Coach Da Ghost is a rapper from Brownsville, Brooklyn
who’s been making waves in New Yorks Drill scene.
But he was recently arrested and charged with murder, attempted murder, and assault
in connection with the death of a 17-year-old Brooklyn resident earlier this year.
Let’s take a closer look at what went down.
On December 3rd, Coach da Ghost was arrested
by NYPD detectives in Clayton County, Georgia
after being accused of gunning down 17-year-old Bryan Sanon
in the Canarsie neighborhood of Brooklyn earlier this year.
On March 13th, Bryan left his home to go for a walk with friends.
Around 10 am, the group was on East 82nd Street near Farragut Road
when a gunman hopped out of the backseat of a silver sedan and opened fire on them.
Bryan was shot and killed.
A 20-year victim was also shot in the face and a 19-year-old was grazed in both legs.
But both are expected to recover.
Bryan’s mom was at a doctor’s appointment when she got an alert on her phone
on Citizen, an app that sends out notifications about local crimes.
The alert said that a teenager had been shot and killed in the area.
When she got back to the neighborhood, she found her son still laid out on the pavement.
Police quickly connected Coach da Ghost to the shooting.
But they were not able to track him down immediately because he had already left the state.
They eventually caught up to him in Clayton County, Georgia, an area outside of Atlanta,
and brought him back to New York to face charges of murder, attempted murder, and assault.
Police also arrested 26-year-old Naquan Pruitt of Levittown, Pennsylvania
back in July who is being held on the same charges.
It’s not really clear why Bryan Sanon and his friends were targeted
or if Coach is accused of being the shooter or the driver.
But police believe the attack may have been gang-related.
Coach da Ghost is a rapper from Brooklyn.
Early on he lived in the Roosevelt Projects in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn,
but later moved to Brownsville.
His parents were Guatemalan and Spanish is actually his first language.
He was in the streets at an early age, jumping off the porch around 12 years old.
He’s a member of the Gangster Disciples
and was an original member of the Hoodstarz, the group that’s now known as the Choos.
When he was 16, Coach got arrested for attempted murder
and also got caught up in a major gang indictment that put him behind bars for 5 years.
In 2012, the NYPD launched a huge gang investigation called Operation Tidal Wave.
The investigation targeted two gangs
– the Hoodstars and the Wave Gang,
who had been terrorizing the streets of Brooklyn with multiple shootouts
that left at least three people dead.
The Hoodstars and the Wave gang would later reform as the Woo and the Choo,
who still beef to this day.
25 accused members of the Wave Gang
and 18 members of the Hoodstars were arrested in the indictment.
Their ages ranged from 15 to 21
and according to police they bragged about their crimes on social media.
Police were monitoring their activities for over a year,
stacking evidence to make their case.
During the arrests, they confiscated a total of 35 guns.
The men arrested were charged with crimes that included murder, assault,
reckless endangerment, robbery, and weapons possession.
Even though he was just a teenager,
police named Coach Da Ghost as one of the primary leaders of the Hoodstars.
He was also accused of shooting an opp in the arm
at the Marcus Garvey Housing Projects in Brownsville.
The Hoodstars were also beefing with a gang called the Brownsville Fly Guys,
who had ties to the Wave Gang.
They used to be allied, but allegations of snitching turned them against each other.
Around 2:30 am on June 27th, 2010,
Coach allegedly got into an argument with a Fly Guys member named Tyquan Spann.
During that argument, he pulled out a gun and shot Tyquan in the arm.
The incident set off a wave of violence between the two gangs.
The next day, Tyquan’s best friend, another member of the Fly Guy’s
named Isiah Taylor was killed while riding his bike down Strauss Street.
He was shot a total of three times and eventually passed away.
Less than 24 hours after that, a 16-year-old member of the HoodStarz
named Hakeem Gravenhise was shot and killed in front of his home on Union Street.
Hakeem was supposedly one of the leaders of the Hoodstars.
At the time of his death,
he was awaiting trial for the murder of a 9-year-old innocent bystander named Ronnell Gurley.
At that point, Coach posted bail and was looking for revenge for Hakeem’s death.
But before he could make a move, he was arrested on November 5th for gun possession.
He was released with no bail, but was arrested not long after in Operation Tidal Wave
and faced charges of attempted murder.
He eventually accepted a plea deal
and plead guilty to criminal possession of a weapon and assault.
He was sentenced to 5 years in prison at just 17 years old.
During his time behind bars, he went to multiple state prisons.
He also spent around 2 years in solitary confinement
which is where he started learning how to rap
and realized he wanted to pursue music after getting out of prison.
He got out in 2017 and was sentenced to 5 years of probation.
After Coach was released from prison,
he went straight to the booth and started recording music.
At that point, the Brooklyn drill scene was just beginning
and the Choos were building their own lane in the rap scene.
