Baltimore County Circuit Court judge Michael Finifter sentenced the rapper to two years of probation and 100 hours of community service last week.
The decision was welcome news to Young City (also known as “Chopper” from MTV’s hit show Making the Band ), who considered himself to be “a blessed young man.”
“No jail time,” Barnes’ attorney Paul Gardner told Akiit.com. “We arrived at a mutually satisfactory disposition that allows Chopper to immediately continue the execution of a multi-million dollar record deal.”
“I had a lot of situations come to me that I defeated that a normal person like me would not have been able to. All publicity is good publicity,” stated the rapper, born Kevin Barnes. “I don’t want to be looked at as a criminal, I just want to be looked at as a person that made a mistake. The situation in Baltimore, I was a young kid, a product of my environment. Peer pressure is a motherf***er.”
Barnes legal troubles stemmed from a Sept. 29,2001 incident, where, according to prosecutors, the former Bad Boy Entertainment artist brandished what was looked like a handgun as he approached a couple walking along Eastern Boulevard in Baltimore.
Barnes, who was 16 at the time, then grabbed $90 from one victim’s pocket as the other took off running.
Soon after, detectives found Barnes nearby on his mountain bike with what turned out to be a pellet rifle.
Despite pleading guilty to armed robbery and assault charges and being released, Barnes was a now show for his court date, thereby prompting a judge to issue a warrant for his arrest.
The incident didn’t catch up to Barnes until July, when he was pulled over and detained in Atlanta on the outstanding warrant.
According to Barnes, who missed a court date in Baltimore County after being jailed in Georgia on domestic violence charges in August, he no knowledge about the warrant.
With the robbery case behind him, the 22-year-old rapper is looking forward to undertaking more positive pursuits.
“I’ve been working on my album, that’s Ca$h M.O.E (Cash Money Over Everything) ,” said Barnes, who also revealed that there is a bidding war between Universal Motown and Universal Republic for the completed project.
“It’s about giving people the motivation. Not to sell drugs, but to go get jobs, make their lives better,” Young City said.
Barnes, who is aware that community service and probation are better alternatives to the 90-year prison sentence the judge could have handed down.