They called themselves Shaq and Kareem. Guwop put the young Memphis boy on, gave him a deal, a platform, and a shot at rap superstardom. Five years later, federal prosecutors say Pooh Shiesty repaid that debt with an AK-style pistol pointed at his mentor’s face. This is how it all went so catastrophically wrong — from co-signs to kidnapping charges.
2019 — Memphis, TN
The Come Up
A Memphis Kid Starts Making Noise
Lontrell Denell Williams Jr. — who goes by Pooh Shiesty, a nickname his late brother gave him — starts dropping independent singles out of Memphis. “Shiesty Summer,” “At It Again,” “Day One” — nothing massive yet, but the city is talking. The Memphis drill sound is raw, unfiltered, and cold as ice. Exactly the type of artist a certain East Atlanta legend has always had a nose for.
Gucci Mane, who built his entire career on scouting talent before the industry caught on — Young Jeezy’s era, Waka, Future — hears the buzz and starts paying attention. Guwop has a gift for finding Memphis energy. He always has.
April 2020
Signed
Gucci Puts Him On: The 1017 Deal
Pooh Shiesty signs a joint venture deal with Gucci Mane’s 1017 Records and Atlantic Records. This is the official beginning of what the rap world quickly dubs a “father-son” relationship. Shiesty himself couldn’t believe it, saying at the time: “I don’t know who else I would go to. Ain’t nobody was coming at me like Wop. It just made perfect sense.”
Two months later, they drop their first collab, “Still Remember.” Shiesty raps the line that becomes the defining quote of their partnership:
“Wop came and got me, this shit ain’t no dream / Big Shiesty and Gucci like Shaq and Kareem / I got up and took it, couldn’t wait on a blessing / Shakin’ them dice, tryna roll me a seven.”
— Pooh Shiesty, “Still Remember” (2020)
They also drop “Monday to Sunday” featuring Lil Baby and Big30. The 1017 machine is fully in motion. A So Icy Summer compilation follows. Shiesty is everywhere, and he’s only just getting started.
November 2020
Breakthrough
“Back In Blood” Makes Pooh Shiesty A Star
“Back in Blood” featuring Lil Durk lands like a missile. Ice cold delivery, menacing production, two of the most dangerous voices in rap on the same track. The record peaks at No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and goes platinum. This is no longer a promising signee — this is a bonafide rap star in the making.
Gucci’s investment looks like genius. Around the same time, Shiesty links with SpotemGottem on “Beat Box 2,” which peaks at No. 12 on the Hot 100. In less than a year, Pooh Shiesty has two top-15 hits. The 1017 co-sign is paying off in real time.
Two top-15 records in under a year. Gucci’s investment was looking like gold.
February 2021
Peak
Shiesty Season Drops — The World Is His
Pooh Shiesty’s debut mixtape Shiesty Season arrives and debutes at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 with 62,000 album equivalent units. Billboard names him February Hip-Hop Rookie of the Month — the inaugural pick for the franchise. The tape features Lil Durk, Gucci Mane, 21 Savage, and more. It’s a statement album. It’s the confirmation that Memphis had a new king, and that Gucci Mane still had the eye for talent.
For one brief, electric moment — everything is perfect.
October 2020 – July 2021
Legal Trouble
The Arrests Begin: Shiesty’s World Starts Closing In
Even as his career is exploding, Pooh Shiesty is catching cases. In October 2020 — the same month “Back in Blood” is on its way to platinum — he’s arrested in connection with a shooting in Bay Harbor Islands, Florida. Charges include armed robbery, aggravated assault, battery, and criminal theft.
Then in April 2021, barely two months after Shiesty Season drops to universal acclaim, he’s arrested again — this time for a strip club shooting in Miami. He’s held without bond. Later that month, he’s indicted on the Bay Harbor incident too. In July 2021, Shiesty pleads guilty to federal firearms conspiracy charges. He faces up to eight years.
The mixtape just dropped. The buzz was real. And now the feds had him.
April 2022
Sentenced
Five Years And Three Months. Done.
Pooh Shiesty is sentenced to five years and three months in federal prison on the gun conspiracy conviction tied to his October 2020 incident in Bay Harbor. He’s 22 years old. His career, which had been one of the fastest rises in Southern rap history, goes on ice. 1017 moves on. The label continues. Shiesty’s chapter — for now — is closed.
Mid-2024 — From Prison
First Cracks
Shiesty Posts From Behind Bars: Where’s My Money, Gucci?
While sitting in a federal prison cell, Pooh Shiesty takes to social media and starts airing grievances publicly. He claims he hasn’t received payment from 1017 Records in months. He’s in prison, his music is still generating money, and he says he’s not seeing a dime of it.
He hints at wanting to go independent. He suggests he’s being exploited while incarcerated and can’t fight back. The “father-son” dynamic suddenly has some serious cracks in it.
Gucci Mane fires back, defending his business practices. He says the issues are legal complications tied to Shiesty’s incarceration — not intentional greed. The back and forth plays out cryptically on social media, but both camps know the relationship is not what it used to be. Not even close.
Shiesty’s posting grievances from a prison cell. The “Shaq and Kareem” era is dead.
Circa 2024
Label Drama
Gucci Drops Most Of His 1017 Roster
In a video that shocked the rap world, Gucci Mane announces he is releasing almost his entire 1017 roster. “This is a decision I didn’t want to make,” Guwop says in the clip. “Today, I reached out to all of my artists, to their lawyers, and let them know that they’re free to take their talents elsewhere.”
He calls it a P&L decision — profit and loss. He even says he’s looking to sign new talent. Notably, even after all of this, Pooh Shiesty — still incarcerated — is not formally released from his deal. That contract situation remains unresolved. And that unresolved contract? That becomes the fuse.
