Tsu Surf came up in the streets of Jersey
and almost made it out through rap -
but instead he kept his feet in the trenches
and now he’s facing a RICO charge that could keep him out of the booth forever.
From rap battles and major cosigns,
to shootouts and drug deals -
this is the wild story of how Tsu Surf got taken down.
Tsu Surf was born in Jersey
and has been surrounded by the streets his whole life.
He used rapping as an escape from all the crime and violence around him -
and he always knew he was destined to hit the stage.
His mom bought him a karaoke machine when he was a kid
and that’s when he first started making music,
but not before long he had to adapt to his environment.
He allegedly started repping a rollin’ 60s cripp set
called Silver Bacc Gorillas,
and at eighteen he caught his first charge for gun possession.
Tsu Surf spent a year in jail fighting the case,
and that’s when some OGs inside convinced him to take rapping more seriously.
When he bonded out,
Surf got on his music grind and started building a little buzz in the city -
but after a year of freedom
he pleaded guilty in the gun case
and had to spend a year in prison.
A year in jail wasn’t great,
but it was nothing compared to prison.
Surf described it as “gladiator school” to Vlad.
That’s another world like it’s
grown men in there
you know what I mean?
It’s gladiator school in there
you know what I mean, type s*** and
those are things like
people like me people where I’m from
like you grow up real fast
you know what I mean somebody 18
but they look 24-25.
Catching the charge and getting booked was bad enough,
but Surf’s baby mama was expecting their child when he went in
and Surf didn’t get to meet his daughter
until she was already three months old.
Surf came out of prison and knew he needed to switch up how he was moving.
He had been rapping his entire life
and already had some momentum behind his name,
so after serving his time he came out and went hard in the battle rap scene.
He joined The Ultimate Rap League,
which is one of the most well-respected rap battle competitions in the world.
It started in New York
and was a series of DVDs
where new rappers would be interviewed about their life and come-up.
Most of the DVDs would have rap battles filmed on the street without any judges,
and the style ended up being copied by other battle leagues
like MTV’s Monday Night Fight Klub
and Sho-time Battle Rap League.
The Ultimate Rap League helped open the door for battle rappers
to actually make money,
and Surf proved he was one of the best in the world from the jump.
He was winning battles, building momentum,
and getting his name out in the industry.
And it didn’t take long before he caught the attention of Joe Budden
and started touring with him.
A lot of battle rappers don’t ever hop in the booth
and record actual tracks,
and most of the ones who do end up getting clowned
because battle rapping and making good songs are two different skill sets
and battle rappers aren’t known for making good music in the studio.
Surf has been dropping his own projects for over a decade though,
and he proved that he can handle himself in the booth
m just as well as he can in a battle.
He’s linked up with Boosie Badazz,
Benny the Butcher, G Herbo, and way more -
and a lot of his tracks have racked up over a million streams on Spotify.
But even though his career was taking off,
Tsu Surf couldn’t stay out of the streets.
In 2017, one of his homies was allegedly shot by the opps
and Surf wasn’t gonna let it slide.
He was booked for attempted murder after he allegedly let off shots
at a dude from the rollin 47 neighborhood cripps.
Battle rap fans were shocked when the news broke
that Surf was still out there spinning the block,
and it turns out he was already out on bail for another gun possession charge
when the shooting allegedly went down.
Surf ended up back in jail again,
but luckily he ended up beating the attempted murder case
and got out in 2018.
Fans were hoping he would finally leave the streets behind and focus on his music,
but unfortunately that’s not how it went down.
After he got out of jail again,
Tsu Surf drove a friend home and had to cross through opp territory.
Instead of taking a different way back after dropping his friend off,
Surf just headed straight back home
and the decision almost cost him his life.
Surf told DJ Vlad that if he saw an opp ride through his hood like that
he’d think something was up,
and apparently that’s how they ended up catching him.
On his way back home,
Surf was stopped at a red light
when some shooters hopped out and started letting off shots.
The first shot went through his arm,
then Surf got hit four more times in the ribs and stomach.
At that point he didn't know if he was gonna make it,
but he definitely couldn’t drive himself to the hospital.
