Florida rapper Kodak Black is pushing back against his July 15 drug arrest in Fort Lauderdale after a traffic stop for tinted windows. Police smelled marijuana and then found both his registration and driver's license were expired. A search of Black's Dodge Durange produced 31 Oxycontin pills and nearly $75,000 cash but no weed.
In a police video, he's seen shirtless in the backseat of an idling cruiser talking to police in the front. “My shit ain’t smell like weed. I don’t smoke weed," he says. "I ain’t smoke nothing, you feel me? He didn’t smell marijuana."
Asked what was the probable cause, the 25-year-old from Pompano Beach says, "They ain't smell marijuana. That's like a little shit, though - 'you smell marijjuana?' You can't get around that I guess."
After a minute he bemoans, "Damn bro, fuck, dawg."
Black gets progressively more anxious as he waits for them to take him to jail. Instead, he's in the car as the officers stand by for instuctions. He pleads with them to let him get out and smoke a cigarette. His mother is allowed to hug him through the window and he asks if he can give the money to his brother. "You trying to say I'm a drug dealer?" he asks.
Kodak Black to Florida police: "Just don't shoot me and drop me off somewhere."
He explains why he placed the pills in a Baggie: "Because they make noise when I walk around if it's in a bottle. That's why I put it in a bag. I have a hundred of them. I got shot and shit. I had a medical prescription."
(Fve months earlier on Feburary 15, Black was shot outside a celebrity-studded pre-Super Bowl party at The Nice Guy restarant in Los Angeles. He and three others were hit in the gunfire.)
At several points he worries that police might shoot him. "Just don't shoot me and drop me off somewhere," he says "I'm already getting fucked around and shit like that. Y'all taking too lomg. I have a show to do, man."
After finally being taken to Broward County Jail on a drug-trafficking charge, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman placed him on house arrest. He was required tp pay a $225,000 surety bond, submit to drug testing, wear a GPS ankle monitor and remain at home unless for medical reasons, court appearances or employment. He has to give 48 hours notice before concerts and ask his supervising officer for permission to leave his home for any other reasons. Studio events must be approved by a judge in advance.
In a series of tweets on July 26, Black laid out his defense:
"This Shit bogus Af I feel like This a character assassination issue Kuz theirs no way I should be getting harassed bout my tag being expired , that’s no reason to even search my car in the first place and going to jail about having my medication in the car is insane"
This Shit bogus Af I feel like This a character assassination issue Kuz theirs no way I should be getting harassed bout my tag being expired , that’s no reason to even search my car in the first place and going to jail about having my medication in the car is insane
— Kodak Black (@KodakBlack1k) July 26, 2022
"Ima Sue these people for every dollar I gotta spend bout this shit!"
Ima Sue these people for every dollar I gotta spend bout this shit !
— Kodak Black (@KodakBlack1k) July 26, 2022
"I’m being racially profiled and as a black man in America I deserve my freedom especially with everything I do for my community I should be getting love, respect and support from the authorities! To move freely, not getting arrested for expired tag and dark windows"
I’m being racially profiled and as a black man in America I deserve my freedom especially with everything I do for my community I should be getting love , respect and support from the authorities ! To move freely , not getting arrested for expired tag and dark windows
— Kodak Black (@KodakBlack1k) July 27, 2022
"This a self inflicted wound that coulda been prevented! My people posta made sure my tags stay up and my tints Just right but @ da same time I should have a pass to drive with tints due to my status AT LEAST !!!I show all this love round here just to get slapped in the face"
This a self inflicted wound that coulda been prevented ! My people posta made sure my tags stay up and my tints Just right but @ da same time I should have a pass to drive with tints due to my status AT LEAST !!! I show all this love round here just to get slapped in the face
— Kodak Black (@KodakBlack1k) July 27, 2022
In 2020, President Trump commuted Black's sentence for firearms convictions. He'd served two years.
Prior to that Black had numeorus arrests, including several for marijuana possession in 2015, 2016 (twice), 2018 and 2019.
Kodak, whose real name is Dieuson Octave (he changed it to Bill Kapri) - his father's Hatiian - has had a number of hit songs. "Super Gremlin" from his 2022 album Back to Everything peaked at No. 3 and the album at No. 2.
