Lul G of California rap group SOB X RBE was sentenced to 21 years in prison for voluntary manslaughter on Monday (May 22). The sentence is the result of a plea deal Lul G made stemming from an incident in 2019 where he allegedly murdered a man in his hometown Vallejo, California.
Originally, Lul G was set to be charged with first-degree murder for the crime and would face a maximum sentence of 50 years, according to FADER. But, by pleading guilty to the lesser offense, the 26-year-old will now face just two decades behind bars.
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Lul G’s group SOB X RBE first gained notoriety in January 2017 with their self-titled mixtape. The project’s two most popular songs, “Anti” and “Calvin Cambridge,” have both since eclipsed 55 million streams on Spotify, as they helped to build a fanbase for the up-and-coming California act.
Then in February 2018, fellow Cali native Kendrick Lamar released the soundtrack for Marvel’s Black Panther, which he organized and contributed songs for. The album, which hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200, featured appearances from SZA, The Weeknd, Travis Scott, Future, James Blake, and more.
Along with these aforementioned stars, Lamar recruited SOB X RBE for the LP’s seventh song “Paramedic!” a fierce, unexpected banger midway through the track list that Lamar also delivered vocals on. “Paramedic!” would go on to peak at No. 67 on the Billboard Hot 100, putting SOB X RBE on the map in mainstream hip-hop. That same year, Lul G would sign with Def Jam as a solo artist as well, thanks to successful 2017 songs like “Bag On Me Now” and “Freestyle.”
However, just one year later, Lul G would have his run-in with the law, putting an indefinite pause on his burgeoning music career.
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