Yungeen Ace is not welcome in Jacksonville after Sheriff T.K. Waters took a firm stance against the city’s growing drill music scene and the violence it allegedly influences.
Speaking to journalist Peter Santenello during a ride-along, Waters didn’t hesitate to call out the genre, popularized in Chicago and now making waves in Florida.
“It’s down here too, man” Waters said. “And the thing about it is, we like to run them out of town. There’s a couple of them, they know they can’t live here anymore. There was a particular song I don’t even want to mention because I don’t want to give these guys credit.”
Waters referenced Yungeen Ace’s track “Who I Smoke,” which samples Vanessa Carlton’s pop hit “A Thousand Miles.”
Waters didn’t mince words about its troubling significance, adding, “They sampled her song, and then they made a song, a rap. They were talking about people that have actually been killed in Jacksonville, about five or six of them, right? They’re named in that song. But that’s what drill rap is. It’s nonsense, but it’s impactful because they’re talking about people that have actually been killed.”
TK waters say he running rappers outta town cuz they know they can’t live in Jax no more 😂
byu/Outstandingmember_ inDuvalCounty
Yungeen Ace Named In Alleged Foolio Murder Plot
During a July 2024 bond hearing, detectives from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and Tampa Police Department detailed Yungeen Ace’s alleged connections to the fatal shooting of fellow Jacksonville rapper Charles Jones, better known as Foolio.
Authorities presented evidence, including phone logs and surveillance footage, suggesting that suspects affiliated with a gang linked to Yungeen Ace carefully tracked Foolio during his birthday celebrations in Tampa before ambushing him.
Investigators described Foolio’s killing as meticulously planned, an escalation in a long-standing feud between rival groups, one notably tied to Yungeen Ace.
Sheriff Waters emphasized community safety as the central reason behind his department’s vigilant monitoring of rappers like Yungeen Ace.
“Yungeen Ace has long been known in Jacksonville,” Waters said. “We are consistently monitoring those groups. We have people that are always watching them. But he can’t move around in Jacksonville without us knowing about it. And that’s for the betterment of our community.”
Yungeen Ace has not faced formal charges related to Foolio’s murder.