After the shooters ran off,
Surf stumbled out of the whip leaking bad from five bullet holes.
He tried to flag down a car to get some help,
but when people saw a bloody dude almost falling over in the middle of the road
most of them just swerved out of the way and kept driving.
Surf came close to dying right there,
but then a car finally stopped and he jumped into the backseat.
The driver wasn’t even from the area and didn’t know how to get to the hospital,
so Surf had to call his homie and get the dude directions.
It was a wild close call,
and Surf ended up needing 37 stitches to hold everything back in place.
Staying in the streets almost got him killed,
but that’s not the only consequence Surf has faced from gang banging.
He told DJ Vlad getting active put a massive strain on his relationship with his dad,
and even today it’s not as good as it could’ve been if he went down another path.
He’s lost friends along the way too,
plus years of his own life spent behind bars.
After he recovered from the shooting,
Surf came back into the industry
and it looked like he was finally ready to go 100% with the music.
He dropped his debut album in 2019
and was running up big numbers,
but then that same year he ended up catching another gun charge.
A lot of fans couldn’t understand why Surf kept going back to his old ways.
He had the opportunity to leave the streets behind,
but for some reason he just couldn’t stop running into the police.
In an interview with Bootleg Kev,
Surf explained that he runs with a pack.
When I run with my pack,
I’m on whatever type time my pack on
I mean obviously I’m the golden child
so my pack tries to protect me from
the extra outside shit that’s going on
I’m running with the pack though.
Surf made it clear
he wasn’t gonna just leave his homies behind
and stop repping the set.
But while he had one foot in the trenches and never planned on taking it out,
Surf stayed out of trouble with the law for a long time after his last gun charge
and was taking music way more seriously.
He was dropping projects,
linking up with huge artists,
and was still considered one of the best battle rappers in the world.
And in September 2022
he made history by becoming the first battle rapper to ever perform at Rolling Loud.
Everything seemed like it was heading in the right direction
for Tsu Surf to hit the mainstream.
At that point he would’ve been making enough legal cash
to get all of his homies out of the streets,
but just one month later everything fell apart.
In October 2022,
Surf made a couple of strange tweets on a burner account that had fans worried.
He said
“I prolly never step on a stage again….
God has a way of Humbling Us”
then “Don’t be so mad.
It’s alright.”
Rumors were flying that Surf was doing the race
and trying to duck the feds,
but his manager Qua Bellamy squashed the story and told Fox
Tsu Surf is definitely not on the run.
He says he is in good spirits
and preparing to deal with a
federal law enforcement matter.
A week after Surf made the tweets,
The feds showed up at his door to arrest him.
He tried to duck out the back door with a woman,
but they had him surrounded so Surf and the woman went back inside.
It’s not clear exactly how it all went down that day,
but Surf wouldn’t come out at first
and negotiators had to be brought in to figure out the situation.
Luckily Surf ended up surrendering without anyone getting hurt,
and then news broke that he was actually facing a federal RICO indictment.
Tsu Surf and nine other alleged SBG members
were taken down and accused of murder,
robbery, selling drugs, and way more.
According to the feds,
Surf and his homies used IG DMs to set up drug deals,
which is pretty much a guaranteed way to get busted.
Plus Surf also allegedly threatened a dude with a gun and told him
“I’m going to kill you when I catch you.”
And to make everything even worse for him,
one of Surf’s OGs in the crew is allegedly ratting on him.
According to Poetic Flacko from No Jumper,
Yeah man you know like
Tsu Surf big homie is
is cooperating you feel me?
Right so you know,
he has no chance of beating this in my eyes.
Federal RICOs are already one of the worst things to get wrapped up in.
The feds have been investigating SBG since 2015,
and they usually don’t start handing down indictments
until they have an easily winnable case.
Surf could have left the streets behind a long time ago
and went fully legit with the music,
but trying to hold it down for the homies came back to haunt him.
Now his own OG is allegedly snitching
and Surf might never get the chance to rap as a free man again.
There’s no telling what will go down once the trial actually starts,
so tap in for updates while the story develops.