Rappers who feuded after uptown Charlotte shootout book separate shows for 2020 CIAA
Two feuding rappers who made national headlines after a shootout in uptown Charlotte during the 2017 CIAA college basketball tournament have booked separate concerts when the tournament returns in February, according to online show promotional posters.
Rapper Young Dolph survived the hail of 100 bullets. Rapper Blac Youngsta was accused by police of firing shots that night, but prosecutors eventually dropped all charges against him, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.
Blac Youngsta, a Memphis rapper whose real name is Sammie Benson, maintained his innocence throughout the case.
Based on their 2020 tour schedules, the rappers appear unlikely to see each other during February’s CIAA men’s and women’s college basketball tournament — its last year at Spectrum Center in uptown before moving to Baltimore in 2021.
Young Dolph and Key Glock are scheduled to perform at 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 27, at the Fillmore in the AvidXchange Music Factory entertainment complex off North Graham Street.
The nationally touring duo are booked the following night at the House of Blues in Myrtle Beach, according to eventsticketcenter.com.
That puts them 175 miles from Charlotte on Friday, Feb. 28, when Blac Youngsta is set to perform at the new White House Ultra Lounge on Wilkinson Boulevard.
The rappers feuded after police said about 100 shots were fired indiscriminately at homes and cars in the 600 block of North Caldwell Street, about 30 minutes before the last game of the 2017 tournament at the nearby Spectrum Center, The Charlotte Observer reported at the time. No one was hurt.
Blac Youngsta was charged with five counts of discharging a weapon into an occupied dwelling/moving vehicle and one count of conspiracy to commit discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling.
National websites reported that fellow Memphis rapper Young Dolph was among the targets, the Observer reported. Young Dolph was in town for an unofficial CIAA party and concert at the Cameo Charlotte nightclub.
In response to the allegations, Blac Youngsta released a mix tape several months later titled “I’m Innocent.” He also went on a 15-city “I’m Innocent” tour, skipping Charlotte.
Young Dolph also made a mix tape that year. Its first three titles were “100 Shots,” “In Charlotte” and “But I’m Bulletproof,” the Observer reported at the time.
The only evidence tying Benson to the shootout was his rental car, which Blac Youngsta reported stolen the same day, Mecklenburg County prosecutor Kristen McNeal wrote in a dismissal form she filed in Mecklenburg County Superior Court in May.
Benson provided sworn affidavits “from multiple individuals” that he was in Durham at the time of the offense, according to a copy of the dismissal form obtained by The Charlotte Observer after the charges were dismissed. Durham is about 145 miles northeast of Charlotte via Interstate 85.
Benson reported the vehicle stolen the same day to his insurance company, McNeal said in the document.
While the rapper’s cell phone and identification card were found in the car, “there is no evidence that the defendant was driving the vehicle during the offense or even an occupant of the vehicle during the time of the offense,” McNeal wrote.
“Furthermore,” according to the prosecutor, “the defendant did not confess, he was not identified by any witness, and there is no scientific evidence linking him to the offense.”