Former Making the Band Rapper Chopper Arrested for Sex Trafficking – Report
Former Da Band rapper Chopper has reportedly been charged with being a pimp in Las Vegas.
On Monday (April 25), TMZ reported that the Making the Band participant was arrested earlier this month in Maryland and recently extradited to Vegas to face charges of sex trafficking. According to documents obtained by the celebrity news site, Chopper got caught up when he sent a direct message on Instagram to an undercover detective posing as a sex worker and propositioned her about becoming a prostitute. The agent then looked through the rapper’s Instagram page and noticed posts that could be consistent with someone who trafficked women.
Police then reportedly launched an investigation into Chopper, who bragged to the undercover detective about owning multiple homes across the country. Chopper also reportedly told the detective Vegas was not a good place to conduct business because law enforcement is looking more seriously into making busts for pimping and prostitution.
The investigation into Chopper’s activity continued, with Chopper eventually telling the agent she was to join his “stable.” The rapper reportedly became aggressive when the detective continued to string him on. He reportedly tried to verbally force the detective to leave home and demanded a fee of $2,000. Police reportedly believe they have enough evidence to charge Chopper with felony sex trafficking.
XXL has reached out to Chopper’s team and the Las Vegas Police Department for comment.
Chopper appeared on the early 2000’s show Making the Band, an MTV reality show that featured Diddy attempting to curate a successful music group with previously unproven artists Sara Stokes, Dylan Dilinjah, Chopper, Babs, E. Ness and Freddy P. This iteration of the show ran for three seasons. Chopper eventually earned a solo deal with Bad Boy before parting ways with the label. His most recent official release, Man on Mars, came out in 2018, on MOE Entertainment. Last year, he released the single “Payback.”
Chopper is the second former Da Band member to make headlines recently. Last month, Freddy P called out Diddy and said the music mogul is the reason Freddy hates life.
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Big Lurch
Incarcerated: April 10, 2002
Released: Still ongoing
Amount Of Time: 7,292 days and counting
Charge: Murder, torture and aggravated mayhem
What Happened: It’s like a walking advertisement against PCP. Bay Area rapper Big Lurch was high on PCP when he attacked a woman who was dating a friend of his and ate her in 2002. During the attack, he broke the woman’s neck and jaw, stabbed her, removed her lung and fractured an eye socket. The cops allegedly found Lurch covered in blood and screaming in the middle of the street with no memory of anything that had happened. A medical examination of Lurch while in custody resulted in bits of the woman’s flesh being found in his stomach. He was sentenced to life in prison for the murder in 2003.
Incarcerated: Sept. 21, 2001
Released: June 22, 2021
Amount Of Time: 7,214 days
Charge: Manslaughter
What Happened: In February of 2000, No Limit rapper Mac Phipps was slated to perform at a Louisiana club before a fight broke out and ended with a gun shot that killed a 19-year-old man. Phipps was charged with murder, though it was reduced to a 30 years to life manslaughter sentence in September of the following year. A security guard who was present at the incident later confessed to the shooting, but the police still decided to pursue charges against Phipps, making this a high-profile case of wrongful imprisonment. After spending nearly 20 years behind bars, Mac was granted clemency and walked free in the summer of 2021.
C-Murder
Incarcerated: Aug. 14, 2009
Released: Still ongoing
Amount Of Time: 4,609 days and counting
Charge: Second degree murder
What Happened: He’s actually served longer than that, but a re-trial following his initial conviction in September of 2003 placed him on house arrest until the second conviction in 2009. In January of 2002, a 16-year-old at a nightclub was caught up in an altercation outside the venue, where he was beaten and shot to death, allegedly by C-Murder. The case has caused so much controversy—two convictions, the Supreme Court getting involved, the Louisiana NAACP investigating jury deliberations—that “Free C-Murder” became another campaign to rally around for much of the hip-hop community.
