Skip to main content

Rapper A$AP Rocky was arrested shortly after touching down at Los Angeles International Airport on April 20. Police took Rocky into custody after the entertainer returned from a Barbados vacation with his girlfriend, Rihanna. The high-profile rapper flew back to the United States on a private jet where he was met by police. However, this incident wasn’t Rocky’s first brush with the law. The rapper spent much of July 2019 behind bars in Sweden after a violent incident on the streets of Stockholm occurred between Rocky, his entourage, and two unknown men.

A$AP Rocky in a paparazzi photograph.
A$AP Rocky | Johnny Nunez/WireImage

The details behind A$AP Rocky’s latest arrest

NBC News reported the rapper flew into LAX on April 20 after a week-long holiday with Rihanna in her native Barbados.

Rakim Mayers, better known as A$AP Rocky, is under investigation by the LA Police Department in connection to a Nov. 6, 2021, shooting that transpired late in the evening near Vista Del Mar and Selma Avenues in LA.

Per NBC, the victim told police that Rocky and two other people allegedly walked toward them.

Rocky allegedly held a handgun and shot at the victim several times. One of the bullets grazed the victim’s left hand, said the news outlet.

The LAPD arrested the rapper along with Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations team.

Before Rocky’s arrest, confirmed by his lawyer Alan Jackson, police did not release details regarding the November incident.

This arrest isn’t Rocky’s first brush with the law

The 2019 Smash Festival featured Rocky and other entertainers in June 2019.

Police arrested Rocky and two members of his entourage, Bladimir Corniel and David Rispers, on July 3, 2019, and charged them with aggravated assault.

Moreover, Rocky canceled his set at the Longitude Festival in Dublin and Wireless Festival in London, scheduled shortly after the Swedish concert

However, after two weeks behind bars, the BBC reported former United States President Donald Trump became involved in Rocky’s case and attempted to secure his release.

Three weeks following his arrest, Swedish police charged Rocky with assault. The rapper pled not guilty.

After a short trial, Rocky returned to the United States on Aug. 2.

Six weeks after his arrest, Rocky was found guilty of assault and given a suspended sentence.

Rocky’s brush with the law gave him insight into the plight of his fellow prisoners

A$AP Rocky performs in concert in 2021.
A$AP Rocky | Jason Mendez/Getty Images
Related

A$AP Rocky Talks Fatherhood: Knows He’s Going to ‘Have a Very Fly Child’

Rocky’s detainment gave him insight into the plight of his fellow prisoners, reported The Wall Street Journal.

To clarify, Rocky revealed to the newspaper the following details about his time behind bars.

“They want to bore you to death. There’d be one chance to talk to the other inmates, for like 30 minutes, up on the roof in the morning. They’d tell me what was going on with my case because I could see my face on TV in my cell, but I don’t understand Swedish. It was f*****, man. I had worldwide coverage, and it still took me a month! People, there were telling me, ‘I haven’t spoken to my mother in a year. I haven’t seen a judge.’ And it was only black and brown people,” the rapper claimed.

Consequently, after his release, Rocky offered to design new uniforms for inmates.

He later returned to Sweden in December of that same year, where he visited a youth center and gave out free tickets to a rescheduled show.