In an Instagram post uploaded to his account earlier this week, AR-Ab was expecting the worst. “Sentencing week…don’t expect no leniency from them folks…but I’ll be right back on appeal,” he wrote in the caption. Philadelphia rapper AR-Ab, real name Abdul West has been entangled in a controversial case after authorities accused him of using his Original Block Hustlaz as the front for a “large-scale drug trafficking network,” reports The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Prosecutors alleged that in addition to trafficking drugs, the organization was involved with a number of murders, as well. West, who is respected in the music industry and worked with some of our favorite artists in the game, has denied the allegations against him, but it was clear that authorities were looking for a conviction.
The Inquirer reports that AR-Ab was sentenced to 45-years in prison and could very well spend the rest of his life behind bars. “You could have been a hero instead of a criminal,” the judge reportedly told the rapper who stood with his arms crossed. “But you became a drug dealer. You made that decision. That’s why you’re being punished.”
AR-Ab had a chance to say his piece before being carted off to prison and he didn’t hold back. “The court, the FBI agents, and the prosecutors don’t understand my culture,” he said, seemingly addressing how his lyrical content was a focal point of his trial. “We don’t rap about flowers and rainbows. We’re gangsta rappers. We rap about where we grew up. So we rap about drug dealing. We rap about violence.”
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