There are many styles of hip-hop, but none more notorious than gangsta rap.
Gangsta rap was popularized in the '90s, thanks to the hardcore rhymes penned by artists like
Ice-T, Dr. Dre, and Ice Cube.
The jury's still out on whether the violence found in rap lyrics is detrimental to society
— or, if gangsta rap is just the artistic expression of the dangerous culture in which
some artists live.
The result of keeping it real is a long list of rappers who have died, been injured, or
have been incarcerated.
Let's take a look at some of the most notorious — and some lesser-known — rappers currently
in the slammer.
Kodak Black's back in the big house
Dieuson Octave is the south Florida rapper known as Kodak Black.
In April 2018 he was sentenced to 364 days in jail for gun and drug possession charges
related to an Instagram video, that, according to ABC 10 local news,
"[...] appeared to show people using marijuana and holding a handgun near an infant."
But that's really just the tip of the iceberg for the "No Flockin" rapper, who in the two
years prior was charged with "robbery, false imprisonment, fleeing a law enforcement officer,
and possession of a firearm by a delinquent."
There's also the assault and a house arrest violation charges, for leaving home
without permission to go to a club, where an employee accused him of assaulting
her.
In April 2018, TMZ reported that some charges from the Instagram video arrest had been dropped,
meaning the embattled rapper could be out of jail as early as October 2018.
However, he's still awaiting trial for the battery case, for which he could receive
up to 30 years in prison if he's found guilty.
In other words: Kodak Black is in jail for a lot, and his days dealing with the legal
system don't seem anywhere close to being over.
Ryde Ruff, get locked up
By the time rapper DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, was sentenced to one year in
prison in March 2018, his criminal history was already so extensive and varied, it was
amazing that he was still a free man at that point.
In 2010, the Daily Beast cited his 13 previous arrests, with charges ranging from felony
drugs and cocaine possession, to criminal impersonation and reckless driving.
By 2016, and many more arrests later, Simmons' ruff ryding ways nearly cost him his life.
According to TMZ, he was found unresponsive in a Yonkers, New York Ramada Inn parking
lot where one witness said that he "ingested some sort of powder before lapsing into unconsciousness."
Simmons denied any drug use, and cited a recent bout of bronchitis for the collapse.
Fast-forward to January 2018, when Simmons added financial crimes to his colorful criminal
resume, although you could technically count the six months he served in 2015 for "failing
to pay $400,000 in child support" under that category.
Anyway, Simmons landed back in the clink for violating probation in a tax evasion case,
according to TMZ.
That case eventually ended with his March 2018 guilty plea to avoid paying taxes on
$1.7 million, earning him another year behind bars.
At the sentencing hearing, Simmons' lawyer "played part of Simmons' 1998 song 'Slippin''
in the Courtroom,' according to Reuters, in an attempt to explain his client's troubled
past.
It was an interesting move, but we think we have a better suggestion for next time: "I'm
Sorry," by Brenda Lee.
It's not like he's above doing a cover every now and then.
"Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, had a very shiny nose, and if you ever saw it, you would
even say it glows.
COME ON.
COME ON."
The rise and fall of Bobby Shmurda
Brooklyn rapper Ackquille Pollard adopted the handle Bobby Shmurda when he and several
lifelong friends formed the rap crew, GS9.
According to GQ, the crew became official in March 2014 and it didn't take long for
Pollard to become the breakout star of the group.
Viral success and his "Shmoney Dance" got the attention of fans, celebrities, and record
labels who scrambled to sign him.
"It looks like that thing's gonna be the Macarena in two years."
"You're dead."
"Whoa! Shmurda's gonna shmurda me?"
Unfortunately, police believed that GS9 also operated as a faction of the infamous LA-based
Crips gang, also known as G-Stone Crips.
What resulted was a wide-ranging criminal conspiracy investigation that led to a December
2014 sweep during a recording session at Manhattan's Quad Studios.
Using an indictment built largely on intercepted phone communications between GS9 members — in
which they allegedly made coded references to drug dealing, shootings, and murders — the
NYPD arrested Pollard and 14 others.
A spokeswoman for the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor told the New York Daily
News:
"The investigation involved violent incidents in Brooklyn that include shootings and narcotics
traffic."
Pollard's specific charges, however, related only to felony gun possession.
He copped a plea deal, accepting a seven-year prison term and waiving his right to an appeal.
Pollard strongly disputes the charges, alleging that dishonest cops railroaded him, and that
he got a raw deal when his trial was moved from Brooklyn.
According to his interview with Complex, he believed that in a Manhattan court,
"Who are they going to believe, the word of this black kid talking about shooting s--t
up or the word of white officers?
A jury is going to believe cops all day."
Life imitates violent art
RondoNumbaNine was a rising star in Chicago's "Drill scene," a sub genre of gangsta rap
that rose to prominence in the Windy City in the early 2000s.
Drill quickly became something of a flashpoint for debate over whether its controversial
lyrics involving gangs, guns and stuff were influencing the increasingly dangerous city
of Chicago.
Rondo, aka Clint Massey, contributed most notably to Drill with his 2013 hit, "Hang
Wit Me," in which he openly discusses being high, filling people with bullets, his remorselessness
as being an alleged murderer.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Massey became an object lesson in the debate over Drill lyrics when
he was sentenced to 39 years for his involvement in the 2014 death of cab driver Javan Boyd.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Massey, then just 17-years-old, and a 19-year old
accomplice named Courtney Ealy, shot Boyd multiple times as he sat in his car outside
an apartment complex.
