"Rapper's 999 rants plague police" [with audio]

i've heard it said a lot recently that with the impending demise of the traditional music industry, artists are having to think of ever more canny and inventive ways to market themselves, but this takes the biscuit.

A rapper is tying up police emergency lines by bombarding a force with nuisance calls. 

He dials 999 before rapping to operators at Greater Manchester Police - who are not allowed to cut him off.

Despite officers blocking more than 60 SIM cards, the man has plagued them since January 2009.

Police said the man "has made thousands of calls where he chants, sings, raps, preaches and plays loud music to call handlers".

In the past three months he has made 700 calls, lasting between three and five minutes, slowing down the call handlers' response to other calls.

[...]

During many of the calls, the operator answers the phone to be met with a barrage of music and rants.

His rapping is difficult to decipher but during one call he started shouting about his citizen's rights.

"Not allowed to cut him off"? Genius! Maybe not the most receptive audience, emergency call handlers, but you never know. Probably beats setting up another MySpace, anyway.

Audio (from Channel 4's coverage:)
- Call one: emergency call centre deals with rapper
- Call two: rapper calls for citizens rights