Some rappers are really in the streets and actually live the life they rap about.
Here is a look at a few rappers who got caught up in cases
and are possibly looking at doing a long time behind bars.
YNW Melly
YNW Melly was one of the most promising up-and-coming rappers from Florida.
With hits like Murder on My Mind and Mixed Personalities featuring Kanye West,
it seemed like Melly was gonna take over the rap game.
But just as he was reaching the next level in his career,
he got caught up in a wild murder case that has had him locked up for the past few years.
Melly was born and raised in Gifford, Florida, a small town near Vero Beach.
He was raised by a single mom who was only 14 when she had him
and struggled to make ends meet.
Melly joined a local blood gang at a young age, which he often talks about in his music.
Throughout his teen years, he was in and out of jail for crimes like aggravated assault,
weapons possession, and marijuana possession.
While locked up, he wrote Murder on My Mind which he uploaded to SoundCloud in 2017.
This became his breakout hit and has racked up over 200 million streams just on Spotify.
But right when Melly was starting to pop off, he was accused of murdering two of his best friends.
In 2016, Melly founded the YNW Collective along with his homies YNW Juvy,
Sakchaser, and Bortlen.
All three of them were right beside Melly when he blew up
and can be seen in a documentary about the rapper’s life which came out in December 2018.
But just before the documentary was released, Juvy and Sakchaser were both murdered.
YNW Bortlen was the one who brought them to the hospital
and claimed they was killed in a drive-by shooting.
But, after doing a brief investigation,
police claim to have found inconsistencies with the stories that Bortlen and Melly told them.
Instead, they claim Melly and Bortlen conspired to kill their two friends,
then stage it to look like a drive-by.
So, they were both arrested on two counts of first-degree murder.
Two men are in jail this morning including an up-and-coming Florida rapper
both men are charged in a double murder
Melly was denied bail and has been locked up fighting the case ever since.
The coronavirus pandemic only slowed down the court system
and now Melly has been sitting in jail for almost three years.
At one point, he contracted COVID and requested an early release
because of his asthma and bronchitis.
But the judge denied this request.
So he's stayed locked up.
His trial date is set for March 7th of 2022.
Just recently, Melly's manager, 100k track,
posted on his story that the rapper was coming home in two months.
So he seems to think Melly has a good chance of getting out
once the case is brought before a judge.
Stay posted for updates as this trial progresses.
Tay K
Tay-K was one of the biggest one-hit wonders of the late 2010s.
But part of the reason he never got to drop another hit was because his breakout track,
The Race got him caught up in multiple murder charges that he rapped about in the song.
Tay-K was born in Long Beach, California, but later moved to Las Vegas, NV, then Arlington, TX.
His father was locked up for a lot of his youth and had ties to a cripp gang in Long Beach.
In 2014, Tay-K started the Daytona Boyz along with his homies Pimpyz and Santana Sage.
They ain’t gain much attention but started performing at local parties to build a buzz.
In July 2016, Tay-K was arrested for capital murder
along with 6 other people for charges related to a home invasion
where 21-year-old Ethan Walker was killed.
Tay-K and some of his homies planned to rob a local drug dealer named Zachary Beloate.
They had two girls go to his front door to try to seduce him.
Then, when he was distracted,
Tay-K and his crew ran through the home with guns looking for drugs and money.
During the robbery there was aconfrontation and Walker was fatally shot.
After being arrested and questioned, Tay-K admitted to his role in the robbery
and was placed on house arrest to await trial.
But, on March 27th, 2017,
just a few days before his court case, he cut off his ankle monitor and went on the run.
While on the run, Tay-K also allegedly committed a few other crimes.
On April 23rd, 2017,
he allegedly shot and killed a 23-year-old cameraman named Mark Saldivar
while attempting to rob him in a Chick-fill-a parking lot.
Then on May 25th, he allegedly beat up and robbed 65-year old
Owney “Skip” Pepe at a park in Arlington.
Tay-K eventually made his way to Elizabeth, New Jersey
where he recorded and released his track “The Race”.
The song featured the famous line “**** a beat, I was tryna beat a case
But I ain't beat that case, ***** I did the race”.
The same day he released the track, he was arrested by US Marshalls
and brought into custody after spending three months on the run.
