Terell Ephron, a founding member of the A$AP collective, accuses the rapper of shooting at him several times during a nighttime altercation on the streets of Hollywood, slightly injuring his hand.
American rapper A$AP Rocky will soon be tried for shooting one of his former friends, with whom he co-founded the hip-hop collective from which he gets his stage name, decided a Los Angeles judge on Monday.
The 35-year-old singer, who has two children with Rihanna, is charged with assault with a semi-automatic weapon. His real name is Rakim Mayers, and he has pleaded not guilty in this case, which dates back to November 2021.
During a preliminary hearing last week, Terell Ephron, also known as A$AP Relli, explained that his friendship with A$AP Rocky fell apart because he felt the rapper had “lost touch.” He accuses him of forgetting the other members of the collective they founded in New York in 2008 when they were in high school, and which allowed him to achieve fame.
“I’m going to kill you now”
According to him, the star talked about doing business with them without ever keeping his promises to his childhood partners, some of whom have sunk into poverty and drug addiction. This fueled tensions between the two men, until that November evening when their meeting in front of a Hollywood hotel degenerated into gunfire.
The star pulled out a firearm and pressed it against his chest, saying “I’m going to kill you now,” before walking away, Terell Ephron testified. Angry at having been threatened, the plaintiff followed the rapper, hurling insults, and the rapper eventually turned around and shot at him, according to him.
A$AP Rocky’s defense rejects these accusations and insists that Terell Ephron, who has also filed a civil suit, fabricated this incident (partially captured by surveillance cameras) in an attempt to obtain money.
After two albums, Long. Live. A$AP and At. Long. Last. A$AP, which propelled him to stardom in the early 2010s, the rapper has produced little music in recent years. He was at the center of an incident that caused diplomatic tensions between Sweden and the United States, following a fight in Stockholm in 2019.
The Swedish justice system had sentenced him to probation and Donald Trump had spoken out in his defense during his pretrial detention, accusing Stockholm of disregarding the plight of African Americans.
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