The Breakfast Club - This Is Not A Game: Lil Durk Court Updates and DeMar DeRozan Fight

Episode Date: April 21, 2025

Today on the show Loren let it be known its not a game when it comes to overcoming obstacles. In addition she takes yall to court and get into the latest updates about Lil Durk murdedr for hire case, and realize prosecuters made an interesting mistake. She also, speaks on the recent altercation DeMar DeRozan got into with a fan. Lastly, she's outside in the tweets and speaks on her thoughts about Ryan Coogler's new film "Sinners".YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Peace to the planet. I go by the name of Charlamagne the God and guess what? I can't wait to see y'all at the third annual black effect podcast festival. That's right We're coming back to Atlanta, Georgia Saturday April 26 at Pullman yards and it's hosted by none other than decisions decisions Mandy B and Weezy. Okay, we got the R&B money podcast with tankin J Valentine We got the woman of all podcasts with Sarah Jake Roberts the the Funky Friday podcast with Cam Newton, the Neck and Sports podcast with Carrie Champion, Good Moms Bad Choices podcast, the Trap Nerds podcast, and many more will be on that stage live.

And of course, it's bigger than podcasts. We're bringing the Black Effect marketplace with Black-owned businesses, plus the food truck court to keep you fed while you visit us, all right? Listen, you don't want to miss this. Tap in and grab your tickets now at blackeffect.com slash podcast fest. Let's get, let's get, let's get to it.

Time to do it. I'm the homegirl that knows a little bit about everything and everybody. Did you hear that excursion? You know she don't lie about that, right? Lauren came in hot. All right, y'all. Clap it up, clap it up, clap it up. This is The Latest with Laura LaRosa.

You know, I'm the homegirl that knows a little bit about everything and everybody. And this show right here is your daily dig into pop culture and all the conversations that are going to shake the room. Now, so I hope you guys are here. You're feeling good, you're looking good, you spent time with your family for the holidays because now is the time where we check in. This is an audio only exclusive episode. So how am I feeling today?

I am feeling like, oh, you think it's a good... This is not a game, baby. This is not a game. I live my life every single day when it comes to career, when it comes to family, when it comes to everything. You know, very seriously, I am proudly an overachiever. If I say I'm gonna do something, it's gonna get done and it's gonna get done, done, done, done, done.

Okay? But I think in this new space of me, you know, having so many things that I'm doing at once, you know, the elevation and the growth and having to employ, you know, having so many things that I'm doing at once, you know, the elevation and the growth and having to employ, you know, team and move people around and position people and just understand all of that. It is a very different level of that for me. I've been figuring that out on my own.

It's literally like I am first generation at this level of career success and business because I am and I'm figuring that out in real time. And I think my platforms are very transparent and they've always been, especially my YouTube channel. So for you guys on the audio side, check out my YouTube channel. It's LaurenTheRosaTV. I vlog there and I've been sharing my journey since day one of me deciding to move to LA to figure out this whole entertainment industry thing.

And I've been very transparent in doing so. The bio of the YouTube channel is from my friend's couch to national TV because that is the journey that I took you guys on and that I continue to take you on even though I'm here in New York and not in LA and I'm on radio now and that I continue to take you on even though I'm here in New York and not in LA and I'm on radio now and in the podcast and not on television.

So staff meeting Lauren is talking to Lauren and saying, you gotta remember that this is not a game. The people that you bring into this, the schedules that you keep, the pre-planning, it's not a game. It cannot be a game. You are delivering and you have to deliver every single mark.

You can't miss your mark, baby girl. Now let's get on into the latest. Now I am taking y'all to court because one thing y'all know I love to do, y'all girl love to take y'all to court. Love to take y'all to court. And first up on the docket, we have Lil Durk. Now Lil Durk is asking for his case in California

to be dismissed. Now that is the murder for hire indictment that has to do with the cousin of another rapper, Quando Rondo. Now for background real quick, for those of you guys who do not know up until this point, Quando Rondo, who is also a rapper, and Lil Durk, they don't get along whatsoever.

