Last week the rapper YoungBoy Never Broke Again notched his third No. 1 album in a year. This week he is under arrest.
YoungBoy, whose real name is Kentrell Gaulden, was arrested on Monday in Baton Rouge, La., his hometown. According to the Baton Rouge Police Department, he was detained on three drug charges and three weapons charges, including possession of a stolen firearm, and felon in possession of a firearm.
The rapper was one of 16 people arrested on drug and firearm charges after the police and the FBI “received information from anonymous concerned citizens” about people brandishing guns at an abandoned lot in Baton Rouge, the police said in a news release. According to that announcement, the police seized 14 guns, $79,000 in cash and an unspecified amount of drugs.
YoungBoy was processed early Tuesday by the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office and remained in custody as of Tuesday afternoon.
“Kentrell Gaulden is innocent of the crimes he was arrested for yesterday evening,” the rapper’s lawyer, James P. Manasseh, said in a statement. “He did not possess any firearms nor did he possess any controlled dangerous substances. Law enforcement arrived on scene without any evidence of a crime occurring and immediately detained 15-20 young Black men solely based on an alleged tip that firearms were present on the scene.”
YoungBoy, 20, who has had a rapid rise on the charts — and is one of the most popular musicians on YouTube — has been dogged for years by legal problems.
In 2017, at age 17, he pleaded guilty to aggravated assault with a firearm. Last year, YoungBoy was arrested after a shootout in Florida and sentenced to 90 days in jail. As part of his probation, he was ordered not to give any performances for 14 months, but in December a Louisiana judge ended his probation early.
Source: Music - nytimes.com
