Security at the Once Upon A Time In L.A. Festival was “front and center” when Drakeo the Ruler and his small entourage were attacked by a barrage of people, according to his brother who was entrenched in the chaos on that fateful night in December. In an exclusive interview on VladTV, rapper Ralfy the Plug revealed details of Drakeo’s last moments before he was stabbed and killed backstage at the Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, and YG headlined concert.
“It was like 100 and something,” Ralfy recalled of the attackers at the event. “Drakeo and his security, and a couple of homies can’t fight 100 people. If we would’ve knew we was planning for war like the Leonidas, you know what I’m saying, we would’ve definitely came like the Spartans. We came to get some money, that’s it.”
Drakeo had miraculously dodged first-degree murder charges after serving three years in prison when he was released back to the streets in November 2020. His saving grace? Sheer overcrowding, the potential threat of the pandemic, and the dethroning of former Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey.
As the iconic underground rapper acclimated back into his environment, he had a host of career milestones to look forward to, including his highly demanded performance at Rolling Loud. The booking would be the first time Drakeo would join the festival circuit and certainly served as validation for his hard-earned position in hip hop.
So when the call came in for him to do a set at the Once Upon A Time in L.A. event, he had no quells to placing the chink on his armor. Drakeo had no idea that he would be walking into a bloodied landmine that was so distinctively contrived in its effort to appear coincidental that Snoop Dogg himself had to leave the premises.
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Details surrounding Drakeo’s death were murky with indications of a set up, which fans have pointed out since day one. For starters, Ralfy verified that the entourage, who were later confirmed to include Ron-Ron the Producer, Joog SZN, and Drakeo’s one-man security, were all searched and stripped by police prior to entering the outside venue at Exposition Park, L.A.
Yet, just around the river-bend, an army of crimson blood masked men picked an unfair fight in the shadows of the backstage parking lot and one of them happened to have a weapon. Drakeo the Ruler, real name Darrell Caldwell, died at the age of 28 years old from a stab wound to his neck. LA Mag journalist, Jerry Weiss, who was with Drakeo at the time of the incident, recounts how the independent rapper was ambushed that night.
“This is not merely an escalation or the chaos of a smaller fight gone out of hand. This is strategic, the obvious product of careful design,” Weiss said in the LA Mag article. “Security and police are still entirely absent. Drakeo and the few friends with him drown in a sea of bodies, a red riptide.”
When Ralfy is asked about the investigation into his brother’s death, he responds, “They ain’t investigating s***. Police don’t like us.”
It’s the same sentiment that Weiss shares in his retelling of the incident, “From what I can see, there is no attempt to secure the backstage to prevent the assailants’ escape. No arrests are made. No one else has been stabbed, although one or two people are being treated in a medical tent for minor injuries. None of us is questioned about what we had witnessed.”
Watch the interview below:
