Kodak Black, the Florida rapper with a legal record longer than some of his hit songs, was scheduled to appear in an Orlando court Thursday on a felony drug charge. The charge stems from a November incident where gunshots were reportedly fired near a children's educational building, because apparently that's where you go for a quiet afternoon.
The 28-year-old, born Bill Kahan Kapri, turned himself in to the Orange County jail Wednesday, according to multiple media reports. This is the same rapper who received a three-year prison term in 2019 for a firearms charge before being pardoned by Donald Trump in one of his final acts as president - a gift that apparently didn't come with a lifetime supply of good behavior.
The arrest warrant paints a scene straight out of a music video: police responding to gunfire near the Children's Safety Village found a crowd surrounding two SUVs, a Lamborghini, and a BMW. Officers smelled cannabis - because nothing says luxury like a pot-scented Lamborghini - and discovered during a search "a pink pill" weighing about 25mg that tested positive for MDMA, the party drug better known as ecstasy.
That pill was allegedly inside a pink bag containing documents with Kapri's name, along with $37,000 in cash. The rapper initially denied the bag was his, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, then tried to get officers to hand him the money, insisting it belonged to his business. A business whose records apparently live in a pink bag alongside recreational pharmaceuticals.
Kapri now faces one felony count of trafficking MDMA of less than 200mg, carrying a mandatory minimum of three years in prison, a maximum of 30 years, and a fine up to $50,000. For context, that's roughly the price of a lightly used BMW from the scene.
Brad Cohen, Kapri's lawyer, told TMZ the arrest had a "weak legal basis" - a description he seems to have on speed dial. "We look forward to yet another fruitful resolution to another case that should have never been filed," Cohen said. According to Cohen, Kapri wasn't a passenger in either car, and his fingerprint found in the bag was on a bottle of prescription cough medicine he had every right to touch. The lawyer apparently did not address why his client's fingerprint was on a bag containing drugs and $37,000 in cash, but details, details.
The podcast host Loren LaRosa, a former TMZ journalist, posted on X that Cohen told her: "Kodak was allegedly not in possession of any drugs and that the charges will not stick." Her post made no mention of the MDMA pill that led to the charge. The Guardian has approached Cohen for comment, but he's probably busy preparing another "fruitful resolution."