FILE-In this June 23, 2019 file photo, DaBaby performs “Sugar” at the BET Awards, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. The Grammy-nominated rapper was arrested on a battery charge in Miami on Thursday night Jan. 2, 2020, and is being held on an arrest warrant out of Texas, according to court records. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)
MIAMI (AP) — Grammy-nominated rapper DaBaby was arrested on a battery charge Thursday night in Miami after arguing with a music promoter over payment for a performance, Miami police said in an arrest warrant.
After police arrested the rapper, whose real name is Jonathan Kirk, they found a warrant for his arrest from Texas, also on a battery charge. He was booked into the Miami-Dade jail just before midnight Thursday and a judge ordered him held without bond on Friday because of the Texas warrant.
Kirk will stay in custody until further notice, Miami-Dade Corrections spokesman Juan Diasgranados said in an email.
Kirk, who’s best known for his single “Suge,” was in South Florida for a New Year’s Eve performance at a Miami Beach nightclub. Thursday’s incident began at Novotel Miami Brickell, where Kirk was staying, the arrest report said.
Kirk, 28, approached the music promoter, who said he’d made an agreement with the rapper to perform at Cafe Iguana in nearby Pembroke Pines, the report said. The man told police he gave Kirk $30,000 but when the rapper counted it he claimed it was $10,000 short. When Kirk demanded the money, an argument broke out and Kirk punched a man who was with the music promoter.
The promoter told police he fled to his hotel room out of fear for his safety. The man who was punched told investigators that one of the men with Kirk took his cellphone, a bank card and $80 in cash.
Later in the evening, Kirk returned to the hotel and the two victims identified him to police, who arrested him. The arrest report said Kirk denied involvement in the incident.
An email sent to Kirk’s representative seeking comment was not immediately returned.
Last week, Kirk was handcuffed and cited in his hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina, on charges of marijuana possession and resisting an officer.
Police in that case said officers working outside the concert venue, Bojangles Arena, noticed a strong smell of marijuana coming from the van that brought Kirk there. Officers say they approached the vehicle and could see marijuana in plain view through the windows by using their flashlights.
The police statement said that gave them probable cause to take further action. Officers said they waited until after the concert and approached Kirk as he was exiting the venue around 11 p.m., but he walked away and refused to speak to them.
They eventually detained him in handcuffs and searched the vehicle.
Officers, who said they found less than a half-ounce (14 grams) of marijuana, took him to the sheriff’s department but decided ultimately to issue him citations and let him leave in lieu of making an arrest.
Kirk later told reporters he believes officers unlawfully searched his car while he was on stage .
“They follow me, they pull us over for no reason, they search our cars,” Kirk said.
The department said it has launched an internal affairs investigation to determine whether officers followed all department procedures.
Before the concert, Kirk had handed out toys to underprivileged children in Charlotte.
Kirk was nominated in 2019 for best rap performance and best rap song for “Suge.”
By FREIDA FRISARO
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