For his part in the murder, Ealy was sentenced to 38 years in prison, effectively bringing
an end to both of the young mens' rap careers.
A prophetic felon
Joining the illustrious crowd of rappers who conspicuously implicated themselves in crimes
via their own lyrics is Montana Millz.
The Bronx-born rapper, whose real name is Michael Persaud, released tracks such as "Sell
Drugz" and "Feds Watching" before he was arrested for, you guessed it, selling drugs.
Persaud got busted twice for trafficking heroin, first in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, after he allegedly
dealt to an undercover cop, which resulted in a raid on his hotel room that yielded 70
grams of bulk heroin that had an street value of $11,500, according to the Lebanon Daily
News.
The second arrest was in Rhode Island, not long after the Lebanon bust, when Persaud
once again dealt to a plain clothes detective, which resulted in another raid and seizure
of several illicit things.
NBC Turn to 10 reported that, in January 2018, Persaud pleaded guilty before a Rhode Island
judge to "seven counts of drug distribution and possession" and received a three-year
prison sentence.
He didn't fare so well a month later in Pennsylvania when the judge there handed him a sentence
of eight to 30 years, which he will serve consecutively with his prior sentence.
Ouch.
One Nation behind bars
Convicted felon Ricardo Burgos, who raps under the handle Nation, apparently either wasn't
aware or didn't care that he was no longer allowed to possess firearms when he brandished
two of them in a music video shot in Deerfield, Illinois in January 2016.
According to CBS Chicago, Burgos, an aspiring rapper, was arrested later in the day in possession
of a .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol, at which point he was charged with one count
of illegal possession of a firearm by a felon and one count of distribution of a controlled
substance, the latter of which stemmed from a 2015 arrest.
The Associated Press reported that Burgos was a member of a Chicago-based gang known
as the Conservative Vice Lords, which perhaps figured into the sentencing judge's decision
to hand down the surprisingly harsh term of 188 months, or just over 15 years.
Yeesh.
For that kind of time, we sincerely hope waving those guns around in that video looked super
dope.
Gold chains to orange jumpsuits
California rapper Billy "Wild Bill" Shaffer Jr. lived up to his rap handle when he shot
and offed Connie M. Sowels outside of an Oakland nightclub on October 1, 2014, according
to the East Bay Times.
Shaffer, who also raps under the alias Billy Bankroll, claimed he was acting in self-defense
during a scuffle between himself and Sowels over a gold chain.
The jury believed Shaffer and acquitted him on the charges of first-degree murder, second-degree
murder, and voluntary manslaughter, which could have landed him behind bars for far
longer than the 13 years he got for his conviction.
His remaining charges included involuntary manslaughter, using a firearm, and being a
felon in possession of a firearm.
Shaffer reportedly cried tears of joy over the court's decision.
Pimpin' ain't easy… or legal
Richmond rapper and fledgling pimp Idris B. Jamerson, aka Drissy Bo, found himself swapping
the recording studio for the cell block after he was sentenced to four years in prison in
November 2017.
Six months earlier, Jamerson sealed his fate when he reportedly recruited a woman on Instagram
and began selling her services via shady websites that advertise prostitution, as reported the
East Bay Times.
Thanks to a sting arranged by the Vacaville Police Vice Unit and FBI Violent Crime Task
Force, Jamerson was apprehended on his way to deliver the woman to a prospective customer.
Upon his arrest, police recovered text messages that indicated the nature of the pair's exploitative
relationship, including Jamerson giving the woman consent to buy food using the money
she earned.
In addition to the text messages, some of Jamerson's own lyrics, discussing prostitution
and his lifestyle in general, were used against him in court.
Some things you should probably just keep in your diary.
Freed Meek Mill
We're ending on the most positive note we could find.
Philly rapper Robert Rihmeek Williams, aka Meek Mill, was sent back to prison for two
to four years in November 2017 after violating his probation twice that same year.
Williams' long history with the court system started in 2008, when he was jailed for the
first time for bringing a gun to a grocery store.
His subsequent five-year probation term was extended through violations and further plea
agreements, like in 2014 and 2016, when Williams was hit with violations for performing outside
of Philly without permission.
Judge Genece Brinkley, who presided over many of Williams' repeated violations, had enough
in 2017, saying,
"I gave you break after break, and you basically just thumbed your nose at this court."
Upon his sentencing, an outpouring of celebrities, including Jay-Z, Kevin Hart, and even New
England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, vocally championed Williams.
His name became tied to the Free Meek Mill movement, which sought to overhaul America's
probation and parole system.
Aside from the kind, but relatively useless support from celebrities, Williams attracted
another powerful ally: Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, who unsuccessfully
petitioned for Williams to get a re-trial after questioning the credibility of the arresting
officer in Williams' original case.
Williams' legal team also appealed to circumvent Brinkley's refusal to grant the rapper bail,
and he was immediately released on "unsecured bail" on April 24, 2018.
Granted, Williams still awaits trial on his probation violation charges, but for now,
he's a free man.
Now, that's something worth writing a song about.