So, he linked up with other GD rappers like Nas Blicky and Envy Caine
who helped him develop his own sound.
But at the same time, the Woos was also gaining traction in the music industry,
which created competition over who would take over the rap game.
Being one of the OG leaders of the Hoodstars,
Coach da Ghost started beefing with some of the top rappers associated with the Woo,
including Fivio Foreign and the late Pop Smoke.
In September 2018, Fivio Foreign dropped the track TeTe
featuring Drizzy Juliano, where he raps:
“hoodie on when I’m approachin’ em
I wanna know who’s coaching em”.
At the beginning of the video, it also reads GDK Shyt aka Tete,
making it clear who the diss is aimed at.
Coach then followed up with the track Woo K, where he responds with the bar
“switch siders, adios
d*** riders that’s fivio”.
Over the next few years, Coach and Fivio would continue sending shots back and forth.
Then Coach and Envy Caine dropped Woo K parts 2 and 3,
and continue to apply pressure to their opps.
But throughout the late 2010s, the Woos dominated the Brooklyn drill scene.
Pop Smoke would take over in 2019 with Welcome the Party and Dior.
Fivio Foreign would blow up not long after that with Big Drip.
But Pop Smoke’s tragic death in February 2020 would leave a major hole in the Brooklyn drill scene.
Coach capitalized off the death of his opp by dropping the song Hitlist,
which became his breakout hit.
On the track, he drops the bar
“I was searching and looking for Fivio
F*** around and got addy on Gwaupo”.
Jay Gwuapo is another Woo rapper.
So he’s claiming he was out hunting for Fivio but caught Jay instead.
He continues rapping:
“And if you getting money,
then why you condoning the same sh*t that got pop smoked
And I just find it funny it’s 2020 so stop reppin a set that you’re not bro”
This was the bar that really attracted the attention of rap fans.
The line is more aimed at Fivio, but many saw it as a Pop Smoke diss.
Coach is questioning why Fivio is still promoting gang culture
when he’s already gotten rich.
But Pop had only died a few months before.
So many thought Coach was dissing the dead for portraying an image that got him killed.
But the controversy helped the song take off and the video racked up millions of views.
The Trap God himself, Gucci Mane
posted a clip from the video to his Instagram with the caption
“Anyone from New York
Please Help Me contact this dude @coachdaghost
tell him I want him to sign to #TheNew1017 today. He 2 hard."
Not long after that,
Coach was spotted with a 1017 chain
and it was officially announced that he was signing a deal with Gucci.
But just a few months later, it seemed like the deal fell through.
Fans were quick to notice that Gucci and Coach were never featured on a song together.
Plus, Coach was left off the So Icy Summer Mixtape,
which featured other new 1017 members like Pooh Shiesty and Foogiano.
This led to rumors that Coach had been dropped from the label for dissing Pop Smoke.
It’s not clear exactly what happened behind the scenes.
But Coach ended up signing a deal directly with Atlantic Records,
the major label that 1017 is affiliated with.
But, Coach let it be known that it’s still all love
and that Gucci helped him get the deal with Atlantic.
Coach continued to drop tracks and build his buzz.
But internal beef within his own gang lead to more problems.
In late 2020, Coach Da Ghost went live to announce that Envy Caine,
his former friend, and collaborator was no longer Folk, aka part of the GDs.
Envy Caine clapped back a few months later and told Coach to stop playing games
and come link up if he really wanted smoke.
It’s not clear exactly what caused the beef.
But it might have started when Envy Caine was down in Georgia with some other GD’s.
There’s a group of GD’s in Atlanta, who left Brooklyn to avoid gang politics.
The GD’s in Brooklyn are far outnumbered by the Bloods and Crips
and they tend to beef with everybody.
So, some moved down south to avoid all the drama.
Envy Caine allegedly went down to Georgia and was creating problems.
So, Coach decided to separate himself
because he felt like Envy was making the crew look bad.
After that, Coach Da Ghost layed low for a while.
He would only drop a few singles after blowing up with Hitlist
and hasn’t done any tours or features with other artists.
Now it looks like the reason has been revealed.
He’s been on the run for a murder charge for the past few months
and probably ain’t want to bring too much attention to himself.
At this point, it’s not clear what evidence police have to connect him to the crime.
But if they’re willing to spend time and money to hunt him down in Georgia,
they must have a pretty strong case.
Coach Da Ghost had a lot going for him
and could have really blew up in the industry if he stayed focused.
He had respect from the streets for being one of the original Hoodstars
and did his time without snitching.
Plus, he managed to sign a major record deal.
But it seems like he was too deep in the gang lifestyle
and just couldn’t separate himself from the streets after hitting it big.
Maybe it’s all a misunderstanding
and the police are just targeting him because of his reputation.
But if he was somehow involved in the murder, based on his prior convictions,
he’s likely looking at doing a lot of time.
More info is likely to come out as the case progresses.
So stay posted for updates.