One of Little Dirk's artists, King Von, was killed after an outing at a nightclub, which was then pinned on Kwon Do Rondo because there was a back and forth between them verbally leading up to it physically that night. One of Kwon Do Rondo's crew members ended up shooting. King Von was hit, did not survive. Now we fast forward to where we are right now. Little Dirk is indicted because there was a shooting

in California not too long after King Von was shot and killed where a car that Kwando Rondo's cousin was traveling in was shot up. The intention from what we're learning from this indictment was that the people that are currently locked up who had shot at this car had believed that Cuandorondo was in the car and was shooting, was solely in the car,

was shooting just at him. Moving forward, come to find out, Cuando Rondos cousin was actually hit in the shooting and did not survive the shooting. Dirk is indicted along with five other men. The five other men were indicted first and then Dirk was brought into it in a superseding indictment which means there was an indictment, there was these charges, there was these, you know, people that were throwing charges at them and arrested. And then there was more evidence and more conversation and little Dirk was brought into it. So that brings us to where we are today.

Now the reason why little Dirk is asking for this indictment to completely be dismissed is because he's saying that in the original indictment, which happened in October of 2024. This indictment was predicated or based on the fact that there were these text messages, you know, that ordered this like hit, this alleged hit on Juan Del Rondo, which resulted in his cousin being killed in the shooting of the car that I just explained to you guys. Now that was October, 2024.

In November of 2024, there was a superseding indictment which added additional evidence by the prosecutor's office. And that evidence basically said, well in addition to these five men that we have and all the information that we've already told our grand jury, we believe that rap artist Lil Dirt is at the helm of this, and here's why. And they mention, in addition to the text messages they had already talked about, Lil Dirk originally was mentioned as co-conspirator number one in the original indictment that went down in October of 2024.

Now, when he was mentioned as co-conspirator number one, there were text messages that the prosecutor's office included. These text messages, the prosecutor's office included. These text messages, as I mentioned before, said basically, don't use my name when y'all booking none of this. None of these flights, none of this travel, don't use my name at all. When this new indictment comes in November of 2024, the prosecutor's office are then able to say, well, co-conspirator number one is Lil Durk. And not only did these text messages happen,

but there was a song that was released. And this song basically admits to this killing or the setting up of this killing, allegedly. Now, the song that the prosecutor's office refers to is actually a song by Babyface Ray, who is a Detroit artist. And the song is called Wonderful Wayne and Jackie Boy. Now, Dirk is a feature on the song. So it's not even Dirk's song.

Dirk just hops on, gives his verse and gets out. He's later in the song, Babyface Ray opens the song. But they're talking about lyrics in this song where Dirk mentions like, no, no, he talks about like getting revenge and that whole thing. There's a news audio from Cuando Rondo from the day that his cousin was killed. And you see him and you hear him on the scene

and he's screaming, let's take a listen. No! Now that no, no, no that you guys just heard in that audio from that news outlet was actually dubbed. It was taken and it was put under this track that Lil Durk recorded. that audio from that news outlet was actually dubbed. It was taken and it was put under this track that Lil Durk recorded, the wonderful Wayne and Jackie Wood verse that he did. It was put under and it was made to sound like

Durk sampled that news recording. Now here's the issue with this, that Durk's team is pointing out in this request for dismissal. Durk's team is saying, wait, so y'all are telling us that when you went to go talk to this grand jury and show them evidence of why Dirk should be indicted, y'all predicated it on this song?

That song was released in January of 2024. Even without the news audio, right? If they had used it and had the date right, the prosecutor's office would have had to basically been saying, well, he was able to tell the future and knew that this was gonna go down and knew that that audio clip was gonna be available to them reference it in the song seven months prior.