Incarcerated: Sept. 3, 2009
Amount Of Time: 4,589 days and counting
Charge: Convicted of conspiracy to armed robbery, kidnapping, aggravated assault and murder
What Happened: A hotel robbery gone bad, according to the Feds. Max B wasn’t even at the scene of the crime, but New Jersey courts ruled that he was part of a conspiracy that resulted in the shooting death of a man in 2006. Biggaveli’s on-again-off-again girlfriend and another acquaintance shot the man while attempting to rob his friend. He may not have been there, but Max B received a 75-year prison sentence after being pinned in the conspiracy. However, after going back to the drawing board with his case, Max’s charges have since been reduced to manslaughter and his sentence shortened to just 12 years.
Incarcerated: March 5, 2001
Released: Aug. 28, 2012
Amount Of Time: 4,102 days
Charge: Manslaughter
What Happened: In January of 2000, Native Tongues rhymer Chi-Ali was involved in the death of his brother-in-law after an argument ended in the man being shot and killed. Chi-Ali went out on the run, leading authorities on more than a year-long chase. He was captured in March of 2001, when he was finally charged with the killing. Chi-Ali ended up on America’s Most Wanted during that time, and was hit with 14 years for the crime.
Incarcerated: Nov. 13, 2008
Released: April 12, 2017
Amount Of Time: 3,702 days
Charge: Bank Robbery and weapons charges
What Happened: Bump J and another man walked into a Chicago bank and emptied it of $100,000 in 2007, before going out on the run. The Chicago rapper would eventually get arrested during a traffic stop after in 2008, when police caught up with him. Bump J entered a plea deal, taking seven years for the heist. He was released in 2017.
G. Dep
Incarcerated: May 8, 2012
Amount Of Time: 3,611 days
What Happened: Former Bad Boy Records signee G. Dep was found guilty of the 1993 murder of a Queens-bred man named John Henkel. As the story goes, back in 2010, G. Dep walked into the New York Police Department’s 25th Precinct in Harlem and made the confession that he killed the man in a botched robbery attempt in 1993. On trial, a jury of 12 officially linked him to the murder and the rapper was incarcerated in 2012.
Incarcerated: July 18, 2012
Released: Still ongoing
Amount Of Time: 3,540 days and counting
Charge: Felony gun possession and witness tampering
What Happened: A traffic stop in 2009 led to cops finding three guns—two of which, as well as the car, were stolen—and as B.G. was a convicted felon at the time, mandatory prison was on its way. But when the cops found out that one of his associates in the car confessed to owning the guns at B.G.’s request, they tacked on tampering to the charge. The former Cash Money man was sentenced to 14 years.
Incarcerated: April 1, 2004
Released: Oct. 12, 2012
Amount Of Time: 3,116 days
Charge: Second degree attempted murder
What Happened: The Hot Boys didn’t have the best track record when it came to staying out of prison. Cash Money’s stable of young talent was busted up again when Turk was arrested for shooting Memphis police officers in 2004. Turk was charged with first-degree attempted murder for allegedly shooting two Memphis cops during a raid in an apartment he was found in. The attempted murder rap that got him a sentence of 14 years, of which he served almost nine.
Incarcerated: June 1, 2001
Released: Oct. 6, 2009
Amount Of Time: 3,049 days
Charge: Attempted murder, assault and reckless endangerment
What Happened: Ten years in jail is an awful long time, but that’s what Shyne got for his role in a wild shooting at a Manhattan nightclub in 1999, which resulted in Diddy and then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez fleeing in a car before being pulled over. The rapper admitted to firing a gun in self-defense at Club New York. Shyne claimed another gunman’s bullets injured two victims. Once he was released from prison in 2009, Shyne was deported and sent back to his native Belize.
Flesh-n-Bone
Incarcerated: Sept. 22, 2000
Released: July 13, 2008
Amount Of Time: 2,851 days
Charge: Assault with a deadly weapon and probation violation
What Happened: It’s a really sad story, and not one that is fun from any side. After a series of legal issues and incidents involving the brandishing of firearms, Flesh-n-Bone was eventually locked up after pulling a loaded AK-47 on a former friend and aimed it in 1999. The judge was able to show some mercy, pointing out the rapper’s sadly extensive history of being abused as a child, but still sent him away for 12 years to straighten out beginning in 2000.
