Los Angeles Times - A former security guard for Drakeo the Ruler testified under oath that he saw rapper YG produce a knife & 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 & center” during the Dec. 18, 2021, brawl & was 1 of 3 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.
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 & security contractors. It adds more context to the fight after law enforcement investigating the killing searched a Burbank property & 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 & 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 & said he learned after arriving to perform at the festival that someone had been stabbed.
Drakeo’s son & other relatives, along with Cooper, sued Live Nation, C3 Presents, Bobby Dee Presents & several security contractors in February 2022, alleging the companies involved in staging & securing the festival failed to protect Drakeo from a foreseeable attack. YG is not a defendant in the lawsuit.
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.
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