Trouble is an ATL legend
who collaborated with everyone from Drake to Quavo to Young Thug.
He was a hometown hero who never stopped putting on for the city,
no matter how big he got.
But now he’s been tragically killed after a dude caught him with his ex in bed.
Here’s what went down.
On June 5th, police responded to a homicide call at an apartment in Conyers, Georgia,
where a woman reported a shooting.
The front door to the apartment was forced open, and Trouble had been shot in his chest.
According to the woman, this is what happened.
The unnamed woman told the cops that her and Trouble were both asleep in her bed,
when her ex broke in and started punching her in the face.
Her ex is a dude named Jamichael Jones who went crazy when he saw his ex in bed with another dude.
That’s when Trouble woke up and started fighting Jones.
The woman started helping Trouble fight Jones too,
but then he upped his strap and shot Trouble once in the chest before running away.
A witness who lived in the apartment complex told Fox 5 Atlanta
“They was saying, you know, they were trying to revive somebody.
To be honest with you, we don’t have that type of situation or issues that happen in this particular neighborhood,
so to find out you have a local celebrity that’s inside your residential area and this is what happens…
it was like very, very traumatizing.”
The cops started an investigation to hunt Jones down immediately.
They went on a “knock and talk” operation where they went to places Jones was known to hang out
and tried to get info out of people who knew him.
Eventually they visited his mother at her house, and she put Jones on the phone with Sheriff’s deputies.
It looks like the idea of doing the race wasn’t on his mind at all,
because Jones agreed to surrender almost immediately.
The cops let him pick the time and place,
and on Tuesday morning they met him at a hospital in Clayton County.
They booked him on Felony Murder, Aggravated Assault, Home Invasion, and Battery.
He was denied bond later in the day, and his next hearing date is set for June 15th.
According to the cops,
he hasn’t “shown any signs of remorse but does appear to be fearful.”
According to the woman at the apartment, she broke up with Jones about a week earlier.
She told the police they were in her car arguing about him not having a job or paying bills,
then Jones punched her in the nose.
She called the cops, but he hopped out of the car and ran away so she ain’t file a report.
Supposedly she ain’t seen him since then, but he did live in the apartment with her.
Jones is also a rapper who goes by the name J Mike and was in a group called the Fab 5.
DJ Akademiks described him as a “failed rapper,”
and he obviously wasn’t bringing in money since his ex dragged him for not paying bills.
Rumors are going around that the unnamed woman is a rapper named Rissa Royce,
but that ain’t been confirmed yet.
She allegedly posted photos of the murder scene on Instagram,
but now she’s deleted all of the info from her bio and switched her profile to private.
A picture of the alleged crime scene shows the area where Trouble was shot.
There’s a pair of red socks laying on the carpet,
and blood is splattered all over the door and walls of the apartment.
At first, it seemed like an easy case to solve,
but it might end up getting more complicated.
The state of Georgia has a Castle doctrine that allows people to use deadly force to defend themselves inside their home.
A Major at the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office describes it like this
“Citizens who find themselves in situations where they find themselves threatened with severe injury or death
can protect themselves with whatever level force necessary.”
Since J Mike technically lived in the apartment where he killed Trouble,
his legal team could argue that he was within his rights to use deadly force.
But right now it’s too early to say how the case will go.
Trouble’s death was a shock to the community.
Drake, TI, Gucci Mane, and more hopped on social media to give their respects,
and Def Jam Records called him “a true voice for his city
and an inspiration to the community he proudly represented.”
A man named Michael Clarence told Fox 5 Atlanta
“I was actually stunned because Trouble was the type of person you wouldn’t have any hate or jealousy towards him.
He was actually a real genuine soul…
He actually played a big role in the community.”
Clarence said that Trouble’s music and message inspired him to start his own company last year
doing lawn care and car detailing.
He had been listening to him since he was 13, and Trouble actually became one of his clients.
He said “It was actually a blessing.
