A 23-year-old rapper who performs as Rapper No Savage, born Noah Settles, pleaded with a Virginia judge on June 21, 2025, for a somewhat unusual privilege: Let me smoke weed while I'm on probation.
Now, the rapper, who received a three-year prison sentence after firing a gun as part of an increasingly chaotic episode at the Tysons Corner Center Mall in Virginia in 2022, is back in the spotlight in the courtroom, but not because of violent behavior and rather than battling charges, the snow fighting for his right to smoke.
Drawing on the cultural norms of the Hip-Hop world, his legal team ultimately argued that cannabis use is widely accepted in the music industry and that to punish the young rapper for doing something legal in much of the country is out-of-date. They want the court to cut him some slack and allow him to keep using marijuana while under supervision, even though he recently failed multiple drug and alcohol screens. He had not received court-ordered substance abuse treatment.
On Father's Day weekend in 2022, everything came to a head at Brooks Brothers when what had started as a shouting match turned into a physical altercation at the upscale mall. Settles by then signed to 300 Entertainment, grabbed a gun, and shot multiple times. No one was struck in the shooting, but the panic that ensued injured three people during an evacuation.
No Savage admitted guilt in those three cases of maliciously causing a firearm to be discharged in an occupied building and one count of using a gun during a crime of violence. Prosecutors wanted to throw the book at him with a 15-year shot. Still, the judge split the difference and gave him the mandatory minimum of three years in prison, followed by 10 years probation, plus a lifetime ban from the mall.
These days, on probation, No Savage is not exactly following the rules. But rather than yanking his freedom, the judge extended a lifeline: remain free while your team works up a new plan. Part of that plan seems to involve airing a discussion of marijuana.
For now, the court is saying, "Not yet." The judge has postponed the ruling on the weed waiver, and No Savage must abide by all existing probation conditions: no tokes, no slip-ups. So, will a rapper's request to light up while on probation go up in smoke or blaze a trail in the courtroom? Time will tell, and maybe another urine test.
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