While Young Thug and Gunna’s arrest for their involvement with a 56-count YSL gang indictment took the hip-hop community by surprise earlier this year, it’s not the first time we’ve seen recording artists wrapped up in such a situation.
On Tuesday (July 12) Generation Now co-founder DJ Drama came across a tweet that took him back in time to 2007 when he and Don Cannon were hit with RICO charges in Georgia for allegedly selling counterfeit mixtapes after authorities raided their Atlanta studio in January of that year.
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“DJ Drama really got locked up ’bout them mixtapes,” the post reads, As HipHopDX notes, at the time, the feds were working with the RIAA to combat the severe piracy issues that were plaguing the music industry.
As it turns out, the night of their arrest was the only one that Drama and Cannon spent in jail, as they were able to beat the charges.
“I REALLY got hit wit the RICO (and won)” the 44-year-old quote tweeted the original post, flexing his freedom to his followers.
The New York Times notes that law enforcement confiscated 81,000 CDs from the label heads, as well as recording equipment, computers, and even cars. Their arrests and bank accounts were frozen, resulting in their entire business operation being put on hold.
In more recent years, things seem to only be shooting upward for DJ Drama and his business partner, who have worked alongside Leighton “Lake” Morrison to help skyrocket artists like Lil Uzi Vert and Jack Harlow to fame and fortune.
Hear what else the Philadelphia native had to say about his RICO case in the video below, and tap back in with HNHH later for more hip-hop news updates.
[Via]