Along with his boys Sheff G and Sleepy Hollow,
Eli Fross was one of the hottest up-and- coming drill rappers from Brooklyn.
But the rapper was recently involved in a wild shooting in the middle of Times Square
after a road rage incident.
Let’s take a closer look at what went down.
On July 15th, 2021,
Eli Fross was arrested after being caught on a surveillance camera
shooting at a biker in the area near Seventh Ave and West 41st Street
in Midtown Manhattan.
According to police, the rapper’s white Mercedes knocked over a motorcycle
being driven by a 32-year-old man, causing injuries to his knees and elbow.
The mans friend confronted a group of dudes standing next to the Mercedes,
which is when police say that Eli Fross
real name Elija Quimina
pulled out a gun and started letting off shots.
The 22-year-old told police that Fross fired multiple shots in his direction,
but no one got hit.
After the shooting, the Mercedes drove away,
while Eli escaped on foot down Eighth Ave.
Police reviewed nearby surveillance footage and found that the victim’s story lined up
with what was captured on camera.
Eli was arrested the next day
after police linked the Mercedes back to him and charged him with attempted murder,
attempted assault, and criminal possession of a weapon.
Police have made an arrest
20-year-old Quimina Elija of Brooklyn
was walked out of the midtown south precinct late last night
he faces charges of attempted murder
attempted assault and weapons possession
While in court, Eli supposedly bragged that his label was paying for the bond
and was hyping up the crowd while waiting to be arraigned.
He told the judge that he thinks that he accidentally clipped the motorcyclist
and in a fit of road rage, the driver shot at him first.
So he only fired back in self-defense.
But the judge wasn’t convinced by Eli’s story
and prosecutors are moving forward with the charges against him.
Shooting at someone in Times Square is pretty bold
there's cops and surveillance cameras everywhere
so there is no chance he was getting away with it.
Plus, the prosecutors are going to go extra hard for a conviction
since it was in a crowded tourist area
where a stray bullet could have hit an innocent person.
But This ain’t the first time that Eli Fross had a run-in with the law.
He also got arrested just a few weeks earlier
after police caught him carrying a loaded pistol
with the serial number scratched off in Kensington, Brooklyn.
So, he’s still facing an open gun charge,
which could make his legal situation even worse.
Eli Fross is a rapper from Brooklyn
known for tracks like Exposing Me Part II and ISO featuring Sheff G.
Sheff and Sleepy Hollow are some of his day 1 homies
and hes currently signed to their label Winners Circle Entertainment through Sony Records.
Eli grew up in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn
and was exposed to music at an early age by his family.
He was originally a basketball player, but always dreamed of becoming a rapper.
His uncle who was a rapper was killed when Eli was younger,
and that drove him to try to carry on his legacy and take it to the next level.
He has known Sheff for a long time
and became friends with Sleepy and the rest of the Winners Circle crew later on.
They were like a family and pushed each other to become better rappers.
When Sheff blew up with the track No Suburbans in 2017,
it inspired Eli to go even harder and try to find the same success.
He started rapping and recording his own music in 2018 at his home studio.
He listened to other Brooklyn drill rappers as inspiration
to make music that was a blend of old school boom bap, Chicago Drill, and UK grime.
He started making waves in 2020
after being featured on the Sheff G track Picasso with Jay Critch and King Von.
He dropped his first project, Caesar, later that year,
which featured Sleepy Hollow.
since then, Eli has been on the rise,
dropping tracks that have racked up millions of views on YouTube,
like Miracle and Grim Reaper.
Eli was supposed to be featured on Pop Smoke’s most recent album Faith
on the track Top Shotta.
They recorded the song while Pop was still alive
and the original version is still on YouTube.
But, his label ended up just taking Pop's verse and creating a whole new song.
The song on the album featured production from Pharell and the Neptunes
and a verse from Pusha T.
This would have been a big look for the up-and-coming artists,
but for whatever reason, his verse was not included.
Rowdy Rebel commented on the situation, sharing his frustration over industry politics,
posting on his IG story comparing the original leaked version to the album version.
The post included the caption
"SMH I DONT UNDERSTAND WHY MY BOY NOT ON THIS TRACC,"
"AYOO ELIFROSS_ DONT TRIP BRO YU KNO HOW THESES INDUSTRY N***AS IS
STRAIGHT SUCCERS.”
So, the label pretty much jacked the verse
and remade the song without any respect for the original version.
But a lot of fans wasn't happy with the album
and the way the label was handling Pop’s releases since he died.
So it may have been a blessing in disguise that he was left off,
even if it would have been a good look.
But its been a tough summer for Winners Circle Entertainment.
On the same day that Eli was arrested,
Sheff G also got arrested for a gun charge
and has been behind bars fighting the case ever since.
Back in January,
Sheff was pulled over in his own neighborhood of Flatbush Brooklyn
for an illegal U-Turn.
When cops pulled him over, they found a loaded .45 pistol in the car.
Sheff has felonies from a case in 2015 for gun and robbery charges.
So, he cant be in possession of a gun, especially in a city as strict as New York.
On July 15th,
the same day that Eli was arrested for shooting at the biker,
Sheff was arrested again for felony gun possession.
There ain’t too much info about this arrest but It’s possible that it’s related
to his January arrest and he got locked up again on a technicality.
It’s also not clear if it had anything to do with Eli’s shooting incident in Times Square.
Sheff was denied bail and he’s been sitting down fighting the case ever since.
The rapper has a pretty long rap sheet that mostly includes charges for guns and fighting.
So he may be looking at doing some time with this case
cause NYC doesn’t play around when it comes to guns.
But if Sony can plug him in with a decent lawyer,
he might be able to get off on probation and time served.
So, with Sheff behind bars,
Eli Fross should use this opportunity to take his music even further.
He may be doing some time for these recent charges,
so it would be smart for him to capitalize on the freedom he has now
and drop as much music as possible.
He recently dropped a track called Mad Max featuring Lil Zay Osama.
So it don’t seem like he let his legal situation stop his grind.
This case is still ongoing, and more news will probably come in the future,
so tap in for updates.