It’s been a year since Kodak Black took a prison sentence in a plea deal for two weapons charges, and nearly two since he released his last project, the album Dying to Live. Now he’s released his first project since, a new album called Bill Israel. The 11-track collection features rappers including Gucci Mane, who knows his way around a prison project, and Lil Yachty, a fellow 2016 XXL freshman. It also features, uh, Tory Lanez, who is currently facing a felony assault charge after Megan Thee Stallion claimed he shot her in July. Lanez dropped his own controversial project, DAYSTAR, in September, a 17-track album in which he disputes Megan’s claims and argues that he’s innocent. (He released the album before he was charged.) Maybe Kodak hadn’t heard?
Black has had his own share of controversy, including a charge of first-degree criminal sexual conduct stemming from an alleged February 2016 incident. A woman accused Black of sexually assaulting her at a hotel room in Florence, South Carolina, after a show, along with biting her — injuries that a sexual assault kit confirmed at the time. He was indicted by a grand jury in 2017, and is currently out on bond as the case has been repeatedly delayed. He faces a sentence of up to 30 years. While in prison on the gun charges, which relate to him not reporting the 2016 felony sexual conduct charge on a background check to buy guns, he also pled guilty to another gun charge in March 2020, this time for attempting to take a loaded pistol across the U.S.–Canada border. He’s set to serve an additional 12 months for that.