A Manhattan judge on Tuesday (June 20) sentenced rapper and podcaster Taxstone to 35 years in prison following his conviction earlier this year on manslaughter charges over his 2016 fatal shooting of rapper Troy Ave’s bodyguard during a T.I. concert at Irving Plaza.
Taxstone, whose real name is Daryl Campbell, was convicted in March of shooting and killing 33-year-old Ronald “Banga” McPhatter and seriously injuring three others – a crime that prosecutors said stemmed from Taxstone’s longstanding feud with rapper Troy Ave, whose real name Roland Collins.
“Daryl Campbell used a firearm to target his rival, which led to loss of a life and serious injuries to innocent bystanders,” District Attorney Bragg said in a statement Tuesday. “Gun violence cannot be used as a way to address conflict. The toll of guns continues to be staggeringly high and it is horrific that a night out at a concert ended tragically.”
Campbell’s lawyer, Kenneth Montgomery, told Billboard in a brief statement that his client would be appealing the conviction: “Justice wasn’t served,” Montgomery said.
Prosecutors say that Campbell, best known for his Tax Season podcast, confronted Collins in the green room at Irving Plaza on May 25, 2016, shortly before Collins was set to open for T.I. He allegedly shot McPhatter in the chest, fatally wounding him, before shooting Collins in both legs during a struggle for the gun. A man and a woman were also allegedly hit, seriously wounding both.
According to prosecutors, the incident came after years of escalating feuding on social media and podcasts. “When I see you walking up with six dudes, bang-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba,” Campbell said of Collins. Collins responded with a diss track: “Twitter fingers, how many times ya gonna tweet me? I’m always on the flier, guess you too scared to meet me.”
Campbell was eventually arrested on federal guns charges in January 2017, after federal prosecutors said his DNA was found on a handgun that was used in the shooting. After he pleaded guilty to those charges, he was arrested by New York authorities in July 2017 and charged with the shooting itself.
In March, a New York jury found him guilty of manslaughter in the first degree, two counts of assault in the first degree, one count of assault in the second degree and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree.
