The rap game can get dangerous.
With all the money and fame comes jealousy and beef,
especially if you’re from the streets.
That’s why many rappers choose to stay strapped,
in case an opp or a robber gets the drop on them.
Here is a look at some of the most famous rappers that have been hit with a gun charge.
King Von
King Von was one of the most popular drill rappers coming out of Chicago in 2019 and early 2020.
He blew up overnight after his single Crazy Story became a breakout hit in late 2018.
He was signed to his childhood friend Lil Durk’s OTF label
and was in a good position to take over the rap game in 2021.
Von had the ability to combine drill style with the wordplay of lyrical hip hop,
which is why he blew up so quickly.
Unfortunately, the rapper was shot and killed outside an Atlanta Hookah lounge in November 2020
and fans never got to see him reach his true potential.
But before his murder,
Von was well respected in the streets of Chicago
and had been in and out of jail for most of his teenage years and early 20’s,
including several arrests for gun charges.
Not much is known about Von’s early criminal history
because many of his arrests came before the age of 18 and have been wiped from his record.
In an interview with DJ Smallz Eyes,
Von says that he first started getting locked up around age 15.
He says his first arrest was for armed robbery and carjacking.
Because it was his first offense,
they sent him to a youth offender boot camp,
rather than prison.
In 2012, King Von got hit with his first adult offense
at age 18 for unlawful possession of a firearm
and was booked at Cook County Jail.
It wasn’t long after being released and Von got hit with his most serious case yet.
For the murder of Malcolm Stuckey.
Von and an associate named Big Mike were arrested on July 24th, 2014
in connection with the death of a man named Malcolm Stuckey.
According to witnesses,
Stuckey was mean mugging Von at a house party in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago.
Von left the party to recruit Big Mike and when they got back,
they opened fire on Stuckey and the dudes he was with.
Stuckey ended up getting killed
and two of his friends were injured and the two were charged with one count of murder
and two counts of attempted murder.
Big Mike initially agreed to testify that Von was the shooter
but changed his mind at the last minute to avoid being labeled as a snitch
so Von ended up walking
and Big Mike was sentenced to 28 years in prison for the murder.
Check out our video on rappers who beat a murder charge for more info on this case.
In the DJ Smallz Eyes interview,
Von explains that in Illinois they have what is called a gun enhancement law,
which means that if you’re found guilty of committing a crime using a firearm,
such as murder or attempted murder,
the judge is required to add additional time for the gun possession.
He tries to do the math in the interview
and realizes that the number is too high for him to even think about.
If convicted, Von was facing up to 100 years with the gun enhancement,
which is why Mike ended up getting 28 years,
even though he wasn’t the alleged shooter
and the prosecutors didn’t have much evidence other than the testimony he originally gave to police.
So, Von got a lucky break that Mike was going to snitch but then changed his mind.
But that wasn’t the last time Von would be charged with a crime that involved a firearm.
At the time of his death,
Von and his homie Lil Durk were fighting an attempted murder charge for allegedly robbing and shooting a man
outside the Varsity drive-in in Atlanta back in February 2019.
The victim claims that Durk and Von snatched his chain,
stole $30,000 and took off in his car after shooting him at the drive-in parking lot.
Because Durk and King Von are both associated with the Black Disciples
they were both charged with criminal intent to murder and criminal gang activity,
in addition to weapons charges.
Both have claimed they are innocent,
but because it is still an open case,
neither has had a chance to tell their side of the story.
Unfortunately, Von was killed before he got to see his day in court.
Durk will still have to stand trial for the charge,
but hopefully, with a good team of lawyers,
he’ll be able to beat it or plead it down to lesser charges.
But that wasn’t the only time Durk got hit with a gun charge.
Growing up on the mean streets of the Southside,
Durk was a respected savage before blowing up in the industry.
Lil Durk
Lil Durk is one of the most popular drill rappers to emerge from Chicago
when the genre first started popping off in the early 2010s’.
