Jay Rock arrested on weapons charges in Los Angeles
Jay Rock was reportedly arrested on weapons charges on March 13th. The Top Dawg Entertainment rapper (real name Johnny Reed McKinzie) was detained at around 6pm in Nickerson Gardens, Watts.
The Los Angeles Police Department say Rock was trespassing and drinking in public. He allegedly ran from a vehicle, but police caught up with the 39-year-old and arrested him.
According to NBC Los Angeles, police later discovered a gun inside the vehicle, booking him on felony possession of a firearm. Footage posted online showed an agitated Rock surrounded by police officers, with witnesses claiming he didn’t do anything wrong.
Rock is a member of the Black Hippy crew alongside Kendrick Lamar, ScHoolboy Q and Ab-Soul. Signed to TDE, Rock released his last album, Redemption, in 2018, with its songs ‘Win’ and ‘King’s Dead’ nominated for Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance at the Grammy Awards, winning in the latter category.
‘King’s Dead’ featuring Kendrick Lamar, Future, and James Blake also appeared on Black Panther: The Album, peaking at number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100. Rock famously appeared on ‘Money Trees’ from Kendrick’s good kid, m.A.A.d city album in 2012.
Rock is currently working on his new album, Eastside Johnny. During his appearance on The Bootleg Kev Podcast in 2023, he explained what fans could expect from the project.
“The new album is great, man,” he said. “Everybody’s like, ‘Man what’s taking so long? It’s been five years!’ All the fans been beating me up and stuff on Instagram but it’s just about trying to make good quality music. Like I said, I’m tryna do an album like my last one where you ain’t gotta skip shit. No skips.”
He added, “I’m just tryna do an album like that and, you know. People know who I am, man. It’s Jay Rock. I could rap circles around a lot of people, but, you know.”