Drakeo the Ruler was one of the most influential artists from Los Angeles.
But over the weekend,
he was tragically killed after getting stabbed in the neck backstage
at a music festival in his hometown of LA.
Let’s take a closer look at the life and death of Drakeo the Ruler.
On Saturday, December 18th,
Drakeo was set to perform at the Once Upon a Time in LA Music Festival
at the Banc of California Stadium in Exposition Park.
The festival was being put on by Snoop Dogg and other major acts
like 50 Cent, YG, and The Game.
Around 8:30pm, a fight broke out backstage.
According to witnesses, Drakeo and the Stinc team were approached by a mob
of like 40 or more people, and a fight instantly started.
During that altercation, Drakeo was reportedly stabbed in the neck
and rushed to the hospital in critical condition.
Festival organizers shut down the show
and headliners like Snoop Dogg and 50 Cent never performed.
By the next morning, the news was confirmed
that Drakeo died from his injuries at just 28 years old.
Police are still investigating the stabbing and as of right now
no official motive has been announced.
But the entire city of LA
as well as the rap community are mourning the loss of another rising star.
Drakeo had a short but highly influential career that was really taking off.
He started gaining a buzz in the late 2010s.
But after being falsely accused of murder, he spent several years locked up
fighting for his freedom.
He got released in late 2020,
only to be tragically murdered just a year later.
Drakeo grew up in the 100’s neighborhood of Los Angeles.
He was raised by a single mom and has a brother who is also a rapper named Ralphy the Plug.
Together, they formed a rap group called the Stinc Team
along with their homies Ketchy the Great, Sayso the Mac,
Bambino, Good Finesse, and Young Bull.
Drakeo was interested in making music from an early age
and was inspired by artists like the Hot Boys, Lil Boosie, Webbie, and Dipset.
Early on, he saw rap as a way to make it out and a way to feed his family.
Drakeo started gaining recognition after collaborating with DJ Mustard for the track Mr. Get Dough.
The song racked up millions of views and showed Drakeo the potential in music.
He kept grinding and dropped multiple mixtapes over the next few years,
including I am Mr. Mosley 1 and 2 and So Cold I Do Em.
He quickly set himself apart from other West Coast rappers
cause of his unique flow and delivery that was full of new lingo that he and his crew invented.
This earned him a lot of respect in LA’s rap scene
and he was on his way to becoming one of the biggest artists in the city.
But before he could take his career to the next level,
he got involved in a murder and gang conspiracy case that almost put him behind bars for life.
On the night of December 10th, 2016,
Drakeo and other members of the Stinc Team
decided to attend a Naughty or Nice pajama party in Carson, California.
While they were at the party, they bumped into someone they had beef with
and there was a shooting that left one person dead and another injured.
Drakeo and Ralphy grew up in a Crip hood
and most Stinc team members are affiliated with the crips.
They had beef with Inglewood Family Gangsta Bloods or IFG,
one of the largest and oldest blood sets in LA.
While Drakeo and the rest of the Stinc Team were chillin outside the party by their cars,
they noticed an IFG member named Davion Gregory aka Red Bull
walk into the party with two other dudes.
Drakeo saw Red Bull entering the party and turned to tell his homies it was time to go.
But Red Bull ended up walking right by them and a fight broke out.
Gunshots went off leaving Red Bull dead and the two other men injured.
The two men Redbull was with were actually football players and not from IFG.
Travis Henry Broome, a wide receiver who played for the Arizona Cardinals and New York Giants,
knew Redbull from playing pop warner football
and randomly bumped into him before the party that night.
While in the hospital, Broome told police
he remembered seeing a light-skinned black guy with dreads and two cars
a black Mercedes SUV and a red Mustang or Benz.
Police ended up finding shells from a .40 cal glock and a .38 revolver.
They also found surveillance footage from the party
showing Drakeo driving away in a black Mercedes SUV.
Police heard Drakeo’s name come up in a wiretap and started connecting him to the murder.
The final piece was finding one of Drakeo’s music videos, for a song called Chunky Monkey.
In the video, he’s seen driving the same Black Mercedes SUV.
His crew also flashes multiple guns, including a Glock .40 and a .38 revolver,
the same weapons used in Red Bull’s murder.
So after that, the cops were convinced they found the killer.
On January 2nd, 2017, Drakeo, Ralphy,
and other Stinc Team members were arrested and charged in connection with the murder.
Police put undercover informants in the cells with each member of the Stinc Team,
and eventually, the truth came out.
One of Drakeo’s close homies, Solo even ended up snitching
in exchange for having the charges against him dropped.
But what’s crazy is that nobody snitched on Drakeo.
According to what Solo and others told police,
Red Bull was shot by two dudes named AB and Kellz, who were beefing with IFG.
