South Florida rapper Jamell Demons, known professionally as "YNW Melly," "Melly," or "Melvin," began his rise to stardom in 2017, while in prison.
Six years later, the "Murder On My Mind" rapper is on trial for allegedly killing his two friends and contemporaries, Christopher Thomas Jr. ("YNW Juvy") and Anthony Williams ("YNW Sakchaser").
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If found guilty, he could face the death penalty.
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At the time they were killed, Thomas and Williams were 19 and 21, respectively. The two and YNW Melly were longtime friends. Demons referred to the two as his "brothers" in several Instagram posts, which have since been deleted.
Demons was born in Giffords, Florida to a 14-year-old single mother. Aside from the YNW rap collective, the rapper has also publicly repped the Bloods gang.
Demons began releasing songs to SoundCloud, a music streaming app. His music has been praised for accurately documenting life in poverty and street violence.
Many of his works have been written and released while in prison.
The rapper was first locked up in 2015, at 16 years old, after firing shots at three people near a high school in Indian River County. Demons was charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of discharging a firearm in public.
The motive was never publicly disclosed.
Demons was arrested again in 2017 for violating probation and possession of marijuana and firearms.
In 2017, he also released his first EP, Collect Call, followed by a swath of 2018 hit singles like "Butter Pecan" and "Medium Fries".
In June 2018, Demons officially released "Murder On My Mind", which has since amassed over 500 million views on YouTube. Its lyrics came under fire after Demons was linked to the deaths of Thomas and Williams, as the song details a gruesome murder.
The second verse reads,
"Yellow tape around his body, it's a fucking homicide
His face is on a T-shirt and his family traumatized
I didn't even mean to shoot him, he just caught me by surprise
I reloaded my pistol, cocked it back, and shot him twice
His body dropped down to the floor, and he got teardrops in his eyes
He grabbed me by my hands and said he was afraid to die
I told him, 'It's too late, my friend, it's time to say goodbye'
And he died inside my arms, blood all on my shirt."
The song was written while Demons was incarcerated almost two years prior to the killings of Thomas and Williams.
In Aug. 2018, Demons released his debut mixtape, I Am You, which broke the Billboard 200. His second mixtape came in Jan. 2019, while he was incarcerated. The project featured Kanye West on the hit track, "Mixed Personalities".
Demons embarked on a concert tour a month later in Feb. 2019, completing only one show before he turned himself into Miramar police.
On the night of Oct. 26, 2018, prosecutors said surveillance video showed that Demons and the two victims spent the night at a recording studio in Fort Lauderdale, alongside Cortlen Henry ("YNW Bortlen"), who is also on trial for two counts of premeditated first-degree murder. They left together in a Jeep.
Other surveillance video showed Demons and Henry at Memorial Miramar Hospital in the Jeep with the two bodies about an hour later, prosecutors said.
Demons and Henry alleged that the victims were killed in a drive-by shooting that all four rappers were involved in and that the bullets missed themselves.
Prosecutors are making the case that Demons and Henry framed the drive-by shooting, and that Thomas and Williams were shot inside the Jeep, as police found no evidence of a drive-by shooting when they swept the area.
Demons turned himself in after Henry was arrested and was held without bond.
An alleged motive has not yet been disclosed in Demons' trial, which began June 12.