Incarcerated: July 31, 1999
Released: July 5, 2006
Amount Of Time: 2,531 days
Charge: Armed Robbery
What Happened: Just as he was about to drop his debut studio album in 1999, after a string of highly successful mixtapes, Mysonne felt the hammer fall with two convictions. He was charged with armed robbery stemming from two separate cab driver robberies in 1998, both for which he claimed his innocence. Fourteen years came down from the judge, and even though he only ended up serving seven, he never really recovered career-wise. He was released in 2006.
Incarcerated: March 27, 2008
Released: Aug. 1, 2014
Amount Of Time: 2,318 days
Charge: Assault, illegal weapon possession and attempted coercion
What Happened: Remy Ma shot her friend in the stomach after an argument in 2007, which derailed a promising career at the time.
Incarcerated: Dec. 17, 2014
Released: Feb. 23, 2021
Amount Of Time: 2,260 days
Charge: Conspiracy, reckless endangerment and weapons charges
What Happened: Right as his multiplatinum hit “Hot Nigga” was blowing up, Bobby Shmurda was arrested alongside other members of his GS9 gang on multiple charges of conspiracy, murder, drugs and weapons possession in Dec. 17, 2014 at Quad Studios. After receiving a seven-year sentence, with additional charges for smuggling in contraband, Bobby served most of his time but was denied release in the fall of 2020. However in early 2021, he ended up walking free at the end of his maximum expiration, not long after Rowdy Rebel came home.
Incarcerated: Dec. 17, 2014
Amount Of Time: 2,198 days
Charge: Conspiracy and weapons charges
What Happened: Rowdy Rebel was arrested alongside Bobby Shmurda and other members of the Brooklyn-bred gang GS9 in 2014. He was hit with a slew of charges including attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon. On conspiracy and weapons charges, Rowdy was sentenced to 12 years in the can, until his right-hand Bobby, who was only sentenced to five years at the time, accepted a seven-year plea deal that would lessen Rowdy’s time. Rowdy Rebel walked free in December of 2020.
Mystikal
Incarcerated: Jan. 15, 2004
Amount Of Time: 2,191 days
Charge: Sexual battery, extortion and failure to file tax returns
What Happened: Once one of the biggest rappers in the game, Mystikal threw it all away after an attack on a hairstylist turned really ugly. In, 2002, he was charged with aggravated rape and extortion after police arrested him and two bodyguards for threatening that his former hairstylist would need to perform oral sex of them or else Mystikal would turn her in to police for allegedly cashing $80,000 worth of unauthorized checks from the rapper’s bank account. The MC sat very firmly behind bars for the better part of a decade after being sentenced to a six-year prison term for sexual battery in 2004.
Incarcerated: June 24, 1991
Released: June 4, 1997
Amount Of Time: 2,172 days
Charge: Attempted murder and weapons charges
What Happened: Just as his career was picking up, Slick Rick got busted for shooting his cousin, who was also a bodyguard, in 1991, for attempting to extort the rapper. Unfortunately, Rick also shot an innocent person standing nearby, and a police chase resulted in the artist picking up attempted murder charges. He served five years in prison.
42 Dugg
Incarcerated: October of 2010
Released: 2017
Amount Of Time: About 2,000 days
Charge: Carjacking and gun possession
What Happened: Back in 2010, a 15-year-old 42 Dugg got arrested for carjacking and felony firearms possession. He was sentenced to four years in the can until a physical altercation with another inmate led to him being placed in solitary confinement and getting an additional two years for the fight. While in solitary, he began writing raps in his notebook and took the art seriously upon his release in 2017.
