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On Dec. 7, 2023, rapper Kodak Black was arrested in South Florida, in what was just the latest in a long line of legal problems for the hip-hop star — here’s a closer look at the most recent charges against him.
According to the Miami New Times, Black, born Bill Kapri, has a criminal record dating back to 2015. Since then, he’s been arrested repeatedly on charges ranging from drug possession to sexual battery, resulting in several prison sentences and probation periods.
Donald Trump commuted one of Black’s sentences
Among the many convictions on Kodak Black’s record, in 2019, he was three years and ten months on federal weapons charges and providing false information to the authorities. In one of his last acts in office, then-President Donald Trump commuted that sentence, setting Black free in 2021. Black’s legal issues, however, continued.
In a statement, the Trump White House called Black a “prominent artist” and said the musician’s philanthropic and charitable efforts while in prison justified clemency.
One year later, Black was shot in the leg when a fight broke out between members of his entourage and the suspected shooter.
Before his Dec. 7, 2023 arrest, Black had a run-in with the law in June of that same year when he failed to show up for a drug test stemming from earlier drug charges, for which the Super Gremlin rapper was released on bond.
Also, in 2023, he was sentenced to a 30-day drug treatment center, AP News reported.
Black was asleep in his car
Kodak Black’s most recent arrest at the time of this writing happened in Plantation, Florida, when an officer encountered Black asleep behind the wheel of his vehicle and smelled drugs and alcohol inside the car. Other miscellaneous possible illicit substances were found inside the 26-year-old musician’s Bentley SUV, and a field test reportedly confirmed the presence of cocaine, according to USA Today.
Among other charges, Black was booked into Broward County jail for improperly stopping or parking a vehicle and fabricating or tampering with evidence. At that time, at least one earlier legal case against Black was ongoing.
Criminal record aside, Black released two albums in 2023, Pistolz & Pearlz, in May, and When I Was Dead, surprise dropped about a month before his December arrest.
Referring to his legal record, Black said in Feb. 2023, “All the good deeds I do, all the good things I do, it never goes as viral. I don’t know why [they] are so hungry to see me in jail” (via the Miami Herald).