Derek "D-Dot" Angellettie is being hunted in connection with the vicious beating of the editor of a leading hip-hop magazine, cops said last night.

Angellettie and three unidentified men are wanted for questioning in the assault on Blaze magazine Editor in Chief Jesse Washington on Monday, cops said.

Sources said Angellettie was angry over an item Washington had written about him and Puff Daddy in a recent issue of the razor edged magazine Blaze.

Washington told cops he was in his office at 215
Lexington Ave. at 4:35 p.m. when the four men
stormed in and started an argument with him.

Moments later, the four grabbed Washington and
began punching him in the face and beating him
about the head, the editor told cops.

They fled, leaving Washington, 29, of Manhattan,
sprawled on the floor, a bloody and battered mess,
he said.

Washington told cops he recognized Angellettie
but did not know the other men.

It is not clear whether Washington sought medical
attention. A Blaze spokeswoman refused to
discuss the incident.

One Blaze employee told The Post the four
alleged attackers were seen entering the lobby
shortly before the attack.

"It's easy to get up to the office. There's really very
little security. They'd have no trouble walking right
in," the employee said.

Cops went to Angellettie's Upper Manhattan home,
but found nobody there. They were still looking for
him last night.

Angellettie, who got married over the summer, is
considered one of the nation's most talented rap
producers.

He works side by side with Puff Daddy on producing and developing heavily sampled rap songs.

Blaze mag is a spinoff of Vibe magazine known for
its edgy, take-no-prisoners journalism. It was not
known what item allegedly angered Washington's
attackers.

It would be the second time in four months
Washington has been in a bitter fight with a
hip-hop honcho.

Wyclef Jean, the guitarist for the chart-topping
Fugees, got into a nasty battle with the editor in
August.

Washington publicly accused Jean of pulling a gun
and pointing it at his chest when he didn't like a
review of a new Fugees record.

Jean went on MTV to deny he had brandished a
gun and put out a angry statement saying, "I carry
a guitar, not a gun. I attack with my pen, not a
pistol."

-- Midknight - 11/18/98