Rapper YG was arrested as deputies served a warrant before dawn Friday at his San Fernando Valley home days before he was scheduled to perform at the Grammys.
YG has been under investigation by the Sheriff's Operation Safe Streets unit at least six months. The allegation is robbery. But his attorney, Joseph Tacopina, said the arrest was a shock.
"He was completely caught off guard," Tacopina said in a phone interview.
The 29-year-old rapper, whose real name is Keenon Jackson, was taken into custody at the Chatsworth residence after deputies went to the serve the warrant at about 4 a.m., according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Bail was set at $250,000, and Jackson was tentatively scheduled to appear in court in Compton on Tuesday.
Jackson had come onto the Sheriff's Department's radar last July, when investigators said it was his specially armored Escalade that led deputies on a pursuit that became a running gun battle from Compton to Inglewood. One man on the street was struck and killed by an apparent stray bullet.
Jackson tweeted he was in a recording studio all day, and did not learn of the events until after they happened.
Two weeks later, investigators served warrants at the Hollywood Hills home were he was staying. Now nearly seven months later, two days before the Grammys, he was arrested on suspicion of a robbery that was not identified.
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"I don't exactly know the motivation, but the timing is sure suspicious," Tacopina said. "Without question, he wears a bulls-eye on his back."
Tacopina said barring any unforeseen complications, Jackson should be out on bail by Sunday, when he's scheduled to perform.