Incarcerated: June 30, 2017
Amount Of Time: 1,732 days and counting
Charge: Murder and aggravated robbery
What Happened: Tay-K was arrested and charged with a group of people in a botched robbery in July of 2016, that left one dead. While under house arrest, Tay-K broke off his ankle monitor and did the race, resulting in the inception of the multiplatinum-selling song. After he was apprehended, he was charged with another murder as police believed that he killed a photographer in an attempt to steal his photography equipment. In 2019, the rapper was sentenced to 55 years for the murder charge, 30 years for one of the aggravated robbery counts, and two 13-year sentences for the remaining two counts of aggravated robbery. They will all be served concurrently. Tay-K was also fined $21,000 for a combination of his crimes.
Released: March 5, 2014
Amount Of Time: 1,577 days
Charge: Possession of marijuana, violating parole and conspiring to bring drugs into a penal institution
What Happened: Boosie was busted in 2009, on his third weed possession charge, which landed him with a two-year bid. The judge then doubled the sentence when Boosie violated his probation. Everything was doubled again when he pleaded guilty for trying to have drugs smuggled into his prison cell—this while he was fighting a murder rap after being accused of the 2009 killing of another local rapper. He stared down the death penalty and won the case, and celebrated with his release in 2014 after five years behind bars.
Incarcerated: Jan. 2002
Amount Of Time: 1,445 days
Charge: Probation violation related to an aggravated assault charge
What Happened: Pimp C got into an argument at a mall with a woman in 2000, then he apparently flashed a gun, and was arrested. When he fell behind on community service, a judge sent him to jail in 2002, much to the anger and protest of the hip-hop community who, led by Bun B, started the Free Pimp C campaign.
03 Greedo
Charge: Drug trafficking and possession of a firearm
What Happened: 03 Greedo got roped in the summer of 2016, on drug trafficking and possession of a firearm charges. The police reportedly opened his trunk after smelling weed and located four pounds of methamphetamine and two stolen guns. 03 Greedo took a plea deal in 2018, and was sentenced to two decades in prison, with the potential to be released in five years with good behavior. He was denied parole in 2020.
Amount Of Time: 1,246 days
What Happened: He already had gun charges in the past from 2003. An illegal u-turn on the highway caused a patrolman to search his vehicle and find another gun as well in 2006. He kept busy while locked up, though, writing a book on his life’s experiences.
Amount Of Time: 1,195 days
Charge: Illegal possession of a firearm by a previously convicted felon
What Happened: Due to traffic violations, Fat Trel was arrested for possession of a firearm and ammunition in the summer of 2018. Upon that moment, officers realized that he had a suspended license and no ID, so they searched the vehicle and found a “ghost gun.” Trel pleaded guilty for illegal possession of the weapon in 2020, and faced 10 years. In September of that year, his sentence was squeezed down to two years and six months, along with three years of supervised release. He got out in October of 2021, due to time served, though he’s since found himself back behind bars.
Amount Of Time: 1,139 days and counting
Charge: First-degree murder
What Happened: Days before Halloween of 2018, YNW Melly’s childhood friends YNW Sakchaser and YNW Juvy were pronounced dead in what appeared to be a drive-by shooting. Melly’s friend and fellow rapper YNW Bortlen was the driver of the vehicle the bodies were found in, and was arrested in February of 2019, for being an accessory to murder. A day later, YNW Melly was arrested for the murders of Sakchaser and Juvy. Forensic evidence confirmed that Melly killed the two men and staged the scene to appear as if it was a drive-by alongside Bortlen. After additionally being linked to the fatal shooting of a deputy, Melly is being held without bond in a Florida jail.
Released: May 26, 2016
What Happened: In the fall of 2013, Gucci Mane was taken into custody for behaving erratically. A friend called and upon the police showing up, Gucci Mane was charged with carrying a firearm, possession of marijuana and disorderly conduct. As a felon who was caught with a gun, Gucci was in big trouble but agreed to a plea deal that still landed him years in prison.