He actually gave us clients,
he would send us to people’s houses like ‘Hey, you know here’s the address,
go over there and I’ll send you the money,
go over there and get them situated.
I appreciate you so you know..’ very big role in our business.”
From what we know so far, it don’t seem like Jamichael Jones had any personal beef with Trouble.
The police believe they ain’t know each other, and Trouble was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Trouble grew up in the Edgewood neighborhood in East Atlanta
and got involved with the streets early on.
He was mainly raised by his mom and grandma because his dad was in-and-out of his life.
He told The Fader in 2018
“He’s there sometimes but then he might be gone a few weeks
then pull up with a pot of crabs -
just enough to hook us in and have us be cool with him, drink some beer with him.
I’m 8 years old, ya hear me?”
He told The Fader about the one legit job he had bagging groceries at 16.
Trouble worked at a Kroger for about four months and got comfortable with a lot of people who worked there.
But when he quit, he came back with his crew and robbed the place.
They ain’t even have to hurt anybody,
Trouble knew all the PIN codes so he just walked in and grabbed the cash.
The next morning, someone from the store hit his phone and said
“What the hell you done did? They got you all on camera!”
But they told him if he brought back all the money they wouldn’t report it to the cops.
So Trouble collected the cash his homies had from the store and took everything back.
When it was all over, they told him
“You’re a good dude, you just made a ****** up decision.
We’re not going to put them folks on you.
We’re just going to ban you from the store.”
Trouble was running around with a robbery crew back then,
and an OG from the neighborhood named Big Bank Black reached out and tried to guide him -
but Trouble wasn’t ready to leave the streets.
In 2008 he was arrested after a lick went sour.
In the interview with Fader he said
“It wasn’t nothing but anger in a *****,
so that’s what a lot of times folks don’t be understanding –
****** be really going through it.
It wasn’t that a n**** was doing that extra extra shit.
A ***** was just already on the edge.”
Three years later, he dropped his debut mixtape December 17th
and was included in Complex’s “15 New Rappers to Watch Out For” list.
By 2017 he had nine mixtapes under his belt and built a solid following,
but he still had one foot in the streets and was arrested that year on drug charges.
He only spent 55 days in jail,
but when he got out he ain’t even feel like making music anymore.
If Mike Will Made It hadn’t stepped in, Trouble might have gone right back to the streets.
He told Fader “That’s been my boy.
Them ****** would be in the studio, but at that point in time,
I really was like, ‘**** the rapper game ****. **** that ****.’
I blocked that ***** ass one time like, ‘Stop calling my phone, bruh.’
The ***** always stayed on me.”
Eventually Mike Will convinced him to rap again
and they stayed in the studio until five in the morning making songs.
That session ended up being the start of Trouble’s debut album Edgewood,
and Mike Will helped him get a deal with Interscope and his own EarDrummers Entertainment label to release it.
Edgewood put Trouble in the spotlight, but he never stopped giving back to his community.
He knew from experience how getting even a little bit of help can change someone’s life,
and he told Fader
“We all come from the same shit, just on different sides.
At the end of the day, a lot of folks, all they need is just a little help advancing.
I know you can’t help the whole world in one moment, but you can take steps to try to.
I always take myself back to them moments when a ***** wasn’t ******* with me ‘bout nothing.
If a ***** gave me a chance, give me a little help,
he can turn my whole mindstate and change my whole actions.”
In 2020, Trouble dropped his second album Thug Luv.
It ain’t have as big of an impact in the industry as Edgewood,
but he still got to work with massive artists like 2 Chainz, Quavo, and his idol Boosie Badazz.
He was working on his own career, but Trouble had bigger plans too.
He started his own label called MMB, and signed a few artists.
The first people he signed was a group called GhettoBabies, and he told Revolt TV
“They’re my family, these are my young ****** in real life.
I started pushing them into music, same way how the old heads did for me.
I put all of them in a group like a Wu-Tang.”
The entire situation is tragic,
More info will probably come out soon, so tap in for updates.
Rest in peace to Trouble.