By: Sam Gladden, MBC Member
This week came with big news for hip-hop fans as A$AP Rocky was found not guilty of 2 counts of assault with a firearm. This case stems from a lawsuit filed by A$AP Mob former member A$AP Relli in November of 2021. If convicted Rocky would have been sentenced to 24 years in prison and been ordered to pay $25,000 to Relli for emotional distress. Luckily, Rocky was found not guilty, largely due to the defense painting Relli as a jealous friend out to get money. To understand why Rocky was facing 24 years, we have to look back to why he was involved in this situation in the first place.
A$AP Relli was a long time friend and member of the A$AP Collective, a group which Rocky has always been the face of. Like many other artists, when Rocky became successful it became expected of him to help provide for his less fortunate friends and family. So, when a friend of the A$AP Collective passed away, Relli expected Rocky to pay for the funeral. When Relli heard that Rocky didn’t pay for the funeral he texted him saying he had changed and wasn’t looking after his friends like he should be. It should be noted that Rocky did in fact pay for the funeral costs; however, Relli claims he did not know this at the time. After sending this text Relli did not get a response, which, understandably, made him upset. Some time after this A$AP Rocky and Relli would get on a call together.
During this call Rocky told Relli that he did not have anything nice to say about him, hence the no response to Relli’s text message. Soon after this A$AP Rocky would call Relli again asking him if he was in LA, Relli said yes, and Rocky asked him where he was staying. Relli says he was suspicious of Rocky’s intentions, so he told him he was staying at a different hotel than he was staying at. Eventually, they would meet up, and this is when the alleged shooting took place.
There is video footage of the incident, however it does not show everything that happens. The video, posted on TMZ’s youtube channel, starts with A$AP Rocky and Relli getting into a scuffle that moves them out of camera.
Relli says that this surprised him because for as long as he has known Rocky he has never been an aggressive person like this.This is an important point that the defense argued during the trial. A$AP Rocky’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, attempted to paint A$AP Rocky as an artist and fashion designer. This point was made to show that Rocky is removed from the violent gangster culture that is usually associated with rappers.
When Relli and Rocky enter back into the camera frame, A$AP Rocky is seen reaching into his waistband and pulls out a pistol. He then walks out of the camera frame, before returning and putting the gun back into his waistband.
At this point in the situation, Relli says that Rocky did not do anything. Rellis says that he was very upset after this. He then began yelling at Rocky telling him he was a sell out and that he had switched up on his old friends. Relli also said that one of their friends is addicted to drugs and Rocky isn’t doing anything about it, instead enabling the behavior. At this point Relli says that Rocky pulled the gun back out and fired shots at him, one bullet grazing his knuckle. Now, even though there were video cameras outside of the hotel, they only caught half of this story. The other half is just what Relli says happened, nobody else on camera with the two during the situation corroborates his story. During the trial witnesses as well as Rocky’s lawyers told the jury that Rocky was using a prop gun he had taken from a music video. These witnesses even admit Rocky used the gun, however it was full of blanks which he had taken from the same music video.
After 3 hours of discussion jurors concluded that A$AP Rocky was not guilty. With this not guilty verdict comes a lot for A$AP Rocky. Following the announcement Rocky tweeted out “DON’T BE DUMB” hinting at a possible release for his long anticipated album of the same name. Rocky’s sentence most likely would have begun immediately, meaning he would have potentially been forced to drop out of headlining Rolling Loud LA. With the not guilty verdict fans with tickets to the festival can breathe a sigh of relief.
Probably what Rocky is most excited about is being able to raise his family. After being read his not guilty verdict A$AP Rocky immediately headed towards Rihanna leaping into her arms. Rocky and Rihanna have been together since 2020 and have two kids together. This verdict allows him to stay with his family and continue raising his two kids. It has also been rumored that Rihanna was waiting to marry Rocky until she was sure he would be around for her and their two kids.
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