Charge: First-degree murder and attempted murder
What Happened: Drakeo The Ruler was charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder as a result of a 2016 shooting, in which one person was killed and two were injured. Though the rapper wasn’t physically at the crime, police tagged him to the incident on the idea that he provided firearms and the getaway vehicle. In 2019, Drakeo was acquitted, but the district attorney decided to refile charges of criminal gang conspiracy and firing from a vehicle against him, resulting in a hung jury. After three years, the rhymer was released on a plea deal in 2020, after pleading guilty to shooting from a motor vehicle with a gang enhancement. While this meant acknowledging in a court of law that the Stinc Team the rapper was part of was a gang, Drakeo claimed he was never part of a gang and proclaimed his innocence.
Charge: Narcotics possession, traffic violations, fleeing rehab, becoming a fugitive and more
What Happened: ODB kind of went off the rails towards the end of the 1990s, with Wu-Tang Clan’s most eccentric member being arrested a series of times in just over a year. The initial charge that put him behind bars stemmed from a traffic bust in 1999, in which cops found crack cocaine and marijuana on him. He failed to show up in court and was sentenced to a year in rehab for making terroristic threats and wearing a bulletproof vest as a convicted felon in 2000. A few months after, he was kicked out of rehab, then sentenced again to more rehab. Subsequently, he disappeared, running away from the facility and becoming a fugitive, only to show up on stage for Wu-Tang’s record release party for The W, only to be arrested again a week later at a McDonald’s. He was finally sentenced to two to four years in prison for the variety of offenses.
Charge: Theft by unlawful taking or disposition and two counts of second-degree home invasion
What Happened: Tee Grizzley was a student at Michigan State University when he went on a robbing spree with one of his associates. According to the police discovery after the fact, they stole at least $10,000 in cash and $10,000 worth of electronics in 2014. Tee and his accomplice were arrested but released as the police continued to gather evidence. In the meantime, Tee fled to Kentucky, where a smash and grab plan failed in 2015. He was arrested and sentenced to nine months for that crime. During that time, he was also sentenced to 18 months to 15 years for the 2014 university robberies. Tee Grizzley ended up serving over two years for his crimes.
What Happened: Beanie Sigel was charged with three counts of failing to file tax returns on income of over $1 million between 2003–2005 in 2010, resulting in a 25-month prison sentence. In August of 2012, two weeks before he had to turn himself in to begin the bid, Sigel was arrested on drug, weapons and conspiracy charges after being pulled over by police. He began to serve time for his failure to file tax returns in the following month and was hit with an additional six to 23 months in county jail for illegal possession of prescription drugs. The time would be served concurrently with his prior sentence. In the summer of 2014, the rapper was released under the conditions that the remainder of his sentence be served in a halfway house.
What Happened: Prior to receiving a two-year prison bid, Lil Baby was arrested multiple times on drug charges that stemmed from possession of marijuana and intent to sell. After one of his shorter sentences, where he got extra time for fighting a white prisoner over racist comments made, the rapper was arrested again in 2014, for violating his probation, officially sending him away for 730 days. Upon his release, Lil Baby launched his rap career.
Charge: Attempted possession of a weapon and tax evasion
What Happened: Murder Inc. was just the label name, right? Ja was busted for attempted weapons possession in 2007, on the same night as Lil Wayne (during separate incidents). With his many priors, Ja didn’t get off as easy as Weezy F. Baby did. While locked up beginning in 2011, Ja also got hit with 28 months for tax evasion, but the judge allowed that to be served concurrently with his gun charges.
Charge: State and federal weapons charges
What Happened: Weeks after being arrested for weapons and drugs charges at the U.S. border, Kodak Black was roped again on state and federal firearms charges ahead of a Rolling Loud performance in May of 2019. He later confessed that he lied on background checks while buying guns on two different instances. Both guns were later discovered at crime scenes with one having Black’s fingerprints on it in an incident where it was allegedly used to fire at another artist. Yak was sentenced to nearly four years in prison, until former President Trump pardoned him in early 2021.
