NBA YoungBoy’s name entered Lil Durk’s federal trial this week when prosecutors presented messages attributed to Durk from the period after King Von was killed, offering jurors a look at what the government says was happening inside Durk’s circle as pressure for retaliation grew. According to XXL, Kavon Grant, better known as OTF Vonni or Vonnie, testified in Los Angeles on August 31 and September 1 as a cooperating witness. Prosecutors questioned Grant about conversations and group messages involving Durk and other members of Only the Family. Grant previously worked as Durk’s assistant and has admitted his own involvement in criminal activity connected to the case. Durk’s attorneys have challenged Grant’s credibility and argued that he has an incentive to place responsibility on Durk because he hopes to receive a lighter sentence.
The NBA YoungBoy reference came during testimony about a group chat message attributed to Durk. Part of the message read, “Let it be YB and nem. Shorty be out every night.” Prosecutors were presenting the message in the context of Durk allegedly expressing frustration with people around him after Von’s death.
The next portion of the message was, “We got the lo on a MF and guess he at club like he ain’t got be worried about.” The same reporting placed the message around December 30, 2020, less than two months after King Von was fatally shot in Atlanta.
The final portion stated, “Set said Chicago only, but in the A, they think we sweet.” The reference to “Set” has been widely interpreted in courtroom coverage as Offset, but no testimony cited in the reporting establishes what Offset himself knew, intended, or said beyond the wording attributed to Durk. Offset has not been charged in the federal case.
Most importantly, Grant was directly asked to explain who “YB” meant. A courtroom transcript recap published by SquiidaPe TV recorded the exchange as, “What was the YB abbreviation?” Grant answered, “NBA Young Boy.” That testimony is what formally connected NBA YoungBoy’s name to the message presented to jurors. Nothing in the federal charging documents cited by prosecutors charges NBA YoungBoy with participating in the 2022 Los Angeles shooting at the center of Durk’s case.
The government’s broader theory, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, is that Durk conspired to have Quando Rondo killed in retaliation for King Von’s death. Prosecutors say gunmen tracked Quando in Los Angeles on August 19, 2022, before opening fire near the Beverly Center. Quando survived, but his cousin Saviay’a “Lul Pab” Robinson was killed. Durk has denied wrongdoing, and the charges remain allegations unless the government proves them beyond a reasonable doubt.
The history between NBA YoungBoy and Durk makes the courtroom reference especially notable because the two rappers were not always publicly at odds. Durk released “My Side,” featuring YoungBoy Never Broke Again, in November 2017. Their later conflict developed largely through the relationships surrounding them, particularly Durk’s close connection to King Von and YoungBoy’s relationship with Quando Rondo.
Tension between King Von and NBA YoungBoy had become visible by 2018 and 2019 as Von mocked YoungBoy’s music online and the two sides traded social media shots. Rumors involving women connected to the rappers also fueled online speculation, but much of that history has been exaggerated or reconstructed by fan pages. Just two days before his death, Von publicly downplayed the seriousness of the situation, saying of the reported YoungBoy conflict, “But it ain’t nothing sincere, nothing that you should worry about.”
Everything changed on November 6, 2020. Von encountered Quando Rondo’s group outside an Atlanta lounge. A physical confrontation escalated into gunfire, and Von was fatally shot. Timothy “Lul Tim” Leeks, an associate of Quando, was charged with felony murder. Leeks’ attorney later confirmed in 2023 that the case was dismissed before an indictment was returned, telling XXL, “The case against Mr. Leeks was dismissed prior to ever being indicted.”
The music intensified the NBA YoungBoy and Durk conflict. YoungBoy released “Bring the Hook” in early 2022 and included an explicit reference to O’Block, Von’s Chicago neighborhood. Weeks later, Durk released “AHHH HA,” which listeners widely interpreted as containing responses to YoungBoy and people around him. YoungBoy answered on the same day with “I Hate YoungBoy,” a record that targeted Durk along with several other artists and industry figures.
By May 2023, there briefly appeared to be movement toward peace. Akademiks announced, “That beef is squashed. You ain’t hear?” and added that Durk and YoungBoy no longer had beef. Durk initially liked a post containing Akademiks’ comments, but when a reporter later pressed him about YoungBoy, he replied, “What beef?” and then, “Beef with who?” YoungBoy soon made it clear publicly that he did not consider the situation resolved and announced his “Richest Opp” project amid another round of online shots.
Now, years after the most public phase of the NBA YoungBoy and Lil Durk beef, the conflict has resurfaced in a much more serious setting. The significance of Grant’s testimony is not that YoungBoy has been accused of a crime in Durk’s case. He has not. Instead, prosecutors used the December 2020 message as part of their effort to show Durk’s mindset following Von’s death and the pressure prosecutors allege existed inside his circle to retaliate. Durk’s defense, meanwhile, continues to argue that cooperating witnesses such as Grant are unreliable and motivated by the possibility of reduced punishment.
The testimony puts an old rap feud into a new context. What once played out through songs, Instagram Lives, and public alliances is now being examined sentence by sentence before a federal jury, with NBA YoungBoy’s name appearing not as a defendant, but as part of the government’s attempt to explain the relationships and alleged motivations surrounding the case.