He started taking music seriously in 2011
after his early singles Sneak Dissin
and I’ma Hitta started buzzing in the city.
After drill music blew up,
Lil Durk managed to establish himself as one of the leading rappers from the southside
and has built a solid fan base that has kept him relevant for almost a decade.
But before he was grinding in the industry,
Durk was putting in work in the streets of Chicago.
Durk’s father was arrested and sentenced to 25 years in prison when he was only 7 months old
and the rapper spent most of his childhood taking on adult responsibilities.
He had his first child at 17
and had to dropout of high school and hustle full time to support his family.
He was already making music and building a following on Myspace and YouTube,
but rap wasn’t what was paying the bills.
Durk was affiliated with the Black Disciples,
one of the largest gangs in Chicago,
and not long after dropping out of high school, he started getting in trouble with the law.
He got arrested in October 2011
for possession of a firearm with a defaced serial number
and ended up doing some time.
He pled the charge down to aggravated unauthorized use of a weapon
and was sentenced to three months in jail.
He was released on bond,
then sent back to serve an additional 87 days.
Even though he only spent a few months locked up,
because he was arrested on a gun charge, after that he was considered a convicted felon.
Not long after in June 2013,
Durk was arrested a second time for gun charges.
He was brought in after police saw him throw a loaded .40 caliber handgun
into his car when they came toward him on South Green Street in Chicago.
When the cops searched the vehicle,
they found the .40 cal,
Durk was arrested for unlawful use of a weapon by a felon.
He was held on a $100,000 bond
and was potentially facing up to 5 years in jail.
But, Durk’s lawyer managed to get nine testimonies from witnesses claiming that Durk was innocent.
One of the witnesses even admitted that the gun was his
and Durk just happened to be holding it when police showed up.
He pled guilty to the charge
but was released on probation just over a month after being arrested.
Then, Durk was arrested for the third gun charge in three years back in November 2014.
Police were called to an address in Orland Park in Chicago where Durk lived.
When the police entered the home,
Durk was standing in the kitchen,
with two loaded handguns sitting in plain sight.
Although nine other people had access to the apartment
and could have been the owners of the weapons,
the police arrested Durk because he is a well-known rapper and they knew he was a convicted felon.
According to the arrest report, Durk told police that
“I got those pipes cuz n***** always be tryin’ to take my bands”.
The cops even went as far as reading his statement just like that in court,
which wasn’t the best look for the rapper.
But, Durk must have some amazing lawyers
because he was only sentenced to 18 months of probation after pleading guilty to the charge.
Although Durk has a history with gang activity,
after he started building a career,
he began to do work in the community and even spoke out against gang violence,
urging his fans and others to stay away from that lifestyle.
This must have worked in Durk’s favor,
because many regular gang members in his position
probably would have done some time after the third charge.
After he beat the case, he told the Chicago Tribune
that that was the last time he’d be back in jail.
He was quoted saying “The key word is I’ll be staying out of trouble.
You can put a capital N for Never.”
For the next few years, Durk kept that promise.
But, in May 2019,
it was announced that the Fulton County police department in Georgia
had a warrant out for Durk’s arrest for his alleged participation
in the shooting outside the Varsity Drive-in in Atlanta.
Not long after, Durk told his fans on social media
that he’d be turning himself in and surrendered to authorities the next day.
On the same day, he dropped a track called Turn Myself in, where he claimed he was innocent.
This case has yet to go to trial and Durk is still fighting the charge.
Although he is being accused of some serious crimes,
he does seem to have a good team of lawyers who have his back.
Even though they captured some of the incidents on camera,
they don’t have evidence that Durk was the one who fired the shot at the victim
or that he initiated the attack,
so he may be able to get off on self-defense or plead it down to a lesser charge to avoid jail time.
More facts will likely come to light as the case unfolds,
so stay tuned for updates.
Durk and Von aren’t the only Chicago legends to get caught with a strap.