October 6, 2025
Released
Pooh Shiesty Walks Out. The Comeback Begins.
After serving approximately three years of his sentence — released early for good behavior — Pooh Shiesty walks out of federal custody. The rap world goes crazy. Every label starts circling. Reports surface that Yo Gotti and his CMG Records are offering him a deal. Notably, Gotti and Gucci have had a strained relationship going back years. The business chess pieces are already moving.
In December 2025, Shiesty drops “FDO (First Day Out)” — a five-minute, blistering return record. It rockets to No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Rap Songs charts, and hits No. 12 on the Hot 100. His highest-charting solo single ever. The comeback is not just working — it’s one of the most electric returns in recent rap memory.
He came home and immediately had the No. 1 rap record in the country. The bag was right there.
January 10, 2026 — Dallas, TX
The Incident
The Dallas Studio. The AK. The Paperwork Signed At Gunpoint.
This is where the whole story goes off the rails completely.
According to federal prosecutors and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas, Pooh Shiesty — along with his father Lontrell Williams Sr., fellow Memphis rapper Big30, and six other associates — travels to a recording studio in Dallas, Texas. Gucci Mane is there. The meeting is presented as a legitimate business sit-down to discuss the status of Shiesty’s recording contract with 1017 Records.
What allegedly happens next is one of the most dramatic moments in rap industry history. Prosecutors say Shiesty produces an AK-style pistol and forces Gucci Mane to sign paperwork releasing him from his recording contract — at gunpoint. Co-conspirators allegedly block the doors so Gucci and his associates cannot leave. Then the crew allegedly robs those present of Rolex watches, Gucci’s wedding ring, jewelry, cash, and other valuables.
“Williams Jr. produced an AK-style pistol and forced one of the victims to sign a release from the recording contract at gunpoint.”
— U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould, Northern District of Texas
Federal authorities later link Shiesty to the scene through data from his court-ordered ankle monitor — he was still on supervised release from his prior sentence — and social media posts where co-conspirators allegedly flexed the stolen valuables online. Eight of the nine defendants are arrested. One suspect remains at large as of this writing. The charges: kidnapping and armed robbery. Maximum sentence: life in prison.
He allegedly walked into that studio with an AK and walked out with the contract release and Gucci’s wedding ring. Federal charges followed.
Big30’s attorney tells a different version to TMZ: “clearly there was a situation between Pooh Shiesty and Gucci Mane,” but insists Big30 was only there to make music, having waited for Pooh to get out so they could record together. The defense says Gucci “popped in” unexpectedly and the conversation just “didn’t go well.” The feds see it very differently.
April 1–2, 2026
Federal Charges
Eight Defendants Arrested. Shiesty Denied Bond.
Federal authorities announce the arrests on April 2, 2026. Pooh Shiesty, his father, Big30, and five others are taken into custody on kidnapping and armed robbery charges. Shiesty had only been home for less than six months. “FDO” is still charting. The comeback that had the entire rap world hyped is over before it properly started.
On April 8, Shiesty appears before U.S. Magistrate Judge Renée Harris Toliver in Texas federal court. Bond is denied. The judge cites the credible evidence presented at the hearing. He goes back inside — this time potentially forever.
April 10, 2026
Diss Record
Gucci Drops “Crash Dummy” — And Buries Him In Bars
Ten days after the arrest announcement, Gucci Mane releases “Crash Dummy” over Zaytoven production. It’s his public response to everything. And Guwop does NOT hold back.
“Tell the truth, you went out like a real crash dummy / And after all that, boy, you still signed to me / I’m like Birdman and, n—a, this my Cash Money / And your fat ass flunkie, he a stone cold junkie / I thought it was a business meeting, but it was a setup / I walk in the room, you can feel the pressure building.”
— Gucci Mane, “Crash Dummy” (2026)
Gucci takes shots at Shiesty’s father. He claims he personally put money on Pooh’s commissary while he was locked up. He compares what Shiesty allegedly did to Suge Knight’s alleged intimidation tactics with Death Row Records in the ’90s — referencing the Straight Outta Compton scene where Suge used muscle to pull Dr. Dre from Eazy-E’s Ruthless Records. “You learn from your daddy, so I guess that it’s hereditary,” Guwop raps.
The kicker — and it’s devastating — is the line that alleges Shiesty pulled all of this off and is still legally signed to 1017. The contract release allegedly obtained at gunpoint may not even hold up legally. Gucci’s insinuation: you did all of this, caught federal kidnapping charges, and you might still be my artist.
Gucci claims he was putting money on Pooh’s commissary while Pooh was allegedly plotting to rob him. If true, that’s the coldest betrayal in recent rap history.
RapHaven Staff Writer — Final Word
The Real Tragedy Here Isn’t The Beef. It’s The Waste.
Pooh Shiesty was one of the most electrifying young rappers to come out of the South in a generation. “Back in Blood” was a landmark record. Shiesty Season was a debut that announced a generational talent. When he dropped “FDO” just a few months ago, it felt like a real second chance — the kind of comeback rap fans actually root for.
And now he’s looking at the possibility of spending the rest of his life in prison — not for the gun case that took three years from him the first time, but for allegedly pulling a firearm on the very man who gave him his shot in this industry. On the man who — allegedly — was putting money on his commissary while they beefed over contract money.
We don’t know how the legal case resolves. We don’t convict people in these pages before a verdict. But what we do know is this: a young man who had everything he needed to be one of the greatest rappers alive is now sitting in a Texas detention center, bond denied, facing life. Whatever happened in that Dallas studio on January 10th — the only people who lost are the ones who deserved to win.
