Jury selection started Tuesday in the trial of ASAP Rocky, the hip-hop and fashion impresario, who is accused of firing a gun at a former collaborator near a Hollywood hotel in 2021. He is charged with two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm.
Rocky, 36, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, earned fame following the 2011 release of the single “Peso,” and his debut mixtape, “Live. Love.” The New York-based artist was part of the influential rap collective ASAP Mob.
He is also the longtime partner of Rihanna, the famed singer, actress and businesswoman. The status of their relationship has already been a point of legal parsing in the pretrial hearing.
The trial is expected to last about three weeks. If convicted, Rocky faces a maximum of up to 24 years in prison.
Here is what to know about the trial.
What exactly is the trial about?
At a pretrial hearing in November 2023, ASAP Relli, born Terell Ephron, testified that he and Rocky were high school friends who once belonged to the same rap collective.
Their relationship frayed amid Rocky’s rise to fame. Relli and Rocky agreed to meet on the evening of Nov. 6, 2021, to clear their differences, Relli testified.
Relli claimed Rocky arrived with two men at a parking garage near the W Hotel in Hollywood. Prosecutors allege that he and Rocky briefly argued and Rocky pulled a gun from his waistband and later fired at Relli, grazing his knuckles, a claim they argue is supported by surveillance video showing Rocky holding a gun before the shooting.
In 2022, Rocky was arrested at a Los Angeles airport as he and Rihanna returned from a trip to Barbados. He pleaded not guilty and was released on bond.
How has ASAP Rocky responded?
On Tuesday, Rocky turned down a plea offer of a six-month jail term with a seven-year suspended sentence and three years of probation.
His lawyer, Joe Tacopina, has argued that the weapon used was a “prop gun” incapable of firing real ammunition.
Has Rocky’s busy schedule affected the trial?
Rocky has several notable projects on the horizon. He is scheduled to be one of the headliners of the Los Angeles stop of the Rolling Loud festival in March, and was announced as one of the celebrity chairs for the Met Gala, to be held in May. He was also cast to star alongside Denzel Washington in a Spike Lee-directed movie slated to open in summer.
The trial was originally to begin in November, but was postponed to allow Rocky to host the Rolling Loud music festival, which was in Thailand.
Will Rihanna make a courtroom appearance?
Last week, the judge, Mark S. Arnold, asked Tacopina how he should refer to Rihanna in relation to Rocky.
“She’s his common-law wife, your Honor,” Tacopina responded, adding she could be referred to as his wife. The prosecution argued against that term if they were not legally married.
In an October hearing, Arnold asked if Rihanna would attend the trial. “She’s welcome to be here whenever she wants I’d just like to know,” Arnold said, according to The Associated Press.
“He’s very protective of Rihanna and doesn’t want her anywhere near this proceeding,” Tacopina responded on behalf of his client. “But that’s a family decision they’ll make.”
Will Rocky’s legal history come up in this trial?
Rocky was a central figure in a 2019 incident that caught international attention, when he and two members of his entourage said they acted in self-defense when they punched and kicked a 19-year-old man in Stockholm. Rocky was held in detention for about a month awaiting trial.
President Trump took an interest in the case, calling for Rocky’s release in a Twitter post and sending a special envoy for hostage affairs to watch the trial. Rocky was found guilty, but a panel of judges said that the assault was not of such a “serious nature that a prison sentence must be chosen,” and he was released.
