The hip-hop community’s relationship with law enforcement is one that is lengthy, complicated and, for the most part, strained. In the past, police have accused many of rap’s biggest celebrities of criminal activities ranging from narcotics trafficking to money laundering and prostitution. For example, Young Thug is currently on trial for RICO charges after police accused Thugger of using his YSL label as a front for illegal gang activity. Atlanta police conducted numerous investigations and dozens of arrests, including most notably Gunna.
In many cases, police who are investigating a rapper catch them by surprise by running up on their house. A ton of rappers’ have had their homes raided by police over the years as a result. Thugga’s home was raided back in 2015, and both of Diddy’s homes in Los Angeles and Miami were raided by federal authorities in March of 2024. Much of the dramatic incident was caught on camera, with his two sons Justin and Christian Combs also seen being placed in handcuffs as the raid went down. Police ended up taking all of Puff’s electronics and numerous weapons from his residences.
Polo G was also briefly put in handcuffs after his Los Angeles house was raided by cops in August of 2023. He was ultimately let go after cops incorrectly thought he was a felon following their discovery of firearms in the home. This showed that no rapper is safe from the law, even if the rappers involved are guilty of a crime or not. An older example of this is the 2016 police raid of J. Cole’s recording studio in North Carolina, which was spurred by neighbors’ complaints and captured on camera. The incident, which inspired Cole’s song “Neighbors,” was ultimately unnecessary and excessive in nature, and seemed uncharacteristic for a rapper as spiritually sound as Cole.
From Diddy to J. Cole and more, here are 26 instances in which police raids occurred in hip-hop.
