Maino Supports Taxstone Following Troy Ave Shooting Guilty Verdict: “I Was There”
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
New York rapper Maino has offered insight into why he is supporting Taxstone despite his recent guilty verdict in the 2016 shooting of rapper Troy Ave. The Brooklyn rapper survived, but his bodyguard Ronald “Banga” McPhatter, succumbed to his gunshot wound, with others being seriously injured.
While guesting on Angela Yee’s Way Up With Yee Power 105.1 radio show on Thursday (March 24), Maino shared his thoughts on Taxstone receiving the guilty verdict just a day before.
More from VIBE.com
“I was there,” he revealed about being at New York’s Irving Plaza that night with Tax. “It happened in the dressing room that I was occupying with me and Uncle Murda. We was performing that night, or we were set to perform that night.”
Maino continued to detail the situation, speaking to the moment Troy Ave and his entourage entered where he and Taxstone were before a fight broke out. Debunking the narrative that Taxstone was the “aggressor” in the situation, he added, “My only issue with that is I just don’t agree with the narrative that’s been put out there as if Taxstone was there to try to look for a problem. Taxstone was actually there chilling.”
“That man was there chilling, enjoying the moment and these other dudes came in there looking for a problem,” he said. “These other dudes came in there with that energy looking to try to have a moment and the moment just didn’t go their way. So I’m just in disagreement with the whole narrative of becoming a victim after you tried to be an aggressor.”
Following the incident, Taxstone, née Darryl Campbell, was arrested and charged with a single count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and a single count of receipt of a firearm in interstate commerce, HipHopDX reports. However, Tax’s DNA was later found on the firearm used in the fatal shooting of McPhatter. Troy Ave maintained his innocence and claimed self-defense.
Maino shared with Yee that he didn’t agree with the narrative that Troy was the victim in the situation or that he didn’t start the incident that ended in a fatality. Reportedly, video footage from Irving Plaza did show Troy Ave firing a gun and he was arrested before finding the weapon in his vehicle later on. Troy, best known for his song “Doo Doo,” was shot in the leg and received treatment at a local hospital.
“My whole thing is this though – how you out here celebrating just getting on the stand after you tried to create a situation that just didn’t go your way?” Maino questioned. “And then here’s another narrative that I see people out here trying to hang on to: that man was never accused of murder of his friend, he was never arrested for the murder of his own friend — they was never putting the murder of his friend on him.”
“[It was for] the guns that he got caught with,” he went on. “So he worked out a deal with the prosecutor to get less time for those guns that he got caught with. So that was his motivation to get on the stand and testify against Taxstone.”
Taxstone Found Guilty In 2016 Irving Plaza Shooting
The “Hi Hater” MC ended his sentiments saying that Troy needs to “say the whole truth.”
“Don’t make it seem like that man was there to try to assassinate you and that’s not the truth. The truth of the matter is you actually came there on that time,” he said. “You walked in there in that room and tried to create a situation. You thought that maybe you was gonna get you a WorldStar moment.” See below.
Taxstone was found guilty of manslaughter on Thursday (March 23) in a New York court. He will be sentenced some time in April.
Listen to Maino detail his support for Taxstone above.
