Tag team rap group trial#
But they argued during the trial in May 2019 that the rap crew was a criminal “gang” that planned the killing. Prosecutors knew that Drakeo hadn’t killed Gregory – detectives had obtained audio recordings documenting a 17-year-old alleged gang member confessing to the killing and a man linked to Drakeo’s rap crew confessing to firing additional shots. In September 2018, Drakeo was indicted on a wide range of felonies related to the December 2016 incident, including murder, conspiracy murder, criminal gang conspiracy, shooting from a vehicle, illegal possession of a firearm and a number of attempted murder charges for other victims. The Washington Post called his December 2017 album Cold Devil “one of the most mesmerizing and intimate rap albums to ever float out of LA”, with a delivery that “might be the most intoxicating sound to waft across California since the arrival of Snoop Dogg”.īut LASD wasn’t done yet. He was released in November 2017 and returned to music, earning national acclaim as a standout in a new generation of LA rap.
“I’m not a giant rap fan, just so you know,” Hardiman added.ĭrakeo signed a plea deal and went to prison on a weapons possession charge. The detective cited one lyric, “chopper makes you go ugh” (chopper is slang for rifle), and added that a district attorney could prosecute the rapper by playing that line “over and over again”: “Jurors don’t like to see that stuff … your rap videos of you talking about shooting,” Hardiman said. During questioning, a Los Angeles sheriff’s department (LASD) detective, Francis Hardiman, told the rapper his music would be the “soundtrack” in a trial. Records suggest law enforcement nearly immediately began investigating him as a suspect, watching hours of his rap videos.Ī month later, police raided Drakeo’s apartment, found guns and arrested him.
Rumors spread online that Drakeo was involved, since his Mercedes was seen leaving the scene. A shooting broke out among the guests, and Davion Gregory was killed. On the night of 10 December 2016, Drakeo, then 23, drove with a dozen friends to a South LA party. Rapping was a way to make money, and stay out of the streets, he said. They later called themselves the Stinc Team. He got into rapping early and formed a group with friends called Too Greedy, a name they adopted in middle school. “They are telling us we can’t speak, that you can go to jail for your music.” A rising career, stalled by policeĭrakeo was born in 1993 in South-Central LA and started a dance crew with his brother when he was a teenager. So they demonize us,” said Brandon Duncan, a San Diego rapper known as Tiny Doo, whose rap album was also used as a key piece of evidence in gang-related charges. Experts estimate there have been hundreds, if not thousands, of similar cases of law enforcement severely punishing rappers for their songs.
Tag team rap group free#
It’s about taking my career from me.”Ĭivil rights activists across the US are closely watching Drakeo’s case, saying it’s a critical free speech test and an egregious example of racist and aggressive policing of black men and their creative expression. “When is this going to be over? When is it going to stop? When are they going to leave me alone?” Drakeo said in a recent phone call from the Men’s Central Jail in downtown LA, where he has been incarcerated for 18 months. Drakeo is, once again, facing life in prison.
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