In a Santa Monica courtroom, Soulja Boy—the rapper who once hijacked the airwaves with his inescapable 2007 banger “Crank That”—found himself center stage in a drama far removed from his chart-topping glory days. This time, the spotlight wasn’t on his music or that iconic dance move.
It was on something darker: allegations of assault and rape leveled against him by a former personal assistant. As of April 2025, the civil trial is in full swing, a tense showdown that’s got the music world craning its neck to see how this one plays out.
The accuser, cloaked under the pseudonym Jane Doe, paints a grim picture. She claims that Soulja Boy, born DeAndre Cortez Way, turned her stint as his assistant into a nightmare of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse starting in 2019.
According to her testimony, the horror kicked off during a police raid on his home in February 2019—a chaotic scene she says marked the first rape. The abuse, she alleges, stretched on for nearly two years. Soulja Boy, however, isn’t buying it. Taking the stand, he shot back with a firm denial: “I never assaulted her,” he said, pushing against the weight of her accusations.
The courtroom air thickened when the prosecution zeroed in on some damning text messages—nasty, threatening words Soulja Boy admitted were his own. Attorney Dean Aynechi pressed him hard: “Is it okay to talk to women like this?” The rapper’s response was a clipped “No,” a rare moment of concession in a testimony otherwise steeped in defiance. It’s the kind of exchange that lingers, a snapshot of a trial teetering between raw emotion and cold evidence.
This isn’t Soulja Boy’s first rodeo with the law, and that history looms large. Back in 2023, a civil jury pinned him for assault and kidnapping in a case tied to an ex-girlfriend, Kayla Myers. Other women, including model Nia Riley, have lobbed similar accusations his way over the years—claims of physical and sexual violence that keep resurfacing like a bad hook. Whether these past entanglements sway the current jury remains to be seen, but they certainly cast a long shadow over the proceedings.
Yet, for all the legal static, Soulja Boy’s imprint on hip-hop is undeniable. “Crank That” wasn’t just a hit—it was a cultural earthquake, a viral juggernaut that blasted open doors for a wave of internet-savvy rappers. Love him or loathe him, he’s been a lightning rod in the game ever since, churning out tracks and staying relevant even as the controversies pile up. Now, with this trial, that legacy hangs in the balance, teetering on the edge of what a jury decides.
As the case rolls on, the stakes couldn’t be higher. The jury’s got a tough gig ahead: sifting through testimony, texts, and trauma to figure out where the truth lies. For Soulja Boy, the verdict could rewrite his story—either a reprieve to keep grinding or a blow that dims his star for good. For now, the music world’s got its eyes glued to Santa Monica, holding its breath for justice to drop the beat.
source rolling stone
