Troy Ave has apparently begun serving his prison sentence following a shooting incident in 2016 that resulted in the death of his bodyguard.
The Brooklyn rapper and podcaster Taxstone got into a fight at a T.I. concert at NYC’s Irving Plaza, which resulted in Ave getting shot twice, his bodyguard Ronald “Banga” McPhatter murdered and two bystanders injured
Taxstone was sentenced to 35 years in prison while Troy Ave was handed a reduced one-year stint in jail.
Troy spoke about going away in an Instagram video captioned “#FreeTroyAve” and appeared to confirm he was turning himself into authorities to begin his sentence
About to run up in the court, you might not see me for a while but just know the streets is a myth,” he said. “Somebody shot at me. Instead of laying down and dying, I’d have been a hero, a martyr. I take the gun and bust back.
“There you have it, here go the consequences. We don’t cry over spilt milk. You take the lemons and you make lemonade. Y’all keep supporting and keep running it. And send prayers; prayers count more than anything … I’m up out of here.”
Ave also discussed his sentence on his podcast The Akademy, saying: “Because of New York’s self-defense laws, I probably gotta be away from my kids and my loved ones and my businesses and my employees and the life that I built for myself. But I said it before and I’ll say it again, I’d rather be judged by 12 than carried by six.”
Addressing life in jail, he said: “I’m not tryna win the ‘toughest n-gga in jail’ competition. I just want to be the richest n-gga. I’ma play dominoes, do my push-ups, read some books and take some time to recharge the battery.
When you go to prison, that’s God saving you from yourself and if you don’t take that time and come out greater then that’s on you.”
He also said he plans to record more episodes of his podcast over a jail phone.
Troy Ave previously discussed the shooting when he testified against Taxstone during his murder trial.
“If it’s fight or flight, I’m always going to fight because at that point you could die,” he told the Manhattan Supreme Court. “I’d rather die fighting. People die from leg shots. I’d rather die fighting than laying on the ground.”
Describing the situation, he said: “When the shot goes off, I see the light from the spark and I hear the shot. This is all happening fast. I get up and start fighting Taxstone, trying to take him, grab the gun, and another shot goes off. I put my leg up to kind of block the shot from hitting me in the face or chest.”
Troy Ave was initially charged with attempted murder and gun possession for his role in the shooting. Although he was initially arrested, his legal team negotiated a one-year sentence instead of the 15 years he could have faced in exchange for his testimony at Tax’s trial.
