A former friend of A$AP Rocky is set to testify Wednesday about the moment the hip-hop star allegedly fired a gun at him on a Hollywood street in 2021.
The trial’s key witness, known by the name A$AP Relli, will provide what’s likely to be the trial’s most important piece of testimony when he gets back on the stand.
Rocky, whose legal name is Rakim Mayers, has pleaded not guilty two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm. His lawyer says the shots he fired were blanks from a starter pistol that he carried as a prop.
On Tuesday, Relli, born Terell Ephron, described the first part of the confrontation, and was on the verge of describing the alleged shooting itself when court ended for the day.
He said he and Rocky, members of A$AP, a crew of creators at a New York high school, had been close but their relationship eroded after fame came for Rocky.
He said their relationship had been strained for years and getting worse in the previous days, but he was still “furious” when Rocky pulled a gun on him after a scuffle that began the moment the two met up near the W Hotel.
“I told him to use it. Because mentally I couldn’t believe it,” Relli testified, with his old friend staring at him intently from the defense table. “I physically could not believe there was a gun in my face. That was the breaking point for me.”
He said he had expected to argue but reconcile with his old friend, and the last thing he wanted to do was get into a fight that could ruin the modest music management business he had built.
“He’s famous,” Relli said. “I’m nobody.”
The testimony will come on an abbreviated court day. The trial will only be in session for two hours in the morning because of a prosecutor's previous commitment. Relli can expect to face fierce cross-examination from the defense that could begin Wednesday.
Raised in Harlem, Rocky's rap songs became a phenomenon on the streets of New York in 2011. He had his mainstream breakthrough when his first studio album went to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in 2013. The second one, in 2015, did the same.
He's set to have his biggest career year as a multi-media star. This Sunday, he's nominated for a Grammy Award for best music video for his song “Tailor Swif," at the ceremony at Crypto.com Arena just two miles from the Los Angeles courthouse where his trial's being held.
He's also set to headline the Rolling Loud Music Festival, to star opposite Denzel Washington in a film directed by Spike Lee, and to co-chair the Met Gala in May.
But the prospect of a conviction and the possibility of a maximum of 24 years in prison casts a shadow over all of it.
Rocky is the longtime partner of Rihanna, with whom he has two toddler sons. She has yet to appear at his trial.
Andrew Dalton, The Associated Press