Incarcerated: 2017
What Happened: In the fall of 2015, police pulled up on Icewear Vezzo and his associates at a gas station in Detroit. Upon rolling up, they spotted Vezzo take a Glock from out under his shirt and pass it to someone else. As a former felon, he was prohibited from carrying a firearm. In 2017, he was convicted of the felony gun charge and did 20 months for the violation. He was released in 2018.
Amount Of Time: 508 days, minus Jan. 8, the day he was paroled on the first charge; he returned to prison the next day on the second charge
Charges: Weapons possession and forged passport
What Happened: Just as G-Unit was about to blow, Tony Yayo went into the can in 2002, after cops found a gun in a car with 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks and Yayo. The other two got off scot-free, but Yayo got busted on an old warrant and picked up a year in jail; the day he got out, while meeting with his parole officer, he accidentally provided a passport that was forged as documentation. The next day, he found himself right back in prison.
Charge: Federal racketeering and firearms charges
What Happened: 6ix9ine was arrested for RICO and firearms charges in late 2018, as a result of his affiliation and actions alongside the Nine Trey Gangster Bloods. The rapper accepted a plea deal that would lower his time in exchange for testifying against members of the gang. For his cooperation, 6ix9ine was sentenced to two years in prison and five years of supervised release, including the time he had already served. Once the COVID-19 pandemic sparked up, 6ix9ine was released on house arrest due to the health concerns surrounding his asthma. He was ultimately free on supervised release in 2020.
What Happened: The City Girls’ career took a bit of a hit in 2018, when JT was sentenced to two years in prison for scamming. She apparently used the credit cards of three different people between 2016 and 2017, and spent more than $1,000 of the stolen money. After her attorney in court name-dropped Drake and other artists who cosigned JT, she was able to finish the City Girls’ debut album promo before turning herself in. JT spent the latter half of her sentence at a halfway house. In 2019, she became a free woman after doing a little over a year for her crimes.
What Happened: Back in 2004, Young Buck was charged and convicted of stabbing a man at the Vibe Awards, putting the rapper in a position to no longer carry a gun or ammunition. In 2010, Buck’s home in Nashville was raided and as a result, police found a .40 caliber Glock 22 and ammo. The raid also revealed that he had a $300,000 tax debt. Since he was caught with possession of a weapon, Buck was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
What Happened: T.I. was facing 10 years on federal weapons possession charges, but a plea deal with prosecutors kept the rapper out of the pen for an extended period; not only that, it brought a lot of scrutiny to what, exactly, he had to give up in order to shave off those nine years. T.I. was initially arrested on Oct. 13, 2007, by federal agents after he had a bodyguard buy machine guns and silencers for him.
What Happened: A shooting outside the Hot 97 radio station in New York City in 2001 didn’t necessarily involve Lil’ Kim, but her lying to a grand jury about the incident afterward is what got her caught up. Video surveillance uncovered the truth, and there wasn’t much else Kim could do about it. She went to jail in 2005 for the crime.
What Happened: After initially facing a murder rap in the 2005 killing of one man and the attempted murders of two others, Cassidy waived his right to trial by jury and submitted himself to the mercy of the judge, who declined to convict him of first degree murder.
Charge: Attempted criminal possession of a weapon
What Happened: In 2007, Lil Wayne got busted with a gun on his tour bus after a show in New York City. Two years later, he pleaded guilty to attempted criminal possession of a weapon for the incident and was required to serve a year in prison. He was sent to Rikers Island in 2010 to do the time, which ended up being a total of eight months.
What Happened: Tupac Shakur was actually cleared of the majority of the charges in this case, in which a woman claimed she was raped by him and a number of other men in a hotel room in 1993. However, he was sentenced to a year-and-a-half in prison for “unwanted touching of the buttocks,” the only charge that stuck.
What Happened: Another case of, “Which time was that?” DMX was no stranger to the pen, and his probation violation for a drug-related offense in 2010 after an arrest in Arizona was another feather in his cap.
