Brooklyn rapper Fivio Foreign faced the music but not the kind with which he has become associated. The “BIG DRIP” star pleaded guilty to third-degree terroristic threats inside a New Jersey courtroom Friday, ending the legal saga that’s had him behind bars since mid-January. The charges had grown out of a heated parking lot confrontation on New Year’s Day that escalated into something more sinister than a simple dispute over a dead battery.
A woman asked Fivio for help jump-starting her car outside an apartment complex in Edgewater, New Jersey, according to police reports. What she received instead, according to her, was a warning that was both chilling and threatening: “If I see you parked in front of this building again, there is going to be a f###### problem.”
According to witnesses, the woman’s story was corroborated by surveillance video from the building. Police swooped in and arrested the rapper on Saturday, January 18. While no gun was ever found, the gravity of the charge and the video were enough to keep him in jail.
For months, Fivio was kept in jail until his legal team found a way to challenge the case. His lawyer, Adam Lustberg, was blunt about his view of the situation. “This has got to be the flimsiest case that I have seen in over 20 years,” he added, implying that the evidence did not have the heft that it appeared to.
Despite that protest, Fivio accepted a plea deal Tuesday that had him plead guilty to the lesser charge in exchange for the dismissal of four charges hundreds of times more serious, including unlawful possession of a weapon and aggravated assault. It’s a compromise that could earn him a second chance outside prison. Coming after sentencing, which is scheduled for August, the attorney told the outlet he is hoping the court will give his client credit for time served and probation, as opposed to more time in jail.
The legal saga is a far cry from the high-energy bravado that Fivio channels through his music. Famed for his drill-driven sound and unruly lyricism, his ascent from the streets of Brooklyn to the top of the charts has been punctuated with grit and controversy. But in this latest chapter, it’s a reminder that it might not be a smooth fit between street life and the spotlight.
So, as fans wait for the court’s decision to become final this summer, the question becomes: What next for Fivio Foreign? Is this a warning fork in an otherwise upward career or a more profound bend in the road? The rapper waits for the moment offstage, off the mic, and out of the spotlight.
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