NBA YoungBoy associate NBA Pap has been indicted on a second-degree murder charge in connection to a 2017 shooting that ended in the death of rival Baton Rouge, Louisiana rapper Gee Money.
Pap was arrested in June 2019 in the killing of Gee Money, who was shot in a parking lot outside of his Baton Rouge studio in September 2017. The 26-year-old NBA associate—born Deandre Fields—is facing a mandatory sentence of life in prison if convicted in Gee Money’s death, according to The Advocate. Gee Money was a member of the Top Boy Gorilla group, and he and YoungBoy grew up together in Baton Rouge.
Pap’s arrest warrant gives more insight as to why Gee Money and YoungBoy were beefing. Gee Money apparently dropped a song that included “derogatory lyrics” about YoungBoy’s sister. The NBA rapper later responded on social media, with the feud only intensifying from there.
In August 2017, Gee Money told blog SayCheeseTV that YoungBoy had “got the big head” after he found some fame and that they likely wouldn’t make music together, partially due to the beef with YoungBoy’s sister. Gee Money was killed the next month.
“In the days prior to Burton’s death, both Burton and Gaulden made several social media posts about one another, which further exacerbated tensions between the two rival rap music groups,” detectives wrote in the warrant. “When Burton was killed, members of the NBA group were immediately developed as suspects due to … the ongoing rap music feud.”
Police interviewed Pap three days after Gee Money’s death, on Sept. 13, 2017, and he said he told his mother to leave their house because “he feared retaliation.” He said he took his mother and son to New Roads, Louisiana after Gee Money died. He also told authorities that he drove to Hammond, Louisiana “to get gas” on Sept. 10, 2017, the night that Gee Money was killed. However, when detectives accessed the rapper’s phone records, it revealed he wasn’t in Hammond like he said, but was in Baton Rouge.
When asked who of his friends would shoot people for the NBA crew, Pap said, “To be honest, me.” He also mentioned “problems in the streets.”
The next month, police discovered shell casings on Jefferson Avenue in Baton Rouge, which matched those found at the scene of Gee Money’s killing. Detectives believe Pap “arranged to rid himself of the firearm that killed” Gee Money by giving it to a group of people who lived on Jefferson Avenue. Pap’s phone records also showed that he contacted people from that group hours after Gee Money died.
