Rapper Soulja Boy arrested on weapons charge during traffic stop in California, LAPD says

LOS ANGELES, California -- The rapper Soulja Boy was arrested early Sunday in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles on suspicion of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, authorities said.

Few details were immediately available about the arrest, which an LAPD spokesperson said occurred about 2:30 a.m. during a traffic stop near the intersection of Genesee and Melrose avenues.

Soulja Boy, 35, whose real name is Deandre Cortez Way, was booked into jail in the Los Angeles Police Department's Wilshire Division on suspicion of a felony, the agency said.

A jury has ordered Soulja Boy to pay $235,900 in punitive damages to a woman who alleged the rapper yelled profanities, kicked her, stomped on her stomach and bashed her head with a large gun during a party she attended at his Malibu home in 2019.

In April 2023, a jury ordered the "Crank That" singer to pay $235,900 in punitive damages to a woman who alleged that the rapper yelled profanities, kicked her, stomped on her stomach and bashed her head with a large gun during a party she attended at his Malibu home in 2019. The amount was the same that the panel had given the woman a week earlier in compensatory damages.

In December 2016, Soulja Boy was arrested at his Hollywood Hills home, where a gun was found by officers, the LAPD said. The rapper was on probation at the time.