He may have recently been acquitted of murder, but that doesn't mean that Drakeo The Ruler will taste freedom just yet. Back in December 2016, 24-year-old Davion Gregory was shot and killed at a warehouse party in Carson, California. Rapper Drakeo The Ruler was arrested and charged with murder, attempted murder, criminal street gang conspiracy, shooting from a vehicle, and possession of a firearm.
In July, he was found not guilty of the murder and attempted murder charges, but the jury was hung regarding the shooting from a vehicle and conspiracy charges. However, the rapper was found guilty of firearm possession. Drakeo, real name Darrell Caldwell, thought he would be home by now, but prosecutors are once again taking the rapper to court on the conspiracy charges alleging that his "gang" organized Gregory's murder. The "gang" they're referring to is Caldwell's Stinc Team rap crew.
"When is this going to be over? When is it going to stop? When are they going to leave me alone?" Caldwell stated in a recent phone interview with The Guardian from jail. "It feels like some kind of vendetta. It’s not about finding justice. It’s about taking my career from me." He added, "The whole point of me starting to rap is I get to rap and talk about these things and not do these things. And what would you rather, me rapping about stuff that I’m not actually doing, or out there doing it? It’s not real. Rapping is rhyming and pretending. It’s a persona."
Prosecutors are picking apart Caldwell's lyrics and using them against him, saying that they are roadmaps to real-life criminal behaviors. "How are you gonna tell me what I mean?" Caldwell said. The rapper is adamant that the Stinc Team is not a gang, but a reported minor rap beef between Caldwell and the victim has put his lyrical content under a microscope.
“There is no gang. It’s a rap group. What the f*ck?" Caldwell continued. "I’m not a gang member and my friends are not gang members." He added that he and his friends just happened to be "at the "wrong place at the wrong time." The prosecutor in this case, Philip Stirling, told The Guardian that Caldwell is "morally responsible" for Gregory's death.
Meanwhile, Caldwell, once again, faces life in prison. "I will be going to trial again for literally the same thing," he said. "What was the point of me getting acquitted if they were going to say I can benefit from a murder that I didn’t do, from some imaginary gang that doesn’t exist, that I’m supposed to be the leader of? This sh*t is crazy."