A Philadelphia judge has finally sentenced rapper Dark Lo (whose real name is Charles Salley) in a case that linked the rapper to gang violence and drug smuggling.
The federal court hit him with 7 ½ years, stating that the emerging artist should have known better.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, U.S. District Judge Mark A. Kearney acknowledged that the “A Cold Dish” rapper had too much to lose teetering in the music business and in the streets.
However, he still handed down almost a decade long sentence, after convicting Dark Lo of threatening a witness in the case. Earlier this year, Dark Lo pleaded guilty to these charges.
The artist apologized to the court for insinuating to a government witness that he could get “stabbed up” if he testified against his friend and labelmate Abdul “AR-Ab” West, during that rapper’s criminal case in 2019.
The rapper mailed a threatening letter to a member of the crew named Donte “Taz” Stewart, who flipped and cooperated with government.
The letter threatened violence against the witness and the witness’ girlfriend if the witness told the truth during his testimony.
Dark Lo showed up in court during AR-Ab’s 2019 trial, on the day of Tez’s testimony. The feds caught wind of the letter, and arrested Dark Lol at his home in Delaware and charged him with witness tampering for sending the letter.
Dark Lo shared that he didn’t mean to intimidate anyone.
However, as reported by AllHipHop.com, he did release a rap song in 2018 called “Allegations’ that seemed to imply that he “can’t wait to see” whomever it was that ran their mouth to the police, calling the informant a rat.
The judge, after viewing all of this evidence, noting how he changed his life from hustling drugs on the street and addiction to having a real chance at being a commercial rapper, said: “You’re the wordsmith. You chose those words. …You know how to write words to create an effect.”
Dark Lo was down with Original Block Hustlaz, a gangsta rap label founded by AR-Ab, who was sentenced to 45 years in prison for running a drug empire.
Because of this case and others, the promise of Hip-Hop gold is dulling for these Philly emcees.