Rapper Kodak Black was arrested this week in central Florida on a drug trafficking charge, marking another legal setback for the artist.
The rapper, whose real name is Bill Kapri, was booked into the Orange County jail on Wednesday on a felony charge related to trafficking MDMA — the synthetic party drug commonly known as ecstasy or molly.
On Thursday, Kapri filed a written plea of not guilty and requested a jury trial. He also chose to waive appearing in person for a future arraignment hearing in state court.
The arrest stems from a police incident in Orlando in December, when residents reported hearing gunshots in a neighbourhood. According to a police report, officers arrived at the scene and found several people gathered around parked luxury SUVs, including Kapri.
During the encounter, an officer reportedly spotted a white substance on a $100 bill inside a Lamborghini SUV that also smelled of cannabis, which gave police probable cause to search the vehicle. Investigators said they discovered a pink bag containing MDMA, around $37,000 in cash, and several documents bearing Kapri’s name.
Police also noted that the pink bag matched one seen in a photo Kapri had previously shared on Instagram. Investigators said the bag even contained a distinctive lighter that appeared in the same social media photo.
According to the report, everyone present at the scene denied ownership of the bag, including Kapri. However, the rapper reportedly claimed that the cash belonged to his business and asked officers to return it.
Ambrosia Healy and Kevin Young, who represent Kapri at Universal Music Group, did not respond to requests for comment.
Previous legal troubles
Kapri has faced several legal issues over the years.
In 2023, police in Plantation, Florida, arrested him after reportedly finding him asleep behind the wheel with white powder around his mouth. Authorities initially believed the substance was cocaine, but later lab tests identified it as oxycodone, which Kapri had a prescription for.
That arrest violated probation conditions from another case and resulted in him spending two months in a Miami jail.
In 2022, Kapri was also arrested on charges linked to oxycodone trafficking and possession of a controlled substance without a prescription. He was later released on bond under conditions that included regular drug testing. Court records show he was ordered into a 30-day drug rehabilitation programme in 2023 after missing a drug test and later testing positive for fentanyl.
In January 2021, then-President Donald Trump commuted a three-year federal prison sentence Kapri had received for falsifying documents used to purchase weapons. At the time, he had completed roughly half of the sentence.
Despite his legal troubles, Kodak Black has remained commercially successful, selling more than 30 million singles. One of his biggest hits, Super Gremlin, reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2022.
Harnaik Singh Rathor is the Founder, Publisher, and Editor-in-Chief of StudioX News Canada, Canada's multilingual digital news network serving diaspora communities across 44 languages. With a background in media production, public relations, and multicultural communications, he founded StudioX Film and TV Corporation to bridge the gap between mainstream Canadian media and the country's diverse immigrant communities. He is a member of the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ), RTDNA Canada, CPRS Vancouver, Unifor, NEPMCC, and the Canada Freelance Union. He holds CAVCO Personnel Number SINH0106. Based in Surrey, British Columbia. | LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harnaiksinghrathor/ | Muck Rack: https://muckrack.com/harnaiksinghrathor | Email: editor@studioxnews.ca
