Rygin King, whose breakout single “Tuff” catapulted him to fame in the dancehall world, was arrested and charged with weapons offenses in New York City.
The 29 year old deejay born Mathew Smith was arrested by the NYPD 113th Precinct’s ‘Midnight Public Safety Team’ on July 8 as part of the city’s #onelessgun campaign.
The precinct announced on social media without naming the person arrested, saying, “Yesterday, 113 pct Midnight Public Safety Team made an arrest and recovered this loaded firearm. Excellent work! #onelessgun.”
King faces four charges, including second, third, and fourth-degree possession of a firearm, ammunition, and criminal possession of a weapon.
He pleaded not guilty to all charges and is set to appear in Queens Criminal Court at the intersection of Queens Boulevard, Hoover Avenue, 132nd Street, and 82nd Avenue in New York on Friday, July 12. New York City has the second strongest gun laws in the US and if convicted, Smith faces a maximum of 15 years in prison.
The “Squeeze Trigga” deejay, who is unable to walk, has had several tragic encounters since his emergence on the scene, including being shot in a drive-by shooting in Westmoreland in 2020. In that incident, the wife of his manager was killed.
Largely credited as one of the persons who made trap dancehall popular throughout 2018, he has been in and out of therapy since then as he set out to recover from the near-fatal incident. He recently released his sophomore album “Recovery” on June 14, 2024, via Rygin King Trap Records, which sold less than 1,000 units in the US.
His debut album released in 2022, sold 750 album equivalent units in its first week. Of that amount 240 were pure album copies and 800,000 On-demand streams according to data provided to World Music Views by Billboard tracker Luminate.
He has sold 1500 lifetime equivalent units in the U.S. according to Luminate, formerly MRC Data.