Now, even with the audio, right, from that news article, what Lil Durk's team is arguing is, is even if this was true, the dates are off. And y'all could have found that from a simple investigation. So what Dirk's team did was they went and they talked to all their producers, all the audio engineers who have time stance of when things were submitted, when things were published,

when things were put into certain systems to prove the dates of what they're alleging, right? Seven months prior to this killing, seven months prior to that news clipping of Cuanda Rondo screaming, no, no, no, no, no. Not only are they doing that, but they're also saying, well, right, we have the timestamps,

but we also have additional timestamps that show from the moment that Dirk's original verse was turned in to the point when the song actually debuted, there was nothing changed. No lyrics, no audio, no anything. And they're saying that they have proof of this. They have affidavits from affidavits, which are like statements, right? Sworn testimonial statements from producers, audio engineers showing that there's no course,

nothing was changed. And they're saying, well, even though y'all have these text messages, right? Which I asked, when I spoke to my source close to this situation, I said, well, if they have the text messages, even if the song stuff is tossed out and we can't lean anything on this song anymore,

they do have these text messages, allegedly. How do you explain that? And what I'm what I was told was that I mean you're gonna have to explain it. You're gonna have to speak to it. But that's not something that can be used to indict somebody. That is something that is evidence that you take to court that a person then has a fair shot at arguing against. When they brought this song, this is the issue right here, and this is what they're leaning the dismissal request on. When they use the song lyrics and fail to disclose the fact to a grand jury

that the song was actually released seven months prior to the death of this person, which would have been seven months prior to the audio of this news report that was allegedly used in this song, which would have been pinning dirt to basically creating a song about something he did, which if y'all are tracking what I'm saying, it doesn't match up. The timeline doesn't match up. Right? So if this were to happen, if this song were to have been presented as fact to the grand jury, which it would have had to have been, if this was what the grand jury used to indict Dirk, this is false.

This is not true, which is against the law. A grand jury and a prosecutor going before a grand jury and presenting evidence as facts, not just evidence, but these are facts. You present facts. It's against Dirk's rights, and they want this dismissed. Now I'm not even gonna hold y'all. Dirk Legal Team ate with this one. I just don't understand how a prosecutor's office

would have overlooked something that simple. I was able to Google and see dates. Everything is time-sensitive, from YouTube to everything. And honestly, even if I was able to Google and see dates. Everything is time-sensitive, from YouTube to everything. And honestly, even if I was a prosecutor, I'm not even gonna hold y'all. I would've did my due diligence. You don't bring a high-profile case like this for something as serious as a murder for hire,

and you misstep like that. It makes no sense. And Dirk's team is taking a step further. They're like, look, if you're not gonna dismiss this, all right, cool. But let's put everything on the table now. We wanna see the transcripts from what was said in front of that grand jury.

Because what's gonna happen is, is if this is not dismissed, right? And they get the transcripts, and it is true that they leaned heavily on this song and it's released in the lyrics to indict Dirk. And now the timeline is all large portion of this, you know what I mean? I don't know because Dirk literally was only, Dirk was indicted a month after the original indictment.

They didn't even mention his name in the original indictment. They needed something more to back up the mentioning of his name and they used the song to do this. There are two fundamental things that they're leaning the indictment on. The original indictment, the only one thing that they leaned it on was the text messages. The second indictment, the superseding indictment, so the addition to the original indictment now that makes two things which are the text messages in this song y'all Dirk's legal team is on to something here we've got

We're just going to see how this plays out. I do know and I have confirmed that they are also Dirk's legal team is also Asking for bond again Dirk's bond was denied before, and it was a whole thing with like, there was a bunch of flights booked in his name and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So they deemed him like a flight risk and all of those things. But this go round, they've offered up a pretty hefty bond package, which includes $900,000 in real estate equity, a million dollars in cash from Alamo Records, $150,000 from business associates.

