Soulja Boy is in hot water with the law again. According to TMZ, the rapper, born DeAndre Cortez Way, was arrested in Los Angeles early Sunday morning during a traffic stop after police found a firearm in the vehicle.
The “Crank That” rapper, who turned 35 on July 28, was a passenger in a vehicle police pulled over at Melrose and Genesee at 2:36 a.m., Variety reported.
What caused the traffic stop?
It’s unknown what caused the traffic stop, but Los Angeles Police Department officers took Way into custody for being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.
Per TMZ, before his arrest on Saturday night, he shared videos on Instagram of his birthday celebrations at the LA nightclub Poppy.
Soulja Boy’s other legal trouble
Way has had several run-ins with the law in recent years. According to ABC 7, in April 2023, a jury ordered the rapper to pay $471,800 ($235,900 in punitive damages and the same amount in compensatory damages) to Kayla Christine Myers, who alleged he “yelled profanities, kicked her, stomped on her stomach and bashed her head with a large gun” during a 2019 party at his Malibu home. The outlet reported that he denied any wrongdoing, stating Myers was “the aggressor in the confrontation” with his assistant.
His first arrest on firearm-related charges occurred in December 2016, according to ABC News, when officers found a gun at his Hollywood Hills home while on probation. In April 2017, he pleaded no contest to felony weapons possession and a misdemeanor charge and received five years of probation and 240 days of community service, TMZ reported.
Earlier this year, a Los Angeles jury found Way liable for sexual battery and assault after a woman, whose identity was concealed during the month-long trial, accused the rapper of physical and sexual abuse, The New York Times reported, resulting in being directed to pay her $4 million.
“Our client is pleased with and vindicated by the verdict,” the woman’s lawyer, Neama Rahmani, said in a statement. “Yesterday’s verdict is just the beginning of justice for Soulja Boy’s victims and a reckoning for the entire music industry.”
