Hotboii and 9lokknine
are two of the hottest up-and-coming rappers out of Florida.
They started off as homies but later became rivals,
and now they’ve turned the streets of Orlando into a bloody war zone.
Let’s get into what went down.
Hotboii grew up on the West side of Orlando.
He was inspired by artists like Lil Wayne and Kodak Black
and started rapping himself at just seven years old.
His mom noticed his talent
and started helping him release songs on YouTube and SoundCloud in 2016.
Hotboii’s track Switcharoo had gained some attention locally,
but he was sitting in juvie for breaking and entering
so he couldn’t capitalize on the buzz.
Even though he was locked up,
Hotboii kept working on his raps
and really took music seriously once he got out.
When Hotboii got released in 2018,
he went straight to the studio and started recording new music.
He dropped a video for the track Life of a Dog, which put him back on the map.
But even though he was more focused on his career,
Hotboii was still in the streets and affiliated with a gang called 438.
Around that same time another Orlando rapper named 9lokkNine,
was starting to blow up too.
Like Hotboii, 9lokkNine started rapping at a very young age.
He had a passion for music,
but that ain’t stop him from getting into trouble.
Growing up his dad was in and out of jail and he was raised by his mom.
So, 9lokkNine was in the streets at a young age
and got arrested 12 times before he even turned 18.
When he was 15,
9lokkNine got arrested for shooting and hospitalizing another teenager.
According to investigators,
it was an accidental shooting but he was still charged with aggravated battery with a firearm
and unlawful discharge of a firearm.
9lokkNine had a lot of legal issues going on at the time,
but he was still working on his music.
He dropped three mixtapes in 2018,
which earned him a deal with Cash Money Records and Republic Records the same year.
Hotboii and 9lokkNine were both making waves in the industry
and close to breaking into the mainstream.
At first they were cool with each other and dropped a song together in 2018,
but then something sparked a beef between them that spilled over from rap
into real violence in the streets.
According to Hotboii, the beef started after 9lokkNine got jealous of his success.
No one knows exactly who started it all,
but the two rappers started going at each other on social media;
and not before long, AFNF and 438 were in an all-out war.
The first victim of the war was a 438 affiliate named Wolph Lutherking Luma.
In April 2020, he was shot at a house party
by an AFNF affiliate named Demetrius Cox.
By the time the police got there, Luma was already taken to the hospital;
but later died from his injuries.
Eleven days later, a memorial for Luma was shot up by members of AFNF,
leaving three injured and one dead.
Dexter Rentz was a high school football star
who was just one month away from enrolling at the University of Louisville on a scholarship,
but he got killed before he could achieve his dreams.
Rentz had no gang ties, but he was friends with Hotboii and Luma.
His younger brother Derrick tried to save his life with CPR, and later told reporters what happened:
“They [were] at my daddy’s house on Ellese Street,
right across the street from, I guess, the apartment house where these guys were shooting.
These guys just were doing a drive-by and let off rounds.
It hit Dexter, but it was not targeted for Dexter.
He got shot on his left side.
The guys let off over 15 rounds.
…This was all from some rap beef, I guess."
The main suspect from the shooting was an AFNF member named Jerimiah Robinson.
But before the police could arrest him,
he was allegedly shot in the head by 438’s second in command Vanshawn Sands.
On July 7th, 2020,
Robinson and another AFNF member targeted the house where Sands was staying.
Sands was getting out of his car when the AFNF members pulled up
and started letting off shots.
But when you really bout that life, you always ready for the smoke.
So, Sands pulled out his own rifle,
hitting Robinson in the head and the other AFNF affiliate in the hand.
Since investigators believe Sands was defending himself,
he was just charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon instead of murder.
A few days after Sands killed Robinson,
9lokkNine’s car was lit up with bullets while it was parked outside of a house.
But he was already gone by the time police arrived,
and was allegedly on his way to kill another rapper named Kuttem Reese.
9lokkNine and his affiliates allegedly let off over one hundred rounds into Kuttem Reese’s house.
Reese wasn’t even there at the time, but his mom and sister was
and they later said they saw 9lokkNine before the shooting started.
It turns out that they were able to identify 9lokkNine because they’re all related.
Kuttem Reese and 9lokkNine are blood cousins, but at this point that ain’t even matter.
9lokkNine was ready to kill anyone he thought was an enemy,
even if they was family.
A warrant was put out for 9lokkNine,
but Kuttem Reese tried to kill him before the cops got to him.
A few days after his house was shot up,
he and some other 438 affiliates allegedly pulled up to 9lokkNine’s aunt’s house
and riddled it with bullets.
No one was hurt during the shooting,
but it was obvious the violence wasn’t going to stop.
It wasn’t just gang members getting shot and dying.
A bunch of innocent people got caught in the crossfire,
including a three year old boy named Daquane James Felix Jr.
who was hit during a drive-by.
Orlando was becoming deadlier every day,
and the cops were desperate to put an end to it.
A special investigation called Operation X-Force was created
to bring down AFNF and 438.
The cops used wiretaps, informants, and more to gather evidence.
But while they were working to build a case, the violence in the streets never stopped.
In October 2020, 9lokkNine was at a mall in Orlando.
According to police reports,
two men in a white BMW circled the mall parking lot looking for his whip.
When they found it, they sat and waited for 9lokkNine to come out.
When they saw him walking towards his car,
they pulled up on him and one of them started letting off shots.
9lokkNine and his homies ducked for cover,
while everyone else in the parking lot panicked and tried to get away.
No one was hit during the shooting,
but 9lokkNine already had a warrant out for his arrest and got booked by the cops at the scene.
He was charged with carrying a gun as a felon,
then police found out that his gun was used in other shootings too.
The shooting at the mall
put even more pressure on the cops to do something about the gang violence.
The body count was going to keep climbing,
and police informants reported that hits was being put out on both sides.
Operation X-Force used informants and wiretaps to uncover how the gangs operated.
438 and AFNF was smuggling guns, drugs, and money.
Both gangs were being run like organized crime families,
and the cops knew they had to bring everything they had if they wanted to stop them.
They started building a RICO case against the gangs,
and over a nine month long investigation they ended up arresting 34 suspects
on everything from attempted murder to racketeering.
The RICO case targeted 438 and AFNF,
and now both gangs have lost a lot of power in Orlando.
Hotboii is facing charges for racketeering and conspiracy to commit racketeering,
but he’s out on bond while he awaits trial.
His right hand man Vanshawn Sands is also facing two racketeering charges.
9lokkNine was sentenced to seven years in prison for identity theft and a weapons charge.
The identity theft charge came
after he was caught using someone else’s name and social security number
to get a $10,000 PPP loan
that was meant to help small businesses during the Covid pandemic.
If that wasn’t bad enough,
he might have even more time added to his sentence
because he’s still facing a second-degree murder and racketeering charge.
9lokkNine and Hotboii had a lot of potential to make it out of the streets
and make a living off their music,
but they did everything possible to throw it all away over a pointless beef.
At this point both sides have lost too many people for them to ever be cool,
but hopefully,
the RICO case will stop more innocent people from getting caught in the crossfire.
If Hotboii can beat his case
there’s still a chance for him to make it out of Orlando,
but 9lokkNine has already been sentenced to seven years.
Plus he’s still facing the attempted murder and RICO charges.
More info will come out as the case develops,
so tap in for updates.