Note: An earlier version of this story originally appeared under the same headline on February 20, 2019.
In February 2019, Florida hip-hop artist YNW Melly was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder. Police said he and another rapper, YNW Bortlen, killed two of their friends and staged the crime scene to look like a drive-by shooting. The gravely serious criminal case came as Melly, who was born Jamell Demons, was in the midst of an upward career trajectory. A month before his arrest, the 19-year-old from the small South Florida community of Gifford released We All Shine, a mixtape featuring Kanye West, and his biggest hit, the chilling 2017 single “Murder on My Mind,” had just gone gold. (It went platinum in March 2019 and was certified six times multi-platinum in January 2022.)
Now, three years later, Melly’s trial is set to begin on March 7. He has pleaded not guilty; if convicted, he faces the death penalty. Here’s a brief rundown of how Melly, now 22 years old, went from sharing freestyles on SoundCloud to working with Kanye West and Young Thug to being held in jail without bond, charged with the murders of his friends.
May 1, 1999
Jamell Maurice Demons is born. His mother was 14 years old when she got pregnant with him, she recalls in an official YNW Melly documentary posted online in December 2018; she was in 9th grade when she gave birth.
Demons had an early love of music. In interviews, as well as in the doc, he describes a childhood fascination with Chris Brown and Michael Jackson. He also recounts an all too precocious interest in guns, saying he found a revolver under his uncle’s couch in fourth grade and took it “everywhere,” including school.
October 19, 2015
Melly has a run-in with the law that will become a recurring part of his media coverage. According to a local Florida newspaper, the 16-year-old was charged with three counts of aggravated assault and one count of discharging a firearm in public. He allegedly fired a gun toward three other students near their high school. It was after this incident, Melly has said, when he “was locked up,” that he got the inspiration for “Murder on My Mind”: “I woke up and I had that chorus.”
March 4, 2017
“Murder on My Mind,” a piano-based hip-hop murder ballad that’s striking in its almost-diaristic intimacy, is uploaded to SoundCloud. “His body dropped down to the floor and he had teardrops in his eyes/He grabbed me by my hands and said he was afraid to die,” Melly sings. He was already posting rough freestyles to SoundCloud under his birth name when he was around 15; by 2016, he had started using his current rap name. The YNW crew (short for “Young N***a World,” he has said, unless he’s on TV or someplace where he can’t cuss—then it’s “Young New Wave”) includes his longtime friends Anthony Williams (YNW Sakchaser), Chris Thomas Jr. (YNW Juvy), and Cortlen Henry (YNW Bortlen).
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May 1, 2017
Melly’s troubles with the court system continue. The details aren’t entirely clear, but on April 15, 2017, he posted on Facebook that he was “on home detention.” On May 1, his 18th birthday, he wrote: “I apologize to all my fans … I’ll be locked up in level 6 program for 6 months I was sentenced on my 18th birthday MAY 1st 2017 due to negative music 🖤 Just know I did it for y’all I’ll be back shortly 🏆💰🌎” He added, on June 23, “Turning myself in today.”
In an interview shortly before Melly’s 2019 arrest, he claimed to Billboard that prosecutors had used “Murder on My Mind” against him. “Basically, I was on probation [in 2017],” he said. “I’m off that now. I put out ‘Murder on My Mind.’ It was out for about seven months, but I was in and out of jail at that point. I probably went to jail at least six or seven times then. It was just for little shit too.”
December 25, 2017
Melly’s hip-hop career goes on despite his legal issues. He signs with a manager, and, on Christmas Day of 2017 releases the Collect Call EP, with guests including Kodak Black’s older brother John Wicks and Northern California cloud-rap progenitor Lil B. (The record was available a week early on Spotify). By January 7, 2018, “Murder on My Mind” has been streamed more than 1 million times on YouTube.
February 25, 2018
Melly gets out of jail again. He soon moves to Miami, according to the documentary and interviews. In the meantime, Melly performs a string of sold out shows, and a new video, “Melly the Menace,” premieres on WorldStarHipHop. Another of his most-streamed songs, “Virtual (Blue Balenciagas),” debuts via WorldStar in April.
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June 30, 2018
Melly returns to jail. Police records show he was arrested in Lee County, Florida, on June 30, 2018, for one count of possession of a weapon by a convicted felon and another count for possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana. (Fellow rapper Cortlen Henry, aka YNW Bortlen, was arrested here, too.) According to court records viewed by Pitchfork, the state attorney’s office concluded there was insufficient evidence to prove the weapon charge beyond a reasonable doubt and downgraded the drugs charges to misdemeanors.
August 3, 2018
Melly releases his first album-length mixtape, I Am You. It includes “Murder on My Mind” and a song from the opposite perspective, “Mind on My Murder,” plus “Virtual (Blue Balenciagas),” maternal ode “Mama Cry,” and Chris Brown–interpolating “Slang That Iron.” Later that month, he tells Billboard he’s working on “a whole project of songs” with Detroit rapper Tee Grizzley (in November 2018 they’d share collaborative tracks “Freddy Krueger” and “Lost and Found,” and would go on to make “Game,” “Young Grizzley World,” and “Careless”).
October 26, 2018
YNW Juvy, aka 19-year-old Christopher Thomas Jr., and YNW Sakchaser, aka 21-year-old Anthony Williams, are shot and killed. Miramar, Florida police say the two were last seen around 3:20 a.m. Eastern in Fort Lauderdale, arriving at Memorial Hospital Miramar around 4:35 a.m. “with multiple gunshot wounds.” A police spokesperson said, “They were dead already.” Melly mourned on his social media accounts. “They took my brothers from me over jealousy,” he wrote. Melly added that the killers “want to see [him] break down and stop or in jail or a box.”
