Hip-hop stars rally to save `Big Tookie’ from execution By Davey D With less than three weeks remaining before the scheduled Dec. 13 execution of Crips gang founder turned children’s advocate Stan ``Tookie’’ Williams, some of the biggest West Coast hip-hop stars are stepping up and speaking out on his behalf. Snoop Dogg and Daz Dillinger will join hundreds of other activists on Saturday outside San Quentin at the Save the Peacemaker Rally for Williams, who was sentenced to death in 1981 for killing four people in two Los Angeles robberies. Those taking part will be able to get the new compilation album ``Redemption—Hip Hop United 2 Save Stan Tookie Williams,’’ featuring dead prez, Paris, T-Kash, Frontline, Boo Ya Tribe, WC, Jt the Bigga Figga and Bicasso of Living Legends, to name a few. Snoop, who headlines the event, may be joined by the Bay Area rappers who came out last week for a screening in the Bayview section of San Francisco of ``Redemption: The Stan `Tookie’ Williams Story,’’ an award-winning cable TV movie about Williams’ life starring Jamie Foxx. Snoop’s participation on Saturday will come as a welcome boost for many who’ve been wondering why more ``gangsta’’ rappers of his stature aren’t speaking out about Williams. Daz and the Dogg Pound also have dedicated their new song and video ``Real Soon,’’ featuring Jamie Foxx and Nate Dogg, to ``Big Tookie,’’ who has garnered several Nobel Peace Prize nominations while on death row. Snoop, Daz and the rest of the Dogg Pound camp are encouraging people to deluge Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s office with letters and petitions. Recently, longtime rapper and former Ice Cube protege Kam gave us his perspective on how the law enforcement and penal systems deal with Los Angeles gang members, whether reformed or not. Kam alleged that, after the Bloods and Crips laid down their arms and often-fatal grudges to implement a historic peace accord in the wake of the 1992 Rodney King riots, corrupt members of the Los Angeles Police Department tried to undermine that calm and incite gang violence. The unwillingness of the authorities to recognize and support the peace initiative is one reason, Kam said, the he is not surprised the government has refused to overturn Williams’ death sentence. Kam, who spends much of his time inspiring young people in South L.A. to turn their lives around, has written moving songs about the peace effort, including the classic jam ``Peace Treaty.’’ Arguing that Tookie’s redemption is troublesome for a system that seeks to keep black people divided and confused, Kam says many within the system fear Tookie’s influence and example. This week, Daz released a statement urging the black and hip-hop communities to stand up for Big Tookie. ``God puts opportunities in our midst to test us and challenge us to see if we are willing to risk it all to do what’s right,’’ the statement says. ``I am willing to do what is right, and I am asking the hip-hop community and the black community, `Are you?’ ’’ Daz went on to urge these communities to take part in the Saturday rally. His statement continued: ``Let’s not just sit by, and cry later. Let’s create history. . . . Just because Rosa Parks is no longer here doesn’t mean we no longer have to stand up when we feel that there is an injustice. We need new Martin Luther King Jrs. and new Rosa Parkses to continue to challenge us all.’‘ Davey D’s hip-hop column is published biweekly in Eye. Contact him at mrdaveyd@aol.com. Less