Drakeo The Ruler’s Brother Sues Festival Organizers For $4M In Emotional Damages

The brother of the late rapper Drakeo the Ruler is now suing for negligence and emotional damages.

The L.A. rapper passed away at the Once Upon A Time festival in late December. The event was supposed to be headlined by Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, and others, but they never got a chance to take the stage. A fight broke out backstage and Drakeo was rushed to the hospital after he was reportedly stabbed in the neck. He succumbed to his injuries and later passed away.

As The Blast previously reported, the late rapper’s mother, Darrylene Corniel, revealed that she planned to file a lawsuit to hold the event organizers accountable. “We plan to sue,” Corniel stated. “This happened backstage at an event. Someone has to be held accountable.”

“He was hit in his neck,” she reported. “I saw him when I went to the hospital. They said it’s a homicide, so I wasn’t able to hug him or kiss him or anything like that. I had to look at him through a window.”

A spokesperson for the event told the Los Angeles Times that the altercation had occurred “in the roadway backstage” but could not comment further as authorities continued with their investigation.

Drakeo the Ruler’s mother has been conducting her own investigation by speaking to witnesses who were there that night. Corniel alleges that Drakeo the Ruler and his brother, Ralfy the Plug, went backstage with a small group of people. They were reportedly confronted by a group of “like 40 to 60 people.”

She says this group “swamped” her son, adding, “Everything just happened so quickly. They started trying to jump them.”

She wants to hold festival organizers accountable for allowing such a large group backstage.

“They let all these people in, and you’re not supposed to have all these people backstage. And your security is supposed to be in place,” she continued. “The whole program should have been orchestrated a lot better than what it was. And there should have been more protection. Even if you have metal detectors, even if you pat them down, you let those people come in there. You had more people come in than you were supposed to. And you allowed them to jump my son. You didn’t protect my son.”

In early January, The Blast reported that the family had filed to access his estimated $2 million dollars worth of assets. The funeral expenses were estimated to cost around $52,000 dollars, which Corniel admits the family could not afford and thus they need to take the money out of his estate to cover the funeral expenses. However, she is not allowed to access his assets without a court order.

In late February, The Blast obtained exclusive documents that found that Drakeo’s brother, Ralfy The Plug, (real name Devante Caldwell) was suing the event organizes for negligence and emotional distress.

According to the lawsuit, “This action arises from the violent mob that occurred during the Once Upon a Time in Los Angeles music festival, and which resulted in the death of Darrell Caldwell, severe physical and emotional harm to his friends and family that were present and fortunately survived, and the tremendous void that now exists, and will exist forever, as result of this tragedy.”

Ralfy The Plug has not publicly spoken about the events of that night, but he did take a moment before the holidays to pay tribute to his brother in a lengthy message on Instagram.

“name gone forever live on,” he wrote. “literally was a king that got it out the mud and I watched it all from the start from recording.”

“all yo lil freestyle and post ‘em on YouTube watching smoking on the porch waking everybody up to spit this hard a– s— you be coming up with in 10 minutes effortlessly,” he continued.

“to going to camp back to back every time I get out you go back every time you get out I went back to beating indictments starting yo own label and even getting a song with drake biggest artist in game and you did it by yo self,” he added. 

“you was a self made boss and a leader,” he added. “you was my idol and big brother and I learned a lot from you and I’m definitely gone make sure they still know the truth #longlivedrakeo #longliveketchy @drakeotheruler.”