Soulja Boy walked free Tuesday (August 5) after prosecutors in Los Angeles declined to pursue charges tied to his weekend arrest for allegedly possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.
“A case was declined due to insufficient evidence,” a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said in an email to Rolling Stone. Jail records show the 35-year-old rapper was released shortly before 2 p.m. local time.
The arrest happened early Sunday (August 3) after Los Angeles police pulled over a car Soulja Boy, born DeAndre Cortez Way, was riding in. Officers booked him on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to an LAPD spokesperson. Authorities did not provide details about what prompted the traffic stop.
The stop occurred near Melrose Avenue, not far from the storefront for Way’s SODMG clothing brand.
The arrest added to a growing list of legal issues for the “Crank That” rapper. In April, a jury awarded $4 million in damages to a former girlfriend who accused him of assault, sexual battery and harassment. He was also convicted in 2014 for carrying a loaded weapon in a vehicle following an arrest in the San Fernando Valley.
He has yet to publicly comment on the latest incident.
Soulja Boy rose to fame in 2007 with his viral hit single “Crank That (Soulja Boy),” which became a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and sparked a widespread dance craze.
Soulja Boy was among the first artists to leverage the power of social media platforms like MySpace and YouTube to promote his music, helping to shift how the music industry discovered and marketed talent.
His debut album, Souljaboytellem.com, helped define the sound and style of late-2000s rap.
Beyond music, Soulja Boy has pursued entrepreneurial ventures, including fashion lines, video game consoles, and tech investments. Despite ongoing debates over his legacy, Soulja Boy remains an influential and controversial figure known for his innovation in music promotion and digital branding.