December 4, 2018
Melly’s official documentary arrives on YouTube. YNW Juvy and YNW Sakchaser are featured prominently. At the end of the 21-minute video, text reads, “Four days after the completion of this film, YNW Melly and his friends were the targets of a drive-by shooting in Miami, Florida. YNW Juvy and YNW Sakchaser were killed.” The documentary also reveals Melly and his mother are moving from Florida to Atlanta.
The same day, Melly shares a photo of himself with Kanye West on Instagram. Rumors follow that the two are recording in Miami together for what might be West’s long-delayed album Yandhi. The album never materialized and West instead released Jesus Is King in 2019; the record did not feature YNW Melly.
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December 12, 2019
A Genius video of Melly breaking down the lyrics to “Murder on My Mind” is posted on YouTube. “I’m a pussy murderer,” he says around the 4:40 mark. “I murder the vagina. And I murder the beat. I am not no hu—human murderer.” As he pauses on the phrase “human murderer,” Melly’s eye catches the camera, in a moment that will later go viral.
January 3, 2019
Melly is arrested again in Lee County in connection with his June 2018 charges. In his mugshot, he can be seen smiling. According to court records viewed by Pitchfork, Melly pleaded no contest to misdemeanors for possession of paraphernalia and possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana. He is ruled guilty and sentenced to jail time, with credit for time served.
January 18, 2019
Melly releases We All Shine, his second mixtape. West trades vocals with Melly on single “Mixed Personalities” and appears in the video.
January 25, 2019
Melly is released from Lee County jail, police records show.
February 5, 2019
In a Billboard interview, Melly says of YNW Sakchaser and YNW Juvy, “They were my brothers—they were my day one brothers.” Asked if he was targeted in the incident as well, he says, “Nah, I can’t really speak on that.” He also says he has recorded “like six songs” with Young Thug and is working on a “project” with Juice WRLD. His project with Tee Grizzley is finished, too, he says: “My year’s finna be crazy.”
February 12, 2019
Melly talks Kanye West with Power 106. “He heard my music in Paris,” Melly says. “He flew me to L.A. and then I just showed him some of my music.” Melly says West is naming a Yeezy sneaker after him, too: the Mellys.
February 13, 2019
Melly is arrested on murder charges. Police allege that he shot and killed Williams and Thomas while Cortlen Henry, aka YNW Bortlen, tried to stage the deaths as a drive-by shooting. Under Florida law, Melly could face life imprisonment or the death penalty. He maintains his innocence on Instagram: “Unfortunately, a lot of rumors and lies are being said but no worries god is with me.” (The post is eventually deleted.)
February 25, 2019
In public court documents, investigators reveal more details about the charges against Melly. Police officers cite phone records which allegedly confirm that Melly was at the scene of the crime. They also reference autopsy reports and crime scene details, which allegedly confirm that Melly shot YNW Sakchaser and YNW Juvy from inside the car. Police argue that the “drive-by” bullet holes on the outside of the car were “staged in an effort to misdirect law enforcement investigation.”
March 6, 2019
Melly pleads not guilty.
April 18, 2019
Florida prosecutors file paperwork signaling their intent to seek the death penalty against YNW Melly.
August 6, 2019
Melly’s 12-year-old brother YNW BSlime releases the single “Free Melly (YNW Melly Tribute).” The brothers would go on to collaborate on “Dying for You,” “One Step,” and “Really Be Slime.”
November 22, 2019
Melly releases a new album, Melly vs. Melvin, which eventually goes gold. It spent 31 weeks on the Billboard 200 albums chart, beginning with its debut at No. 8 on December 7, 2019.
April 2, 2020
A since-deleted Instagram post announces that Melly has tested positive for COVID-19 while in a Florida jail. The rapper’s teams seek his restricted release, which a judge later denies.
May 23, 2020
YNW Bortlen, who was arrested for double murder along with Melly in 2019, is granted house arrest.
August 20, 2020
YNW Bortlen releases the new single and music video “Been Thru.” It’s his first piece of new music after being granted his restricted release and just his second-ever solo track, following 2018’s “Came From.” The single and visual refer to his incarceration, and Bortlen also raps, “Free Lil Melly.”
October 23, 2020
The estates of the rappers that Melly and Bortlen were arrested for murdering, Anthony “YNW Sakchaser” Williams and Christopher “YNW Juvy” Thomas Jr., file a wrongful death suit against them. According to the complaint filed on behalf of YNW Sakchaser’s estate, the shooting followed “tension” among the group of friends over “the prospect of large amounts of money coming in” and “how that money should be distributed.” The lawyers for Sakchaser’s estate write, “When there are less people splitting up the prospective money, the people on the receiving end will get more.”
April 14, 2021
Bortlen is arrested again for allegedly violating the terms of his house arrest by visiting strip clubs, according to court records.
August 13, 2021
Melly releases another album, Just a Matter of Slime, which features Young Thug, Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Baby, Lil Durk, Future, Kodak Black, Tee Grizzley, and more. It debuts at No. 11 on the Billboard 200 on August 28, 2021, spending three weeks on the chart.
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August 25, 2021
Bortlen is re-released on house arrest after a judge finds that he did breach the conditions of his previous bond but did not commit any new crimes, court records show.
September 27, 2021
Complex and Spotify launch the podcast Infamous: The Story of YNW Melly, hosted by rapper Ace Hood.
