JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The video attached to this story is from our previous reporting on an incident in Waycross, Georgia in 2019 -- one of two shootings Yungeen Ace escaped alive.
Rapper Yungeen Ace has a message for the place he grew up.
The Jacksonville native, whose real name is Keyanta Bullard, posted to his Instagram Wednesday announcing a billboard for his album over Cassat Avenue, near exit 358.
"I'm Coming Back. LOVE YALL. Sincerely, Ace" it reads, with the title of his new album, "Survivor of the Trenches" under it.
Is the Jacksonville rap scene's prodigal son returning?
Ace hasn't performed in the city in years. "The police won't let me," he told a Texas radio DJ during an interview in 2021. (The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office has denied this is true.)
Ace's last known address in Northeast Florida, based on court documents from a run-in with the police, is in Orange Park in Clay County in 2018. He says he now lives in Houston.
He could be talking about a return to the industry. He said in an Instagram post in November that he was "losing his love for the music" earlier this year and a took a break before making this album, which released Dec. 2.
But fans seem to think Ace is planning a homecoming, and they're concerned for his safety -- Duval has long been a dangerous place for him.
'Keep your distance if you ain't ready to die'
Ace was almost killed on the Southside in 2018, where he was the sole survivor of an ambush near Town Center. He's at the center of a deadly saga, a stranger-than-fiction story of rappers, their friends and their families, killing and being killed -- all while the rappers involved write lyrics about it.
And he's said in interviews that the people he loves take two paths: They go to jail, or they die.
The casualties have been mounting for years, both among Ace's allies and enemies.
To name a few: There's the death of Ace's brother and two close friends during the Town Center shooting. Another two men who died while at a hotel with Ace in Waycross, Georgia. There was the murder of 22-month-old Aiden McClendon, the cousin of Ace's collaborators (brothers Noah Williams "Spinabenz" and Reginald Williams "Woppa Wit Da Choppa").
A known affiliate of Ace's, Deontrae Thomas, was arrested for killing Zion Brown, the cousin of Ace's rival in the Jacksonville scene, Charles Jones, also known as "Foolio."
Ace's collaborator Hakeem Robinson, who goes by the moniker "Ksoo," is now charged in two murders -- and evidence in the case includes videos of him with Ace.
The most famous song he's featured on, "Who I Smoke," with Spinabenz and FastMoney Goon, parodies the death of Adrian Gainer Jr. (aka "Bibby") -- Foolio's close friend and younger "brother" -- one of Ksoo's alleged victims. And Ksoo's co-defendant in that murder, Leroy Whitaker (aka "ATK Scotty"), was with Ace during the ambush in Waycross.
He admits that the danger follows him, putting it succinctly in the first song off "Survivor of the Trenches": "Keep your distance if you ain't ready to die."
His fans seem to think Ace should keep his distance from Jacksonville if he isn't ready to die.
Comments on his Instagram page are full of warnings: "Don't come back." "We need you man, be careful." "I'm calling it right now, something bad gonna happen." "You pushing it." "Foolio's waiting." "I'm not finna lose my fav rapper." "Foolio somewhere smiling and rubbing his hands."
Another repeat comment, which needs no further explanation, is the ambulance emoji.
Ace hasn't responded to rumors of his return.
Either way, even his enemies are going to have to see his face.