Dep sat down to talk with me last week — two days after getting released from jail — about the ups and downs that took him from the top of the music charts to a cell on Rikers Island. ...

I could hardly believe the quiet, wary man across the table from me was the same G. Dep who made the hip-hop classic "Special Delivery," which carried an infectious beat and a video that introduced the world to the wiggly dance called the Harlem Shake. ...

When I met him, Dep had just spent 23 days on Rikers after a Jan. 15 arrest for grabbing and breaking a display-model cell phone during an argument with a T-mobile salesman in a Manhattan store. Dep's bail was only $750, but he stayed in Rikers because he couldn't raise the cash — a sign of how far he'd tumbled since the heyday of the Harlem Shake. ...

G. Dep basically disappeared for the past several years. We haven't seen him since he put out 2001's Child of the Ghetto.

Dep isn't exactly the most talkative person you'll meet, but when we ran into him, he said he's been back in the studio working and might be putting out another album on Bad Boy in the future. One thing's for sure: He hasn't lost his spit game. Dep dropped an ice-cold a cappella freestyle, and the boy still has lyrics.

All that crap talk about G-Dep has been proven false and I have to apologize for thinking it had some validity to it. I do have the deal with Dep though for those that want to know. First of all, he doesn’t even live in New Yawk anymore, much less homeless. He’s an up-top transplant residing down in South Carolina with his family – doing alright. On the real side, he’s had issues with his comeback and simply wants support from his label. I had The Deputy mixtape, but didn’t hear much after that. At any rate, keep your head up Dep and we’ll see you when you come back.

This one hurts. I am going to keep it real. An NYPD insider hit me up and gave me some sad information, which we will regard as flat-out rumors. The police-person said that they had a call about a delusional man in a NYC park. Word has is that man was none other than G-Dep, a rapper that was once down with Bad Boy. The word is, this man might have been on something that had him inebriated or high. The man did not know where he was or where he was going and he was basically out of it. He was arrested for something and thrown in a cell. Kind of sad, if it’s true. Kind of sad, if its false.