Lil Durk’s legal team has pushed back on an attempt from federal prosecutors to admit the rapper’s 2022 song and video for “Pissed Me Off” as evidence in his upcoming murder-for-hire trial.
Prosecutors had wanted to include it because, they said, the song and video demonstrate that Durk was ready and willing to enact violent revenge for the killing of his friend and OTF label mate King Von, and was encouraging others to do the same.
In its filing on Friday (Aug. 7), Durk’s attorneys argued the motion should be denied due to significant errors made by prosecutors. His legal team cited a court order issued on Feb. 13 that stated all music videos are disallowed from the trial unless they meet one of two categories: either that a particular person’s appearance in the video was alleged to be part of the reward they received from Durk for participating in the shooting; or that the video shows the relationship between one of Durk’s co-defendants and other alleged co-conspirators. Neither of those conditions, they argue, are met with “Pissed Me Off.”
The filing also accuses prosecutors of relying on assumptions, instead of “actual investigative methods to determine the accuracy of their arguments.”
To that end, Durk’s lawyers claim that prosecutors misinterpret the track: they say that much of the song is not about Von at all, but instead about Durk’s brother, who was killed outside of a Chicago club in 2021.
In addition, they mention that prosecutors incorrectly accuse Durk of using a King Von lookalike in the video, explaining that the director actually used old footage of Von.
“An easily dispelled inaccuracy such as this one just goes to show the uninformed flippancy in which the government views this evidence,” they wrote.
Durk is accused of paying for and arranging a hit on rapper Quando Rondo — that inadvertently killed his cousin instead — as an act of revenge for Von’s killing. Durk’s trial begins on August 20, and the use of the “Pissed Me Off” video, along with other pre-trial issues, will likely be decided at a hearing on Thursday (Aug. 13).