Drakeo just happened to be there at the time
but really had nothing to do with the shooting.
But police was determined to pin the case on Drakeo,
so they took it to trial.
Drakeo was acquitted on the murder and attempted murder charges.
But he faced a hung jury on another charge of criminal street gang conspiracy.
Basically, they tried to say that Drakeo
helped to create a lifestyle that glorified gang violence,
so he was also responsible for the actions committed by his crew.
They also brought in some of his lyrics
and his beef with another rapper named RJ to make their point.
But RJ himself has admitted their beef was never that serious.
Because of the hung jury, Drakeo had to stay in jail until his next trial.
But in November 2020, a new LA District Attorney was elected.
Drakeo’s case had attracted a lot of negative press from supporters and rap media.
So, they decided to cut him a deal and he was released before the end of the year.
While Drakeo was locked up, his fanbase had only gotten bigger.
He released a project earlier that year called Thank You for Using GTL
which was recorded entirely over a jail phone.
The album was praised by fans and critics,
with some calling it one of the best albums ever recorded from jail.
Drakeo ain’t waste no time after getting out
and dropped another album called, We Know the Truth in December 2020.
He followed up early the next year with the Truth Hurts,
which had a feature from Drake on the track Talk to Me.
After that he continued to capitalize off the attention he was getting
and dropped three more projects before the end of the year
- A Cold Day in Hell, Ain’t That the Truth and So Cold I Do Em 2.
But just because he got a lot of love in the city don’t mean there was no hate.
After he got out, Drakeo kept beefing with IFG and dropped the track Ingleweird,
where he took shots at IFG rappers like AZ Chike and Frosty Da Snowmann.
AZ Chike responded with his own diss song Lil Stinc Stinc
and the rappers continued taking shots at each other in interviews and on social media.
The police were also keeping an eye on Drakeo.
Back in August, he got arrested on weapons charges
after police pulled over the Uber he was in for having tinted windows.
You would think tinted windows are the uber drivers responsibility,
but police searched Drakeo and found out he had a gun on him.
Drakeo was on IG Live during the whole time he was getting arrested.
He later got out on a $35,000 bail.
But many asked why he got searched in the first place since he wasn’t even the driver of the car.
But despite all the setbacks,
Drakeo continued to grind and it seemed like he only continued to level up in the rap game.
He was a rare artist who came with a new style and created his own wave
by giving fans something different.
But before he could truly enjoy the results of his hard work, he was tragically murdered.
After the news was confirmed,
fans and celebrities took to social media to mourn Drakeo’s death.
Drake posted a photo of Drakeo along with the message
“Nah man this sh*t isn’t right for real wtf are we doin.
Always picked up my spirit with your energy RIP."
Snoop Dogg also posted a statement sending prayers and condolences to the family.
He said that as soon as he was informed of the stabbing, he shut down the show and left immediately.
The event was also hosted by Live Nation,
who are still under a lot of legal pressure after the Travis Scott Astroworld tragedy.
Many fans are wondering why someone with a knife was even allowed backstage,
raising a lot of questions about the amount of security at the show.
A Stinc Team affiliate also got on social media and gave some backstory on what happened.
He kinda suggests it was a setup and that YG had something to do with it.
He said he’d slap the sh*t out of YG when he sees him and even banned him from performing in LA.
He claims the Stinc team was only allowed to have 15 people with them,
but YG had a crew of security guards with knives and other weapons.
****** doing all this tough talking like they hard bro but,
***** fighting big ass security,
you got those security guards fighting *****
like come on bro that **** aint cool bro
On my momma bro them ***** got the big ass bald Security guards
snuck in knifes all type of weird s*** *****
Let them ****** come 70 thick but only told us we could have 15 people bro
Drakeo and YG have had problems in the past.
Early on, Drakeo was offered a deal
to sign with DJ Mustard after the success of Mr. Get Dough.
But Drakeo turned the deal down and decided to stay independent.
Ever since then there has been some tension between Drakeo and Mustard’s people, including YG.
YG is also from the TreeTop Pirus and has affiliations with IFG.
It’s been alleged that YG
tried to blackball Drakeo in the industry because of their problems.
Back in February,
Drakeo took shots at YG on social media showing that the rapper still follows him on IG
and put the caption “N**** don’t like me unfollow me then n****”.
So, they’ve had issues in the past, but nothing suggesting the beef was that serious.
At this point, there is no evidence to confirm that YG had anything to do with the fight.
It’s all just rumors and it’s still not clear who attacked Drakeo and why they did it.
RIP Drakeo the Ruler.
He was a rare artist
who inspired a new wave of rappers just by staying true to himself.
More info on this case is likely to come out as police investigate.
So, tap in for updates.