On May 25th, there was a shooting at at T.I. concert at Irving Plaza, leaving one dead and three injured. Troy Ave was one of the injured and his close friend Ronald “Banga” McPhatter was the one casualty. Since the shooting, security camera footage has been released that shows the Brooklyn rapper firing a shots inside of the venue. This shooting has lead to a wave of hip-hop show cancellations, most recently Kanye’s failed attempt at a surprise 2AM concert at Webster Hall.
Last week, Troy was formally charged with attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon, and later a gun was found inside of a hidden compartment within the vehicle that Troy Ave was driven to the hospital in. Investigators have reportedly matched this gun to one of the bullets that struck and killed Ronald McPhatter the venue which adds an odd twist to the story.
Now, for the first time since his arrest, Troy Ave is addressing the night of the shooting. On a new mixtape, Free Troy Ave, the Brooklyn native recounts the incident and its aftermath across a trio of tracks: “Intro (Troy Ave Speaks/Freestyle)”; “Intermission (Troy Ave Speaks)”; and “Outro (Troy Ave Speaks).”
“Pussy n—a tried to assassinate me / I took the gun from him and turned the tables ’round like a G,” he raps early on, explaining the situation caught on the security camera footage.
“I lost my best friend, and the sad part is, I didn’t realize he was my best friend until I lost him,” Troy Ave states later on when speaking on McPhatter and his passing.
Listen to the complete collection of the interludes in the video above.