In July 2019,
Tay-K was found guilty of murder for his involvement in the death of Ethan Walker
and was sentenced to 55 years in prison.
Then in November 2019,
he was also found guilty of the murder of Mark Saldivar and is still awaiting sentencing.
Tay-K’s homie Pimpyz from the Daytona Boyz
was also found guilty of murder for his involvement in the robbery
that lead to the death of Ethan Walker.
He pled guilty to two counts of aggravated robbery and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Pimpyz was allegedly offered a shorter sentence to snitch on Tay-K but refused.
Even though the judge threw the book at him,
Tay-K remains positive that he could still get an appeal
and walk away as a free man with enough time to continue his rap career.
In June 2021, he went on Live for his 21st Birthday
and claimed that his appeal case was looking promising.
But just recently, the rapper took to Twitter and said “I need a new appeal lawyer”,
making it seem like things wasn’t going his way.
At this point, it sounds unlikely that Tay-K will be coming home any time soon.
If he had simply pled guilty to his involvement when he was first arrested,
he may have had a shot at a lighter sentence or an appeal.
But you can’t go on the run and then make a hit song about it,
all while committing other crimes.
Even if he does appeal the first murder charge, he was still found guilty of another murder,
which could carry just as much time.
Plus, it’s not like he had enough time in the rap game to stack his bread to fight a case like this.
So, unfortunately, Tay-K probably won’t be getting out of prison any time soon.
9lock9ine
9lock9ine was another one of the hottest up-and-coming rappers from Florida
before he got hit with fraud, racketeering, and attempted murder charges,
that could put him behind bars for the next few decades.
9lock9ine is a rapper from Orlando, FL, known for records like 223’s and 10%.
The rapper had a pretty wild childhood that included going to jail for car theft at just 13.
He was in and out of the system about a dozen times before turning 18.
But he started gaining a buzz with his music in 2018,
which eventually landed him a $2 million deal with Cash Money Records.
Just as he was starting to gain momentum, the rapper was hit with multiple charges
that will likely put an end to his music career.
In January 2020, he was arrested and charged with 5 counts of attempted 2nd-degree murder.
Authorities claimed 9lock9ine fired a gun into an Orlando home last July
while targeting another rapper – his own cousin Kuttem Reese.
A woman was inside the home with her kids, but luckily no one was injured.
The new state attorney of Florida’s 9th Judicial Circuit, Monique Worrell
was sworn in on January 8th of that year
and made it her first order of business to crack down on the rapper,
hitting him with 5 attempted murder charges.
The rapper eventually bonded out,
only to get picked up again a few months later on RICO charges.
The Florida police department launched a major investigation into the war
between 9locknine’s AFNF crew and their rival gang 438,
which is associated with the rapper Hotboii.
The investigation led to the arrest of 34 men and women in both gangs.
According to authorities, the bloody war between AFNF and 438
was responsible for over 30 shootings and at least 4 homicides,
including the murder of Tavyiah King,
the 14-year-old niece of Orlando City Commissioner Regina Hill.
During the investigation, 9locknine was named as one of the main leaders of the AFNF gang.
To make matters worse, 9lock9ine also pled guilty to identity theft and weapons charges.
According to court records, the rapper used someone else’s name, social security number,
and address to open a bank account
and receive $10,000 in PPP loans from the federal government.
He also sent an Instagram message to his homies showing the application,
which was intercepted by police.
He was also caught in possession of a semi-automatic rifle
that was not registered to him and was stolen during a burglary in 2019.
It was found in the garage of the rapper’s grandparents’ home
and had his fingerprints and DNA on the rifle magazine and grip area.
He was also caught with a weapon during a raid of his home last year.
Police discovered a duffle bag with loaded guns and ammo inside.
They also discovered 13 auto sears used to convert semi automatic pistols into fully automatic.
9lock9ine has a felony record and is not allowed to possess any of these weapons.
The rapper pled guilty to the charges and was sentenced to 87 months in prison
– or 7 years and 3 months.
Plus, he’s still facing the five attempted murders and racketeering charges.
His trial is set for March 7th. So stay tuned for updates.
Ksoo
Ksoo is a rapper from Jacksonville, Florida known for his affiliation with Yungeen Ace.
