Drill rapper Kay Flock couldn’t have headed a ruthless crew that terrorized the Bronx with rampant gun violence because he has an “intellectual disability,” his lawyers argued — as the convicted gangster was hit with decades behind bars Tuesday.
Judge Lewis Liman rejected the 22-year-old “PSA” hitmaker’s bid for leniency, sentencing him to 30 years in prison during a packed hearing in Manhattan federal court.
“The life of the street seems to be all you have ever known — that’s sad and that’s tragic,” Liman told the rapper, whose real name is Kevin Perez.
“Your crimes were extremely aggravated. You showed callous disregard for life,” the judge said, as Flock’s teary-eyed friends and family looked on. “You taunted, you celebrated, and you helped create the culture of violence.”
A jury convicted Flock in March for his role in a gang-fueled Bronx shooting spree between 2020 and 2022, and an upper Manhattan burst of gun violence that resulted in the murder of 24-year-old Hwascar Hernandez.
The jailed musician had argued that he should serve just 10 years behind bars, rather than the whopping 50 federal prosecutors had asked for — and made the head-scratching claim that he couldn’t have led the Sev Side / DOA crew due to his purported disability, court papers show.
The prosecution’s star witness, a fellow member of the crew, in fact had “managed” Flock, his lawyers claimed in a pre-sentencing filing.
But Liman said he was unconvinced that Flock suffered from intellectual deficits, citing trial evidence showing the rapper’s success in the music industry.
The feds had blasted the argument as Flock’s “transparent attempt to deflect responsibility in any way he can.”
“He was the one leading the charge on the street — not the other way around,” Southern District US Attorney Jay Clayton’s office wrote in a Friday court filing.
“Over the course of less than 18 months, [Flock] and his fellow gang members engaged in a campaign of violence, deepening existing gang rivalries and instigating new feuds where none had previously existed,” prosecutors wrote to the court.
“Dozens of people were shot at, injured, and even killed during this short period of time, due to the increased gang violence whipped up, in large part, by [Flock].”
Flock was convicted of racketeering conspiracy and various serious weapons and assault charges, but acquitted of a murder rap after his attorneys argued the Dec. 16, 2021, shooting of Hernandez outside a Hamilton Heights barbershop was done in self-defense.
Wearing a gray suit and in handcuffs and shackles, the embattled rapper — who was 18 years old at the time of Hernandez’s shooting — said Tuesday that he had gained a new perspective on life in his years in lockup.
“Who I was at 18 is not who I am today,” he told the court. “This time in my life has wisened me up. Looking forward, I want to do better.
“I started helping my family financially at 12 [years old],” he said. “I was just a kid and I didn’t know better.”
He added: “I found God. I feel like I needed to go through the darkness to find light.”
But just a few months ago, Flock had appeared unapologetic when celebrating his mixed verdict on social media.
He boasted in an Instagram post that “I beat the top count,” and claimed, “I made the judge cry. He said now he not force to give me life.
“Never fold, never will,” he continued.
Flock also wrote on Instagram, in all-caps, “KILL ALL RATS” — which prosecutors called “an unmistakable shot” as the feds’ witness who testified against him.
“The facts demonstrate that the defendant has not meaningfully changed,” prosecutors wrote to the judge.
