On Wednesday, May 28, the Baton Rouge-born rapper Kentrell Gaulden (NBA YoungBoy) was issued an official presidential pardon from one of the most divisive figures in American politics, former President Donald J. Trump. The pardon wipes out the federal convictions related to not one but two different gun possession cases in Louisiana and Utah.
"I thank President Trump for his recognition by commuting my sentence," YoungBoy wrote in a statement on Instagram, "and I also want to thank everyone for their love and continued support as I continue to make a difference in my community, in response to the causes of their generation. "This moment means a lot, and the future is something I have worked long and hard for, and I am ready for it."
After pleading guilty in December 2024 to charges related to his 2020 arrest during a music video shoot and to a separate charge from Utah, YoungBoy was facing almost two years at a federal prison. The arrest in Baton Rouge occurred just outside his grandfather's house, and at the scene, police found a Masterpiece Arms 9mm and a 45 caliber Glock Model 21. They are not the best props to have on a set amid shooting.
Fast-forward to the present, and YoungBoy's future involves tour buses and microphones instead of a jail cell. He's preparing to hit the road for the MASA Tour; his first headlining trek begins in Dallas in September. With that pardon, a whole new energy was infusing his next chapter.
Curiously, his lawyers didn't even file the pardon application themselves. The rapper is now in the rarefied company of a small handful of hip-hop artists who Trump has granted clemency. Lil Wayne had recently sought a pardon from a guilty plea to federal firearm possession in 2021. That gesture came after Wayne's outsize support for Trump during the 2020 campaign. Kodak Black was another rapper who made news last year when Trump commuted his sentence, saying the rapper had done good works and stayed active in his community.
But for NBA YoungBoy, this is not simply a win on the legal scoreboard; it's an inflection point in his life and career. He's had plenty of scrapes with the law but is currently in uplift mode, personally and professionally. Though Trump's motivations are up for debate, Young Boy has been handed a rare opportunity, and he's not taking it for granted.
And as the beats begin to build up toward September, when fans are likely to start gearing up for the MASA Tour, it seems a good bet that it will ultimately become YoungBoy's most forceful chapter yet.
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