But the rapper has also been accused of some pretty wild shootings,
including two separate murders.
Ksoo was arrested in September 2020
for the murder of a man named Charles McCormick aka Lil Buck.
Lil Buck is a rapper affiliated with Foolio’s KTA gang,
who dropped a diss song about Ksoo’s brother Boss Goon.
Boss Goon was also a rapper,
but he was killed after a performance about a year before Lil Buck was murdered.
Police ain’t just arrest Ksoo, but they also arrested his father, Abdul Robinson,
and charged him with accessory after the fact, which is a felony offense.
While he was locked up, police also connected Ksoo to the murder of 16-year-old Adrian Garner
aka Bibby.
Bibby shot to death in the parking lot of the Hilltop Village Apartments
back in February 2019, just a month after Boss Goon was killed.
Ksoo was known for dissing Bibby in songs
and included his image on an album cover for a tape called Bibby Out,
which also featured pictures of several dead KTA affiliates.
Ksoo has now been locked up for over a year fighting the case
and it seems like he's really been going through it.
Video surveillance footage from inside the jail
that was released by a local news outlet
shows him getting mistreated by the prison staff in October 2021.
The footage shows him being handcuffed by a corrections officer while he’s in his cell.
Ksoo then exits the cell before being picked up and slammed to the ground by the CO.
According to a police report,
Ksoo threatened to kill the officer,
who saw it necessary to use force to overcome resistance displayed by the rapper.
But, according to Ksoo’s mom,
he’s been complaining to multiple family members about the officer
that slammed him to the ground.
She says Ksoo claims the CO was harassing him, telling him he was going to rearrange his face
and that his sister was dead.
His grandmother also filed a complaint against the officer, claiming that the CO said
“f*** your dead sister” to Ksoo.
Ksoo’s sister was recently shot in the face but luckily survived.
Karenna Robinson was shot by a bail bondsman at Avenue Mall,
right around the time the officer was harassing Ksoo on camera.
Around 8 pm on October 5th, 2021,
officers were dispatched to the mall after receiving reports of a shooting.
When they arrived, the victims were already gone.
But witnesses say they saw two men approach two women in the parking lot.
When the woman saw the men, they dropped their bags and ran to a nearby car.
But as they were fleeing, the witnesses heard a pop but ain’t see what happened.
Officers were then informed that a woman had shown up to nearby Memorial Hospital
with a facial injury after being shot.
The woman was 31-year-old Karenna Robinson, Ksoo’s sister.
She had her jawbone nearly blown off and had to get a tracheostomy to help her breathe.
The man who shot her was a bail bondsman who had been pursuing her for a while
over outstanding warrants and skipping bond with his company.
Karenna had outstanding warrants for her arrest regarding crimes
that included failing to appear in court,
tampering with a monitoring device, and felony theft charges.
After shooting her, the bail bondsman fled the scene but later returned.
No charges have been filed against him at this time
and the police haven’t released his name or the company he works for.
So, the CO who was harassing Ksoo
must have received info about the incident with his sister
and used it to get under his skin.
After being treated at the hospital, Karenna was booked into Duval County Jail,
the same facility where her brother and father are being held.
So it seems like the whole family is going through a tough time.
Even Ksoo’s opp Foolio seems to feel bad for him.
In a recent IG Live video, Foolio said
he doesn’t wish jail on nobody, because they're all in the streets at the end of the day.
I don't wish jail on nobody
like thats just the rule of the streets
I don't wish jail on nobody shi I hope he gets out soon
He claims that the Jacksonville police are crooked, and he even said he wished Ksoo would get out.
The way Jacksonville police set up, like they-they crooked
like they'll do anything to keep you like just like Ksoo situation
But he’s likely trolling and probably wishes he’d be free
so the streets could handle it and not the police.
Ksoo has continued to maintain his innocence.
His lawyer pointed out
that the rapper does not meet the physical description of the shooter in the Lil Buck case.
But police have an informant who was with Ksoo on the day of the murder,
who claims he was the shooter.
So, it’s going to be a tough case to beat.
The rapper is currently being held on a $1million bond for the Lil Buck hit
and a $3 million bond for the murder of Bibby.
More info on both cases will likely come out as they go to trial,
so tap in for updates.