Yungeen Ace is one of the faces of Florida’s drill rap scene. His 2019 project Step Harder and 2020’s follow-up Don Dada, made the “Game Over” rapper Jacksonville’s fastest rising rookie. However, do not expect local authorities in his hometown to roll out the red carpet for him.
According to a viral video out of Duval County, Yungeen Ace is no longer welcomed within Jacksonville, Florida’s city limits. In the clip (viewable here), Sheriff T.K. Waters has made it clear that if it were up to him, Yungace would be banned from Jacksonville all together.
In an effort to crackdown on the alleged “violence the city’s growing drill music scene” influence, Waters is going after Yungeen Ace in the public eye. “It’s down here too, man” Waters said referring to drill rap. “And the thing about it is, we like to run them out of town. There’s a couple of them, they know they can’t live here anymore. There was a particular song I don’t even want to mention because I don’t want to give these guys credit.”
Although Waters did not directly name the track, he appears to be talking about Yungeen Ace’s track “Who I Smoke.” The controversial song, which samples Vanessa Carlton’s pop hit “A Thousand Miles,” caught pushback online for its taunting lyrics directed at now Ace’s deceased foe Julio Foolio and the seemingly off kilter use of the sample.
He continued: “They sampled her song, and then they made a song, a rap. They were talking about people that have actually been killed in Jacksonville, about five or six of them, right? They’re named in that song. But that’s what drill rap is. It’s nonsense, but it’s impactful because they’re talking about people that have actually been killed.”
Other Jacksonville officials seen in the video backed the Waters’ statement. However, users online have expressed mix feelings towards the video.
Yungeen Ace has not publicly addressed the clip.