And they also say that he'll have 24-7 private security, he'll be electronically monitored, and he'll have a strict reporting requirement back to the judge and to his attorneys and the prosecutors. And they're offering all this up to secure his bell. Maybe second time is a charm for Dirk. We'll have to see. Now, Next Up on the Docket. This didn't even make it to court so I don't even know if this is fair to say Next Up on the Docket. Y'all know I refrain from cussing so I'm not going to use the words I want to use but this is crazy. Honestly, this is scary this is very scary Damar DeRozan got into a physical altercation with a man in a sushi bar in Calabasas over the Easter holiday weekend you see a video of Damar DeRozan

standing over top of the man who was on the ground there is a phone with a light up and then in the video the man as the as the Damar DeRozan backs up off of him. And there's a woman yelling to Damar DeRozan, who was obviously there with him saying, yo, it's not worth it. He's not worth it. He's not worth it. The man is like, give me my phone, give me my phone. I need my phone. Um, so, you know, onlookers in the restaurant told TMZ that Damar and the,

and this man got into it because there was a light that was shining into his face, which Damar did not like, and things kind of just escalated from there. Police have confirmed that they are investigating this. Police say that they reported to that sushi bar on April 18th, a little bit after 10.30 p.m. Now that was all that was out there when reports first dropped, right?

So of course, when that happens, if you don't know Damar DeRozan and his temperament and all those things, you originally are like, ooh, he done went off on somebody. I've interviewed Damar DeRozan. I met him when he came to the Breakfast Club and we did an interview with him. And ironically enough, his book was about just mental health, the peace that he's found recently,

and how he deals with a lot of different things, like the anxiety and the pressures and all these things and his temperament was very composed when we spoke with him. So when I saw the story, I was like, there has to be more to this and baby there was. So following these reports, there is then a video that begins to circulate online of a man

who is posting a video that begins to circulate online of a man who is, you know, posting a video. His caption says that he had just gotten into an incident with Damar DeRozan. I'm going to read to you guys the exact caption because I want to make sure that I get this completely right so y'all can see how insane this was. So the caption actually reads, I got attacked and body slammed by Damar DeRozan. Don't meet your heroes kids. I don't think, then he tagged Drake, well like this, behavior.

I think Drake won the rap battle. Then he hashtags for you, Paige. This person hashtags basketball. This person hashtags Calabasas, the Sacramento Kings. Damar DeRozan, he then tags TMZ, ABC7LA, and The Hoop Central, which are all media outlets. Now in this video, the man is walking through a restaurant. He says in the video, well, let's take a listen.

I want you guys to hear this. Damar, they're trying to kick me out from the ring. Come on, man. Don't walk up on me. Don't walk up on me. Don't walk up on me. Don't walk on my face. Now this man then ends up in the back of an ambulance and apparently is going to go get checked out. He says that he just wants to make sure that everything is okay because he said

that there was like a swelling of his head and just different things. And then the video cuts off as he enters the hospital because you hear the parabetics tell him he can no longer record. Now I reached out to a source familiar with what went down that night. What I was told was that the man allegedly

had been disruptive outside of this very restaurant prior to Damar's arrival and as Damar was arriving. Damar DeRozan then arrived, he was seated. It was very, very, very, very, very shortly after he was seated, this man and Damar's interaction happened. Now I asked my source because it makes no sense that if a man is disruptive outside of a restaurant, why would a restaurant then allow him in?

I'm told that the man had asked to use the bathroom and that's how he made his way into the restaurant. In the video, you hear him say, Damar, they're throwing me out. And then he flashes the light to Damar DeRozan. And then an altercation happens. What I'm taking from this, just my opinion, this man came in there looking for something. At the end of the video with DeMar DeRozan, he is also this man promoting a book on Amazon that from the looks of it, from the looks of his social media accounts, is his book.

Now police are still investigating what exactly happened here, what exactly led up to it, but that is all that I am told. And this is scary as hell. As a person that is beginning to navigate and understanding that this is not a game and things are elevating and they're moving, it is so scary to me that people will intentionally do things just to have a little bit of a moment.

