Quando Rondo sounds like he is ready to leave the back and forth behind.
In a pair of posts shared to his verified Instagram account, Rondo spoke about moving on, refusing to stress over what other people choose to do, and no longer trying to make someone else mad. He never mentioned Lil Durk by name, but his message comes less than a month after Durk was acquitted in the federal murder for hire case centered on the 2022 shooting that prosecutors said was intended to kill Rondo.
“Today the day I’m not going tit for tat anymore I ain’t begging to fix nothing I ain’t stressing nomore at the end of the day she/he gone do whatever it is they want to do you can’t stop it it’s no reason to stress it’s no reason to try to make the next individual mad or nothing just move tf on that’s on all my dead love ones today the last they a call or text another mf how first,” Rondo wrote on his Instagram Story.
He ended that post with another personal message: “Long live Turk this on yo name.”
Rondo followed it with a second Story that made it clear where his head is musically. Instead of promising fans another club record, he said the music coming from him is going to reflect what he has actually lived through.
“I hope yall ain’t looking for a turnt song because I ain’t been through nothing turnt up I ain’t got nothing but pain in my life so if you ain’t looking for pain music gone head & unfollow me because I need a listening ear not a nodding head !!!”
That line about needing “a listening ear not a nodding head” says a lot about the space Rondo appears to be in right now. The rapper has spent years connected to one of the most serious and heavily discussed conflicts in rap, and Lil Durk’s recent trial put much of that history back under a microscope.
A federal jury acquitted Durk on September 11 of conspiracy, stalking resulting in death, and murder for hire charges. Federal prosecutors had accused Durk of being behind a 2022 Los Angeles attack aimed at Rondo. Rondo survived, but his cousin Saviay’a Robinson, better known as Lul Pab, was killed. Durk denied orchestrating the attack and was ultimately found not guilty.
But some of the biggest revelations during the trial involved just how long Rondo had allegedly been a target.
Cooperating witness Kavon Grant, known as OTF Vonnie, testified about an alleged attempt to get to Rondo in Georgia in May 2021. Grant told jurors that discussions about locating Rondo had started after King Von’s death in November 2020. He also described an operation that allegedly involved stolen vehicles and guns before Rondo was attacked at a Georgia gas station and escaped unharmed.
Another cooperating witness, Kacey Hester, also known as OTF Jam, told jurors about an alleged plan to catch Rondo outside the Level Hotel in Los Angeles before the August 2022 shooting. According to reporting on Hester’s testimony, Hester said the group tried to lure Rondo outside through a marijuana delivery connection but abandoned the plan because of heavy police activity.
The trial also brought renewed attention to something that now feels especially relevant: an earlier attempt to end the conflict.
Prosecutors said someone connected to Rondo reached out in December 2022 looking to “squash” the situation and make “peace.” The documents alleged Durk was not interested in getting on the phone to settle it at the time. Those allegations were part of the government’s case, and Durk was later acquitted of the murder for hire charges.
That history makes Rondo’s new words hit differently. He is not directly announcing a truce with Durk, and he does not name anyone from that case. What he is saying is much broader: no more “tit for tat,” no more stressing over what another person does, and no more trying to make the next person mad.
After everything that came out during the trial about alleged attempts on his life, Rondo appears more interested in putting the pain into his music than continuing the cycle.
