40 antiquities will be returned, less than the 46 Italy demanded but more than the 26 offered by the museum last year. The items include a prized limestone and marble statue of the goddess Aphrodite, to be handed over in 2010. Rome had threatened to sever ties with Getty over the treasures, which the Italians say were looted. The Getty Museum bought the statue of Aphrodite two decades ago