“Wanna rep the Stinc team? well hop out and kill someone.” - Drakeo The Ruler from “Impatient Freestyle.”

Drakeo the Ruler maintained an intimidating persona throughout his career. He beat two life sentences, dissed the entirety of Inglewood, and even bragged about craving to kill YG; one of the gods of LA hip-hop - threatening to turn him into swiss cheese. Drakeo has a certain type of swag that can’t be learned. It is simply understood. He doesn’t just rap, he creeps through the beat. It’s impossible to depict what’s coming next while listening to his tracks. For example, in one of my personal favorites “Hood Trophy,” it feels as if Drakeo is speaking casually throughout the track, even though he mumbles in a blunt, yet compelling manner that makes his music unique.

Where did he get this etiquette from? As a kid, Drakeo listened to Boosie, Hot Boys, Webbie, and the Diplomats; however, Drakeo was actually influenced by a battle rapper named “Cocky,” telling Billboard, “He was so smooth and calm while rapping. Despite saying some of the craziest stuff. It showed me you didn’t have to yell or be loud to get your point across” (Lamarre 13). It’s clear that Drakeo utilizes this poise in his own music, rapping collectively, while nonchalantly spitting out some of the most excessively OD statements like: “send suicide bombers in your house if you keep yappin' it” from his track “Bambino.” It is crucial to note that Drakeo does not condone or commit these acts, he’d simply rather rap them.

Drakeo grew up in the Hundreds in LA which is known for being active and dangerous. While in middle school, he and his brother Devonte (stage name Ralfy the Plug) decided to form a dance group known as 2Greedy, which later morphed into a rap group. As the duo grew older, they assembled a new group called “the Stinc Team” with some of their neighborhood friends. Their posse was made up of Drakeo, Ralfy, Bambino, SaysoTheMac, Ketchy The Great, 2Sh*tty, Kellz, and Good Finesse. With the help of DJ Mustard, their stardom was propelled after the release of Drakeo’s debut album entitled I Am Mr. Moseley which garnered millions of listens. In addition to his natural swag, his language and terminology could plausibly be what blew him up. Drakeo popularized slang such as “uchies,” “flu flamming,” and “mud walking.”

Unfortunately for Drakeo, in January 2017, he found himself in jail, the day of the birth of his son, for guns that he stated weren’t his. Although he was locked up, Drakeo continued to tweet and keep fans on their toes through a phone he had smuggled with him. When he was released that October, he was hungry for more. In the midst of the winter holidays, Drakeo dropped his sensational album Cold Devil which is how I originally found him. The album features the bulk of the Stinc Team, 03 Greedo (who is from the hood right next to the Hundreds called “Jordan Downes” a.k.a “Grape Street'' which is also why Drakeo always yells, “Free 03”), and other LA natives such as OHGEESY (member of Shoreline Mafia) and ALLBLACK. Finally, Drakeo was able to exhibit his versatility on slower-paced songs like “Roll Bounce'' and ferocious tracks such as “Big Banc Uchies.”

Once again in 2018, before even getting to experience the benefits of his fresh success, Drakeo hit another roadblock. Drakeo was ultimately arrested for alleged first-degree murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy to commit murder. The charges stemmed back to a naughty pajama party at a dingy warehouse in Carson, California. It’s worth mentioning that the Stinc team was rivals with blood gangs in Inglewood known as I.F.G.B and for whatever reason, both the Stinc team and families of I.F.G.B were in attendance at the party.

While Drakeo the Ruler and fellow Stinc Team members were hanging out outside the party by their cars, Drakeo noticed an I.F.G.B member named Davion Gregory who went by “Red Bull” walking out of the party with former Florida A&M star receiver Travis Harvey-Broome. Drakeo immediately uttered, “let’s get out of here.” However, before he knew it gunshots poured over Drakeo’s head just as the two walked by the Stinc Team from a man behind a black Mercedes SUV. Around 160 partygoers frantically ran out of the warehouse. No attendee ended up talking to the police. No one could identify shooters. It was a full-out bloodbath.

By the dawn of the next morning, Red Bull was pronounced dead. Travis and a Missouri Western State defensive back who he had bumped into just before the shots fired were injured. After checking surveillance cameras from nearby areas of the shooting, police found the same Black Mercedes fleeing the scene. Long story short, in 2018, with internet research, an investigator was able to find Drakeo’s music video titled “Chunky Monkey” where he performed donuts in the same SUV. This was enough information to arrest Drakeo along with the rest of the Stinc Team members.

