A former security guard for Drakeo the Ruler testified under oath that he saw rapper YG produce a knife and slash it toward him during the 2021 backstage fight in which Drakeo was fatally stabbed, according to recently obtained deposition excerpts.
Alrick Cooper III, who was part of Drakeo’s security detail at the Once Upon a Time in L.A. festival, said YG was “front and center” during the Dec. 18, 2021, brawl and was one of three men he saw carrying what appeared to be short, improvised knives. He said YG, whose real name is Keenon Jackson, was wearing a ski mask, but he recognized the rapper’s hazel eyes as he tried to protect Drakeo, whose legal name was Darrell Caldwell Jr. Representatives for YG did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The excerpts come from Cooper’s March 19, 2025, deposition, which surfaced last month in a court filing by attorneys representing Drakeo’s family in a civil lawsuit against festival organizers and security contractors. It adds more context to the fight after law enforcement investigating the killing searched a Burbank property and detained YG in the process on Thursday.
The California Highway Patrol, with help from the Burbank Police Department’s SWAT team, briefly detained YG while officers searched the property. He was released after the search and was not arrested.
YG has repeatedly denied involvement in Drakeo’s death. On his June 2026 song “We Know the Truth,” he rejected allegations connecting him to the killing and said he learned after arriving to perform at the festival that someone had been stabbed.
A CHP spokesperson said the agency “cannot comment as this is an ongoing and open investigation” when asked if YG was a suspect or person of interest in the case. No one has been arrested in the ongoing murder case. NBC Los Angeles reported that the warrant was served as part of the continuing homicide investigation. CHP told NBC that YG was present when officers arrived and was released when the search was completed.
Drakeo’s son and other relatives, along with Cooper, sued Live Nation, C3 Presents, Bobby Dee Presents and several security contractors in February 2022, alleging the companies involved in staging and securing the festival failed to protect Drakeo from a foreseeable attack. YG is not a defendant in the lawsuit.
‘Front and center’
Cooper testified that Drakeo’s group was confronted by at least 20 to 25 people backstage. When asked whether he recognized anyone in the opposing group, Cooper named only YG.
“He was directly involved in the fight?” an attorney for Drakeo’s family asked.
“Yeah,” Cooper answered. “Front and center.”
Cooper said the attackers divided into groups and surrounded Drakeo’s party near the artist entrance. Some wore red clothing, ski masks or hoodies and Cooper said festival security personnel failed to intervene and instead closed two gates that could have provided an escape route.
“They actually closed the gates and trapped us in to where we couldn’t leave,” Cooper testified. According to his account, one exit was blocked by security personnel while attackers swarmed the other side of the backstage area.
Cooper said he initially struck one of the approaching men and momentarily lost his footing. He then found himself fighting YG and a man he described as YG’s bodyguard, with Drakeo positioned a foot or two behind him and to his right.
“And then YG produced a knife from his left hand,” Cooper testified, describing the weapon as appearing to emerge from Jackson’s sleeve. “And when I saw that I just backed up.”
As the confrontation continued, Cooper said, the attackers moved toward Drakeo and “swarmed over” him. Police arrived almost simultaneously, according to Cooper, and began breaking up the fight.
Three men with knives
Cooper described the weapon he attributed to YG as a silver blade approximately three or four inches long. He said he did not see a handle and compared its appearance to an improvised prison shank.
“He was slashing at me with it, like getting me to back up,” Cooper testified. He said he was not stabbed.
Cooper said he saw two other men standing near YG with similar weapons. He described one man as being immediately beside YG and another as positioned behind and between them. Cooper said he concluded the men were armed after observing movements that differed from ordinary punching.
“Once I saw the stabbing, jabbing motion,” Cooper testified, he tried to move away from those individuals.
Cooper described one of the other men as a bald Black man, approximately 5 feet 9 inches or 5 feet 10 inches tall, with light-brown or hazel eyes and a blue patterned crew-neck shirt. He described the third as a similarly sized Black man with dreadlocks but said he could not remember the man’s clothing. Cooper estimated YG was approximately 6 feet 1 inch or 6 feet 2 inches tall.
Identifying YG behind a mask
Cooper acknowledged that the person he identified as YG was wearing a black balaclava that exposed only the area around his eyes. He said the man also wore a black bomber-style jacket, black pants with red stripes and shiny black shoes.
Asked how he could make the identification with much of the man’s face covered, Cooper said he had met YG “a lot” and recognized his eyes, body type, height, walk and demeanor.
Cooper also testified that members of the attacking group taunted Drakeo during the confrontation.
He recalled hearing statements including “Is this Drakeo?,” “Is that who I think it is?,” “What you want to do?” and “Now we finally got him.” Cooper also reported hearing Blood gang expressions, including “soo whoop” and “Sup, Blood,” and seeing individuals beating their chests.
Earlier in the deposition, Cooper said he had previously intervened when the two rappers encountered each other outside a recording studio.
According to Cooper, YG approached Drakeo and asked, “What’s up [with] all that internet stuff?” Cooper said he had to defuse that encounter.
Cooper also cited Drakeo’s 2021 song “IngleWeird,” interviews and music released by artists associated with the two camps as evidence of an escalating dispute. He recalled a summer 2021 interview featuring YG and two other artists in which, according to Cooper, someone said, “We don’t do that internet stuff, the homies going to get you.”
Cooper testified that the history led him to warn Drakeo before the festival that more security was needed. He believed there was a substantial chance the two artists or their entourages would encounter each other as Drakeo left the stage or festival grounds.
All parties will be back in court for the first of two hearings beginning Aug. 13 covering motions to dismiss the case brought by Bobby Dee Presents and Live Nation.
