Who is Jay Rock? Grammy-winning rapper arrested over alleged illegal possession of firearm

Johnny Reed McKinzie, who goes by the moniker Jay Rock, has been arrested in Los Angeles on suspicion of illegal possession of a firearm. LAPD officers arrested the Grammy-winning rapper on Thursday, March 13, 2025, near the Watts public housing complex where he grew up.

NBC 4, citing a spokesperson for the police department, reported that cops initially arrested McKinzie in Nickerson Gardens (another public housing) on suspicion of trespassing and drinking in public. However, the rapper ran from his vehicle, which led to the cops finding a firearm inside.

Jay Rock is perhaps best remembered for his 2018 track, King's Dead, which appeared on MCU's Black Panther soundtrack. The song was a collaboration with Kendrick Lamar, Future, and James Blake and won the artists a Grammy for rap performance.

Videos from the incident circulating online suggest Rock initially fled as the police allegedly did not tell him why he was detained. He can be heard telling the cops:

"You don’t even know what I was drinking."

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Jay Rock, Ab-Soul, Kendrick Lamar, and ScHoolboy Q were once part of the supergroup Black Hippy

Jay Rock was born in 1985 in Los Angeles. He grew up in the Nickerson Gardens public housing complex in the Watts neighborhood. According to Rock's profile on All Music, he caught the attention of Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith, who lived in the same locality. Tiffith soon signed him to his then newly founded label, Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE), in 2005.

With the help of TDE, the rapper dropped several mixtapes over the next two years. Rock, along with his labelmates Ab-Soul, Kendrick Lamar, and ScHoolboy Q, formed the Black Hippy collective in 2008. While the group never recorded any albums together, they have frequently made appearances on each other's projects.

In 2008, the rapper dropped his first single, All My Life (In the Ghetto), with assistance from Lil Wayne and will.i.am. It is worth noting that the track would later feature on his debut album. A music video for the song featured Lil Wayne, Ab-Soul, and Kendrick Lamar.

In 2010, XXL magazine included Jay Rock in their Freshmen Class list, according to All Music. The same year, MTV named him as one of 2010's breakthrough emcees.

A year later, the LA native released his first studio album, Follow Me Home. The project was a commercial success, peaking at No. 10 on the Billboard rap charts. Its single (a collab with Lamar), Hood Gone Love, reached 83rd on the Hot 100.

Jay Rock's subsequent studio projects, 90059 (2015) and Redemption (2018), were met with equal success. While the former topped the US Top Rap Albums chart (No. 2 on US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums), the latter project reached No. 9 on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.

In 2012, Rock featured on Kendrick Lamar's Money Trees from the album Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City. The track was an instant hit and earned him a Grammy nomination (as a featured artist). His 2018 song King's Dead, a collab with Lamar, Future, and James Blake, earned him his first Grammy.

Jay Rock is currently working on his fourth studio album, Eastside Johnny. A release date has not been announced as of this writing.

Neither Rock nor his representative has publicly reacted to the development.