JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. — Rapper Yungeen Ace remained in Duval County jail Tuesday morning after being arrested in Jacksonville Beach on a gun possession charge, according to the city's jail log.
The 26-year-old entertainer, whose real name is Keyanta Bullard, is accused of possession of a firearm, weapon, or ammunition by a convicted Florida felon, the jail record states. Bullard was arrested around midnight in Jacksonville Beach after the vehicle he was riding in was pulled over for a traffic stop.
A Jacksonville Sheriff's Office arrest report states that an SUV failed to stop at a four-way stop sign intersection, and the driver, identified as Malquis Warthen, 24, was arrested for driving while a license was suspended, canceled or revoked.
Six people were inside the vehicle, which was a rental, at the time of the traffic stop.
The vehicle was towed, and all the occupants were detained by police.
Seven loaded firearms were found inside the vehicle, three of the firearms Bullard had "constructive possession" of, the report states.
A rifle located in the vehicle was loaded with "armor-piercing rounds," according to the report.
Bullard has been living in the Houston, Texas area in recent years, he said in interviews. He left Jacksonville because of frequent run-ins with police, he said. He hasn't performed in Jacksonville in years.
"The police won't let me," he said during a 2021 interview with Houston, Texas radio DJ Ashlee Young of 93.7 The Beat. "They don't want me coming out there doing shows."
Yungeen Ace, according to Jacksonville police, is the leader of a "gang" called ATK, which stands for Ace To Kill. ATK's biggest rival is KTA led by another Jacksonville rapper named Charles Jones, who performs under the name Foolio.
KTA stands for Kill Them All.
While Bullard has said he left Jacksonville due to his problems with police, what should be noted is the amount of bloodshed, including his, that's been spilled on streets here in an all-out gang war that's been playing out in Jacksonville's drill rap scene for all to hear.
ATK vs. KTA
In May 2017 Foolio's cousin, Zion Brown, 19, was killed on Jacksonville's Westside after a man stormed a home there and shot him to death. Arrested in that shooting was 19-year-old Deontrae Thomas. Bullard, pleaded no contest in an Orange Park robbery that occurred seven months before Brown's murder. Thomas and Bullard were both implicated in that robbery where the two conspired to rob someone who was reportedly selling marijuana, according to a June 2018 article in The Florida Times-Union. Shots were fired into that home nearly missing a couple and a 1-year-old child.
Yungeen Ace was the target in a retaliatory shooting for Brown's death in June 2018 when he and three other teens went to a St. Johns Town Center restaurant to celebrate the rapper's brother's birthday. Ace survived after being shot eight times. The three others, including his brother, Tre'von Bullard , 18, died. The two other men were Royale D'Von Smith Jr., 18, and Jercoby Da'Shad Groover, 19.
Following the mass shooting, Foolio made several posts on social media glorifying the killings. He even created a T-shirt airbrushed with a photo of Royale D'Von Smith Jr., aka 23, that said "Rest in piss 23." He posted a photo of the T-shirt on his Instagram page saying, "I'm getting a new T-shirt made for my show."
The bloodshed continued in January 2019 with another mass shooting. This time outside of Paradise Gentlemen's Club on Baymeadows Road. Willie Addison, a rapper known as Boss Goon, was killed. He had just performed at the club. He was in the car with family members who were also injured.
Family members of ATK rapper Ksoo, whose name really is Hakeem Robinson, were injured in the shooting, including his father, Adbul Robinson, who was shot in the back.
The bloodshed and music continued
More retaliatory bloodshed followed in January 2019 with the shooting death of Charles Quentin McCormick Jr., a KTA rapper who went by the name of Lilbuck. That was followed by another hit on KTA a month later in February 2019 with the death of Julio Foolio's little brother, 16-year-old Adrian Dennard Gainer Jr., aka Bibby, at a Moncrief area apartment complex.
Foolio and his girlfriend were both injured in separate shootings in clear attempts on their lives.
Hakeem Robinson, aka Ksoo, celebrated these latest killings by putting the fallen KTA victims on the cover of his album entitled "Bibby Out" named for Julio Foolio's brother.
Yungeen Ace escaped death again in March 2019 after another attempt on his life in Waycross, Ga. A 30-year-old man was killed in that shooting and three men were arrested.
Jacksonville Sheriff's Office arrested Ksoo in March 2021 charging him with killing Bibby and Lilbuck. This arrest came after several months of Ksoo posting several videos of himself bragging about the killings of KTA members and taunting Julio Foolio about "smoking Bibby." Robinson's father and brother was also implicated in the killings. All three remain in jail and are scheduled for trial in August.
Foolio returned the favor posting several videos of himself taunting ATK and Yungeen Ace talking about "who I'm smoking" -- which included Ace's brother and rapper 23.
Rappers Spinabenz, Whoppa Wit Da Choppa, Yungeen Ace and FastMoney Goon released a video in April 2021 of a track called "Who I Smoke." The mega-viral song took off like a rocket making Jacksonville the epicenter of drill rap music.
"Who I Smoke" is a disturbing twist on Vanessa Carlton’s “A Thousand Miles.” The main hook of the song is Ace singing the catchy phrase "who I smoke" followed by the name of an KTA rival.
Not to be outdone by ATK, Foolio released a diss track of his own called "When I See You," a remix of recording artist Fantasia's hit single "When I See U." The disturbing mega-viral response video features Foolio toting around a banner in a graveyard of the three teens who were killed while riding with Yungeen Ace near Town Center.
Foolio and several of his affiliates were at one of the teens again about eight months ago continuing to taunt their rivals and the killings continued.
