Jay Rock has reportedly been arrested on a gun charge after getting involved in a brief foot chase with the LAPD.
The Top Dawg Entertainment rapper (real name Johnny McKinzie Jr.) was booked for felony possession of a firearm after being handcuffed by police in Watts, California on Thursday (March 13), according to NBC4 Los Angeles.
Rock was initially stopped for trespassing and drinking in public in the Nickerson Gardens, the housing projects where he grew up.
Police say the 39-year-old fled his vehicle when officers wouldn’t tell him why he was being detained, although the cops were able to catch up to him and apprehend him.
A firearm was also found in his car, resulting in him being booked on the gun charge.
Rock has yet to comment on his arrest and it is not known if he remains in police custody.
UPDATE: Footage of the arrest has surfaced online.
🚨🇺🇸RAPPER JAY ROCK ARRESTED ON FELONY WEAPONS CHARGE
He was arrested after allegedly fleeing his vehicle during a traffic stop, according to the LAPD.
Police say the rapper, real name Johnny Reed McKinzie, left behind a firearm and was booked on suspicion of a felony weapons… https://t.co/EE0P5Yvi9L pic.twitter.com/PDDlQ96v9O
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) March 14, 2025
Away from his brushes with the law, the rapper is currently working on his fourth studio album, tentatively titled Eastside Johnny.
Jay Rock has released a handful of singles so far, including “Eastside,” “Blowfly” featuring Ab-Soul and the Latto and Anderson .Paak-assisted “Too Fast,” but a release date has yet to be announced.
He spoke about the long-awaited project, which will serve as the follow-up to 2018’s Redemption, in an interview with Bootleg Kev in 2023.
“The new album is great, man,” he said. “Everybody’s like, ‘Man, what’s taking so long? It’s been five years!’ All the fans been beating me up on Instagram, but it’s just about trying to make good quality music. I’m tryna do an album like my last one where you ain’t gotta skip shit. No skips.”
He continued: “I’m just tryna do an album like that and, you know, people know who I am, man. It’s Jay Rock. I could rap circles around a lot of people.”
In a more recent chat with Power 106, Rock reacted to Kendrick Lamar’s GNX track “Heart Pt. 6,” which found him taking blame for their Black Hippy supergroup, which also featured ScHoolboy Q and Ab-Soul, fizzling out.
“He gave it straight up, no chaser,” he said of the song. “That’s all truths right there. Everything he said in that record was truth. What’s crazy is I didn’t even know he dropped. I just went on my Twitter and everybody kept [tagging] me so I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’ And then they sent ‘The Heart Pt. 6.’”
He ddeda: “At first, I thought it was AI or something. But then when I looked I saw bro really dropped an album so I text him, ‘You did your stuff!’ I heard it from top to bottom. It’s no skips. He did his stuff again. Shout out to my brother Kendrick for sure. But everything he said in that record is true.”
