Lil Durk’s Song Lyrics Quoted In New Charges, Feds Say He Was ‘Rapping About His Revenge’ (original) (raw)
Adding two additional felony counts against Durk, a new indictment also says the rapper explicitly referenced the attack in one of his songs to "commercialize" his crime.
Lil Durk performs during J. Cole's headlining set at the 2024 Dreamville Music Festival at Dorothea Dix Park on April 07, 2024. Astrida Valigorsky/WireImage
Federal prosecutors are citing Lil Durk’s lyrics in the criminal case accusing him of ordering his OTF associates to murder rapper Quando Rondo in a 2022 shooting, arguing he sought to “commercialize” the crime by “rapping about his revenge.”
Two weeks after the Chicago rapper (Durk Banks) was arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, prosecutors unveiled a new indictment Friday over the 2022 attack at a Los Angeles gas station, which left Rondo (Tyquian Bowman) unscathed but saw friend Lul Pab (Saviay’a Robinson) killed in the crossfire.
The updated indictment added two additional felony counts against Durk on top of the original conspiracy charge, including another murder-for-hire count and a firearms count. It also consolidated Durk’s case with similar charges filed against several of his associates.
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But most notably, the amended charges included a brand new allegation: That Durk had directly referenced the shooting in a 2022 song: “Following the attempted murder of [Rondo] and the murder of [Lul Pab], defendant Banks sought to commercialize [Lul Pab]’s death by rapping about his revenge on [Rondo].”
The feds claim that the lyrics to Durk’s song — a track called “Wonderful Wayne & Jackie Boy” — make direct reference to a news clip filmed shortly after the shooting, in which Rondo can be heard screaming “no, no!” after seeing Lul Pab’s dead body.
“Told me they got an addy (go, go)/ Got location (go, go)/ Green light (go, go, go, go, go),” Durk raps in the lyrics referenced in the indictment. “Look on the news and see your son/You screamin’, “No, no” (pu–y).”
The use of rap music as evidence in criminal cases is controversial, as critics argue it threatens free speech and can sway juries by tapping into racial biases. Over the past few years, the practice has drawn backlash from the music industry and led to efforts by lawmakers to stop it. But it has continued largely unabated, most notably in the recent criminal case against Young Thug in Atlanta, in which prosecutors made extensive use of his music.
An attorney for Durk did not immediately return a request for comment.
Like the earlier charges, the new indictment claims that Durk’s Only The Family was not merely a well-publicized group of Chicago rappers, but a “hybrid organization” that also functioned as a criminal gang to carry out violent acts “at the direction” of Durk.
Prosecutors say one of those acts was the 2022 attempted killing of Rondo, allegedly carried out in retaliation for the 2020 killing of rapper King Von (Dayvon Bennett), a close friend of Durk’s.
“Banks put a monetary bounty out for an individual with whom Banks was feuding named T.B.,” referring to Rondo by his initials. “Banks ordered T.B.’s murder and the hitmen used Banks and OTF-related finances to carry out the murder.”
In addition to Durk, prosecutors have also charged several alleged OTF members — Kavon London Grant, Deandre Dontrell Wilson and Asa Houston — as well as two other alleged Chicago gang members named Keith Jones and David Brian Lindsey.
If convicted on all three counts he’s now facing, Durk is facing a potential sentence of life in prison.
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