Lil Durk went from having the biggest year of his career to possibly the worst year of his life. In February, he won his first Grammy and was riding high off his Billboard Hot 100 hit “All My Life” featuring J. Cole. Now, in October, he is sitting in a jail cell being accused of masterminding a murder-for-hire that resulted in the death of Quando Rondo’s cousin in 2022. One of the most prominent side stories involves speculation that Durk was snitched on by an affiliate named OTF Jam. But is that actually the case?
On Oct. 25, Shortly after an unsealed criminal complaint revealed federal authorities were accusing Lil Durk of placing a bounty on Quando Rondo’s head and paying five men to carry out the brazen murder attempt, rumors began spreading that OTF Jam got the 32-year-old rapper jammed up. In particular, Wack 100 and DJ Akademiks went on record and claimed Jam had been wearing a wire around Durk in order to gather information for the police.
“He did 12 years, got out, interviewed, said he kept it real, brought him cars, gave him 50,000,” Wack said during a recent interview on VladTV. “Made mention that ain’t no smudge on his name, he ain’t never been a rat, caught a gun case, but eventually he flipped.”
Vlad agreed adding, “He had allegedly been wearing a wire for the last two years.”
Chicago rapper King Yella also said he heard an inside source in OTF told on Durk, specifically OTF Jam.
In addition, several blogs and media outlets claim OTF Jam is listed by name in the indictment as a police informant in the case. However, no such documentation exists. Neither the criminal complaint filed against the five suspects in the case nor Lil Durk’s indictment mentions Hester or “OTF Jam” by name. The indictment does use initials to hide the identities of some of the people involved. But there is no mention of “K.H.” The Durk indictment does mention a “witness” but there is no direct connection to OTF Jam.
According to reports, OTF Jam, born Kacey Hester, was convicted of a shooting in 2010, served 12 years in prison and was released in February of 2022. Police records obtained by XXL show he was arrested again on a warrant in May of 2023 in connection to the same charge. The status of his case is unclear.
Adding to the speculation is a recenlty surfaced OTF Jam song where he name-drops Lil Durk and mentions shooting rappers.
“Smurk is The Voice/You heard what he said, so bullets behind it, we ain’t finna tussle,” he raps.
“Only be rapping to kill me a rapper so 4nem will have something to put in their music,” he adds later on in the verse.
Rumors have also spread that Lil Durk had OTF Jam’s child’s mother killed because Durk found out Jam was wearing a wire and that Durk also had a man killed in retaliation for his brother DThang’s killing. However, this, too, has not been substantiated with any public documents.
With the lack of a statement from OTF Jam or his lawyer, speculation will continue to run rampant. While the rumors may turn out to be true, right now, they appear to be just that, rumors. Durk and his five codefendants are expected to be arraigned in the coming weeks.
XXL has reached out to the Department of Justice and the Cook County Court for comment.
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