Troy Ave has released a diss track aimed at Taxstone following the media personality being found guilty of manslaughter, assault and weapons charges in connection to the infamous 2016 shooting at Manhattan, NY venue Irving Plaza. On Thursday (March 23), hours after the verdict was handed down, the Brooklyn rapper unleashed the incendiary track titled “Dear Hater I Won (Taxstone Found Guilty),” which questioned the podcaster’s street credibility and detailed key events from the shooting and ensuing investigation.
The song beings with clips of commentators discussing Taxstone writing a letter to the judge presiding over the case painting Troy Ave in a negative light amid news clippings regarding the shooting. “Since you ni**as like writing letters, here go one/Dear hater, I won/I’ma boss, you a bum” the BSB rapper sings on the hook.
From there, Ave compares his own actions while incarcerated with those of Taxstone, pointing out that he kept quiet while detained for months without cooperating against his rival. “I sat many months, you wrote to the judge soon as you walked in/’Mr. Collins and his entourage be doing a lot of shootings/A recent one outside this New York city club that sued him.'”
He then addresses his own role in the shooting and reiterated that he was simply acting in self defense, thus nullifying him of being being painted as a victim. “Got attempted murder ’cause I took the gun from him and bust back/This ain’t no made up raps, I’m paraphrasing the facts/I’m the king of the underground, you just a underground rat,” he scoffs later in the track’s lone verse.
“It’s a mansion for sell, I bought that, you just bought to a cell/A real ni**a lives on while a fake one dies in jail,” the Crown Heights rapper quips, adding further insult to injury. He then ends the track in an unapologetic manner regarding his decision to take the stand during the trial to prove his own innocence.
“What the f**k I look like sitting in jail for a ni**a that’ll tell his own sister to suck a d**k for their freedom,” he asks before issuing further slights, an indicator that the discord between the two figures remains strong years after the initial incident.
On May 25, 2016, Taxstone, born Darryl Campbell, and Troy Ave, born Roland Collins, were involved in a shooting in a VIP room at Irving Plaza that left Collins’ bodyguard Ronald “Banga” McPhatter dead and three others wounded, including Collins. According to his own testimony, Collins and McPhatter were inside the VIP room when they sighted Campbell, who the two had ongoing issues with at the time and had developed a heated rivalry. Collins told jurors that Campbell pulled out a gun and shot McPhatter before turning the gun on Collins and shooting him.
A tussle ensued, with Collins wrestling the gun away from Campbell, who fled as Collins fired shots in his direction and frightened concertgoers rushed for the exit. Surveillance video capturing Collins discharging a firearm in the venue later surfaced on social media. Upon being hospitalized, Collins was initially arrested and charged with illegal possession of a firearm and charged with second-degree attempted murder.
In exchange for his testimony, prosecutors reportedly promised Collins a one-year prison sentence, including time served. Campbell, who remained free following the shooting, was indicted for the killing following a six-month investigation.
He was charged while incarcerated after previously being arrested for firearms charges in connection to the shooting. While initially charged with murder and attempted murder, Campbell was ultimately found guilty of first-degree manslaughter, two counts of assault in the first degree, one count of assault in the second degree and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. He will return to court for sentencing on April 19.