With all the sound and fury that follows controversial rappers when they go to jail or rehab, most people don’t know the real story behind a case like Kodak Black, the North Miami Beach native who is now jailed in Florida after being charged with a felony gun charge.
The real story isn’t about one rapper rapping about guns, drugs and hating women, but about generosity and giving back. This past weekend, Black gave away 5,000 turkeys to deserving families in Miami-Dade County while he is undergoing rehabilitation at a facility called the Inmate Treatment Facility in Davie, Fla.
The turkeys were unloaded from buses and taken to food booths organized by Publix grocery stores in North Miami and adjacent Miami-Dade County, Miami’s southernmost county. By 10 a.m., the work was done, and the turkeys are set for distribution on Saturday. The turkeys, along with other canned and boxed food items that the donations will feed, will also be distributed to host families in the surrounding areas for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Several celebrities, including former Miami Dolphins tight end Michael Egnew and rapper Young Dro, were among the celebrities who showed up on Saturday to help out. On Wednesday, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, a federal law enforcement agency, announced that Black’s arrest warrant has been dismissed.
In late January, Black spent 23 days in jail. He served four days of his sentence before he was granted an early release on an “eligibility” issue. He then went to a state halfway house.
Black faces an October trial on charges that he led police on a chase through Pinecrest, a Miami suburb, in which he allegedly fired a gun at them and ran over two officers’ vehicles. Black has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
This is not the first time Black has raised eyebrows by giving out food at Florida food banks.
In 2016, Black directed his followers to drop off bags of groceries for a Haitian community in Miramar, Fla. Black also visited an area church to give out food in Miami in January of 2017.
In October 2017, he donated nearly 6,000 turkeys to the charities Feeding South Florida and Whole Foods.
That same month, according to WSVN7, Black was arrested on charges that he crashed a vehicle owned by Christopher Sarkisian while driving under the influence. He was driving with a suspended license.
During Black’s parole hearing in December, he spoke briefly about his history of drug use, saying that his arrest for drug possession from October 2017, when he was charged with marijuana possession and a weapons violation, was “a wake-up call.”
He has also served a 14-month prison sentence.
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