This next rapper was hit with a gun charge
but claimed that the police planted the weapon on him.
Lil Reese
Lil Reese is a rapper from Chicago known for his association with Chief Keef
and the rest of the GBE camp.
Reese was featured on one of Keef’s biggest song’s I Don’t Like
and many thought that he was going to become the next major rap star from the city.
But, because of a series of legal issues and bad publicity,
Reese ended up getting dropped from his label
and hasn’t managed to reach the same level of success in the music industry as some of his peers.
But, Lil Reese is still a respected savage in the streets
and is often known as the Grim Reaper of Chicago.
Lil Reese was arrested for the first time in 2010 for burglary charges and was given two years of probation.
Not long after, in 2012,
he was featured on the track I Don’t Like along with Chief Keef
and introduced the world to the streets of Chicago and drill music.
That era changed the sound of hip hop forever
and I Don’t Like has been streamed over 100 million times on Spotify and Apple music.
But, just as Lil Reese was gaining some clout
and building a legal career away from the streets,
he got caught up in a few different situations that held him back.
In 2012, a video leaked to the internet that allegedly showed the rapper assaulting a woman
after she tried to kick him and his homies out of her apartment during a party.
This was a major controversy for the artists that eventually led him to be dropped from his label.
In 2013, Reese was caught by a police officer sleeping in his car on the side of the road.
After the officer woke him up,
Reese was unable to prove that the car was his, so he was arrested for motor vehicle theft.
At the same time, the cop ran Reese’s name through the system
and discovered that he had a warrant out for his arrest
that related to the domestic abuse video that was circulating online
and he was charged with criminal trespass,
battery, and mob action.
The auto theft charge was later dropped
after and he ended up settling the other charges privately.
About 2 months later,
Reese was arrested after the cops saw him walk down an alley
and remove a plastic bag with what they said was “green plant-like material”.
The cops searched him and found about 2 grand worth of cash and a little over a gram of kush.
When the cops asked him where he got the money,
Reese allegedly told them “It’s mine, I got a little weed.
So what?
This ain’t a big deal, I’m gangsta”
As you can probably guess the rapper was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana,
which was a violation of his parole.
Reese was released on bond not long after
and didn’t face any serious consequences for the weed charge.
He was arrested again about a year later in 2014
after police pulled him over and claimed they saw him try to conceal a handgun.
He was immediately brought into police custody,
charged with felony possession of a firearm and held on a $50,000 bail.
Not long after posting bail,
Reese took to Twitter and told his fans
“Police fufu put a gun on me but I’m out tho”
or in other words, he claims the cops planted the gun on him.
Reese’s claims must have had some truth to them because he was later acquitted of the charge.
Although Reese certainly isn't the most law-abiding citizen,
it does seem like the Chicago Police Department was out to get him.
For all the dirt he’s done in Chicago,
the charges they got him on were sleeping in a car,
holding a dub sack of weed,
and concealing a weapon they never proved that he actually had.
It seems like the cops in the area
probably didn’t like the rapper getting so much attention for his criminal antics
and wanted to hit him with anything they could think of just to get an arrest.
Surprisingly,
Reese has managed to avoid getting caught up in too many legal issues since being acquitted of the gun charge,
although he’s still active in the streets.
In 2019, he was shot in the neck at an intersection
and miraculously survived.
Hopefully, Reese can continue his music career
and find a way to avoid these types of situations in the future.
But unfortunately, that doesn’t seem likely for the grim reaper of Chicago.
If you liked this video check out some of our previous videos!
From Rappers In Gangs to Rappers Who Beat A Murder Charge
we cover the most insane stories that you need to hear!
Well, that's all for today!
If you enjoyed this video,
go ahead and give us a thumbs up and let us know in the comments
what you'd like to see in the future.
Don't forget to subscribe to our channel and hit that notification button,
so you never miss any great content like this.
Catch you in the next video!