Mystikal, the rapper best known for hits like "Shake Ya Ass," has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for raping a woman at his Louisiana home in 2022, according to the Associated Press. The rapper, whose real name is Michael Lawrence Tyler, pleaded guilty to third-degree rape in March as part of a plea deal - a move that spared him from Louisiana's automatic life sentence for first-degree rape. He has been held without bond since 2022, when a grand jury indicted him on charges including first-degree rape, criminal damage to property, false imprisonment, domestic abuse, simple robbery, and drug possession.
During a jury trial, the victim described how Tyler punched, choked, and forcibly raped her at his home near Baton Rouge, according to local TV station WBRZ. She asked the judge to impose the maximum sentence of 25 years, but the court settled on 20. This is hardly Tyler's first brush with the law: in 2004, he began a six-year prison sentence for sexual assault and extortion, and in 2012, he served an additional three months for misdemeanor domestic abuse. He was also indicted on rape and kidnapping charges in 2017, though those charges were eventually dropped. At this rate, his next album might have to be recorded from a cell.