Rappers are well known for bigging themselves up in their songs to make them sound like complete badasses, but it can also land them in hot water when they’re rapping about dumb shit like killing people.

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This is exactly the fate that has befallen 19 year old rapper Tay-K after he spat some bars about someone that he had murdered and it led to his conviction and a 55 year jail sentence. Tay-K was just 16 when he was involved in the robbery and subsequent murder of a man named Ethan Walker in Mansfield, Texas.

The gang of seven originally intended to rob Walker of some drugs he had stashed in his house, but the robbery went awry and Walker ended up dead. Tay-K himself didn’t pull the trigger, but he’s still been found guilty of murder and three counts of aggravated robbery and sentenced to 55 years in prison. He won’t be eligible for parole until he’s served 27 of those.

Tay-K’s notoriety grew after he was placed under house arrest following the murder, but decided to cut off his ankle tag and high tail it all the way from Texas to New Jersey, where he recorded the rap track ‘The Race’. This seemed to brag about him being a fugitive on the run and his part in Walker’s murder, even seeing him pose in front of his own wanted poster in the video.

The song was a bonafide hit – racking up 174 million views on YouTube and hitting number 44 in the US charts – but unfortunately it also played a part in Tay-K’s downfall as it was played multiple times during the trial and its lyrical content was also presented to the jurors. The prosecution argued that the fact he said he wasn’t gonna try and beat the case and was gonna do the race instead (go on the run), meant that he knew he was guilty – which kinda makes sense when you think about it.  It probably didn’t help that he had also killed someone else whilst he was on the run and beaten up a 65 year old man and robbed him too.

Sounds like he was a real piece of work though hey so he probably deserved to go down so that’s all good, but the weirdest thing about all of this is that I’ve literally never even heard of this kid until now despite all his history. Am I really that out of the loop?

For more rappers, check out this rapper who rapped about selling drugs and went to jail for selling drugs. You sensing a pattern here?