#Rapper Drakeo the Ruler dead after LA concert stabbing: report

Rapper Drakeo the Ruler has died after being stabbed during a concert in Los Angeles Saturday night, according to reports.

Drakeo, whose legal name is Darrell Caldwell, succumbed to his wounds sustained at the Snoop Dogg-headlined Once Upon A Time In LA music festival, TMZ first reported early Sunday morning.

The rapper’s publicist confirmed his death on Sunday to multiple media outlets.

Drakeo, 28, was stabbed behind the stage at LA Exposition Park during a fight behind the main stage shortly after 8:30 p.m. He was taken to a local hospital but later died.

The rapper was attacked by a group of men backstage, a source “with direct knowledge of the incident,” told the Los Angeles Times.

The Once Upon a Time in LA festival was canceled in response to the stabbing.

LAPD spokesman Officer Luis Garcia told the Times that no arrests had been made as of Sunday. The California Highway Patrol is handling the investigation.

Snoop Dogg said in a statement on Sunday that he had heard about the stabbing while he was getting ready to perform in his dressing room and decided to leave the festival “immediately.”

“I’m saddened by the events that took place last night at the Once Upon a Time in La Festival. My condolences go out to the family and loved ones of Drakeo the Ruler,” The rapper wrote. “I’m not with anything negative and as one of the many performers, I was there to spread positive vibes only to my city of LA.”

Caldwell was acquitted of a murder charge in 2019 from a 2016 incident in Carson, California that left a 24-year old man dead. He was also acquitted of five attempted murder charges and conspiracy to commit murder.  LA County prosecutors then sought to retry the rapper for charges related to the same killing, which was resolved in a plea bargain.

He was released from custody in November 2020 after three years in prison, from where he recorded a full album “Thank You for Using GTL” to high praise in 2018.His defense attorney, John Hamasaki, took to Twitter on Sunday remembering the rapper.

“We spent the hardest two years together fighting for his freedom, facing life, before walking out a free man just over a year ago,” he wrote. “Through it, we became friends and then like family. I don’t even know how to start processing this.”