But I will be back here with more facts on this as things develop, because that's what we do here. That is the latest. Now, what we're learning from this whole episode is that it doesn't matter if you are an artist deciding what song you're featured on, what the lyrics will be, you know, a basketball player just out having some sushi

with your home girl, with a family member or whatever. Or if you are me and you're, you know, a basketball player just out having some sushi with your homegirl, with a family member or whatever. Or if you are me and you're figuring things out and you're building career and you're building team and you're putting people in position and you're trying to figure out what's working here, what's working there, what should I add, what should I subtract. It gets to a certain point where things are not a game anymore and it's a really great place to be, but baby, you gotta protect that like no other. Like no other.

And that brings me to our final thoughts. You for the juice. We outside, we outside, we outside. Outside in a tweet. Every other page are gold. I actually went and saw Ryan Coogler's Sinners today for the second time. I saw the movie when he came to the Breakfast Club.

We do get the preview to movies and things of that nature before we talk to the people. But I went and saw it again. There was reporting over this weekend that Ryan Coogler's Sin sinners earned $19.2 million in the film's domestic opening day, which is right now second biggest opening for an original horror film this decade. Now that's how the weekend started off for the film. And there was numbers and great numbers

and news and news after that. And I was so happy. I'm like, yo, first of all, in meeting Ryan Coogler and getting to have a conversation with him, you just realized, I knew he was brilliant, but to see and hear and be in conversation with him up close, y'all, I was like, oh my God, everything I create has to have substance. It has to have purpose. There has to be a reason. I want nuances. I want double entendres.

I just want so much for myself after being in conversation with him. So I was so happy to see the response to the film. But I did tweet out tonight after seeing the movie and I said, I went and saw Sinners this weekend for the second time. I have a lot of thoughts about the segregated reactions to the film. And I don't just mean black versus white when I'm talking about segregation. I mean, Bible thumpers versus non, Bible thumpers, black versus white, men versus women,

quotation marks mainstream media versus non mainstream media, and some more. So I tweet that out and people had different emotions. The emotions were mixed. I wanna bring that back here in the next episode in full, So I tweet that out and people had different emotions. The emotions were mixed. I want to bring that back here in the next episode in full, but I wanted to mention it here because, lowriders, I want y'all to go out there. I want y'all to go out there.

I want y'all to see the movie. I want you guys to tweet me at Lauren LaRosa. Let me know how you feel about it. Let me know about how you feel about some of the coverage. Particularly what I'm talking about and what I'm saying is that a lot of the mainstream media right now, instead of focusing on how well the film did, how it surpassed and how it broke history and how it dissed, they're making headlines to talk about what it didn't do. They're making headlines to talk about, like, oh my God, we're so surprised that it did

this well. And it's like, what? That's shady as hell. Ben Stiller tweeted out, because Variety tweeted, Sinners has amassed $61 million in its global debut. It's a great result for an original R-rated horror film, yet the Warner Brothers release has a $90 million price tag before global marketing expenses. So profitability remains a ways away.

It's the opening weekend, y'all. It has amassed over... Y'all, $61 million and it has a $90 million price tag before the global marketing expenses. It's done that in two, 48 hours, a weekend. I'm not even on the 72 hour point yet when I'm talking to y'all right now and it's done that. And that's the conversation. So Ben Stiller tweeted out and said,

in what universe does a $60 million opening for an original studio movie warrant this headline? Clock it, Ben, please, please clock it. Cause what's going on? But I'm trying to tell y'all, it's really not a game out here. Like, so you think it's a game, you think it's a game when you're a creator of any sort,

but especially if you a black one out here, we don't have room to think it's a game, y'all. Cause these are the type of things that happen. So we gotta be good, we gotta be damn good. Period. So I'm gonna leave it at that. I'll be back with some more. I really wanna get into that center's conversation

and a few other things. So we will be back. At the end of the day, you know, there is always a lot to talk about, but every single time you guys are right here with me to talk about it, I appreciate y'all so much. I'm Lauren LaRosa. This is the latest with Lauren LaRosa.

Your daily dig on everything pop culture and all the conversations that shake the room. I'll see you guys in my next episode.