The police proceeded with some sketchy actions with the crew, separating each member into different cells and setting them up with undercover cellmates pretending to be criminals. The fake cops would wear wires to see if they could uncover any information about them; this ended up proving to be successful as Stinc Team member 2Sh*tty said that Jaiden Boyd, who goes by “A.B” was the one who did it. The craziest part was that Jaiden Boyd wasn’t even being investigated for the shooting in the first place. Because of 2Sh*ttys comments, LAPD started dishing deals to other Stinc Team members who chose to share what they knew about the incident.

All members stayed silent, except for Drakeo’s right-hand man who goes by “Solo.” Solo was offered a deal where his charges would be dropped in exchange for everything he knew. He took the deal and told the police that the entire Stinc Team was all at Drakeo’s house before the party. They found the party on social media, and they drove to the scene in five separate cars, including Drakeo’s Black SUV. Once they got there, they were all sitting around their cars and 2Sh*tty exclaimed that he saw I.F.G.B families. Solo also declared that he remembered Drakeo saying “let’s get out of here” before he heard bullets cracking off, pouring everywhere. He talked about how he saw Stinc Team members Kellz and A.B busting their .40 and .38s, giving away everything.

Drakeo was able to hang the Jury twice on the murder charge. He would end up facing only possession charges. Even though he seemed to be in the clear, the Judge demanded a retrial, and Drakeo remained locked up for a few more years. Most people thought that was unjust and it was extremely controversial. Throughout his time locked up awaiting trial, Drakeo was itching to release more music. Fast forward to June 2020, Drakeo released a mesmerizing album that he recorded over a jail phone line labeled Thank You For Using GTL that has since accumulated hundreds of thousands of views.

Eventually, prosecutors offered Drakeo a plea deal, which after having lost years of his life, he accepted; even though it was awfully difficult. Drakeo didn’t want to be known for being in a gang anymore. He claimed on a No Jumper podcast “gangbanging is for losers.” In fact, Drakeo announced that the Stinc team wasn’t a gang and that he never wanted to be associated with gangs in the first place. He told the Guardian in an interview “the whole point of me starting to rap is I get to rap and talk about these things and not do these things. And what would you rather, me rapping about stuff that I’m not actually doing, or me out there doing it? It’s not real. Rapping is rhyming and pretending. It’s a persona” (Levin 15).

While preserving this ideology, Drakeo released hit after hit for the remainder of 2020 and in the midst of 2021, however on February 16, 2021, tragedy struck. Stinc Team member “Ketchy the Great” passed away in a fatal car crash. Even when Drakeo achieves greatness, there’s always something that seems to bring him back down. In spite of that, It’s fair to say that Drakeo was finally on top of the game as far as consistency. Drakeo's collection of albums consisted of We Know the Truth, Because Y’all Asked, The Truth Hurts (honoring Ketchy), A Cold Day In Hell, Ain’t that the Truth, and So Cold I Do Em 2. Keep in mind, some of those albums had roughly thirty songs. I challenge you as a reader to identify any artist with a similar discography within the span of a year while achieving impressive streaming numbers. It is almost unparalleled.

On December 18th, 2021 the unthinkable happened. An altercation backstage at a “Once Upon a Time” concert in LA with around 7 men resulted in Drakeo being stabbed in the neck. He was transported to a nearby hospital in critical condition. There was talk about Drakeo’s condition across social media, some claiming he was fine and others fearing the worst. Unfortunately, on December 19th, the world found out that Drakeo had sadly succumbed to his injuries. Drakeo’s perseverance and successful career will never be forgotten and he will always be remembered for his unique style.

Currently, there are numerous rappers in Los Angeles scrambling to fill Drakeo’s shoes and conserve his legacy. Artists springing from different areas all over LA clearly influenced by Drakeo are starting to gain traction in the music industry. Remble, originally from San Pedro, a city in LA county, is picking up steam on TikTok with a plethora of buzzing tracks such as “Touchable,” “Gordan R Freestyle” and a recent collab with Lil Yachty called “Rocc Climbing.” He puts his own spin on Drakeo’s cadence and incorporates a stellar beat choice in his music. There are alleged claims that Remble is now an honorary member of the Stinc Team, but nothing is confirmed. All that is known is that Remble has connections with most of the members and has multiple tracks accompanied by Drakeo’s brother, Ralfy the Plug.

Apart from Remble, rap duo OTM are determined to keep Ketchy and Drakeo’s career remembered. The duo contains members “Blue Pesos” and “Duffy” and the combo recently teamed up with the Stinc Team in their debut album release “Off The Mussle.” Throughout the tracklist, the group references many of Drakeo’s commonly rehearsed terms as “PippyLongstocking,” “Target Practice,” “Liu Tang (the main protagonist in two Mortal Kombat films),” etc. The pair truly have the talent to excel in the rap game, all they need is for their music to catch on to become a staple in the LA rap scene and further success is inevitable.