Memo600 says federal agents asked him for information on Lil Durk when he was arrested, and he is crediting God for keeping him far from the case that just ended with Durk walking free while his co-defendants were convicted.
The Chicago rapper, a longtime supporter of Durk, did not hide his surprise at how the verdict split. Durk escaped, while Vonnie and the others were found guilty on stalking charges that could keep them in federal prison for a long time. “I was pretty shocked,” he said.
His harshest words were reserved for Jam, the cooperating witness whose testimony implicated others in a case far more serious than the gun charge Jam had originally faced.
Memo600 had once defended Jam’s reputation based on what he heard about him on the street. “Hearing about him in the streets a lot, you know?” he said, adding that he had never actually met him.
That faith is gone. “He lost his mind, man,” he said. When it was suggested that Jam might simply be an idiot, Memo600 did not hesitate. “6,000% for sure,” he said. In his view, Jam was trying to follow a path he did not understand, and “he ain’t know what he was doing.”
Memo600 rejected the idea that Durk ever offered to pay anyone to carry out violence. “No. Hell no,” he said. “If y’all love this man like I love him, why should I have to pay y’all to do anything to somebody for him?”
He also offered a blunt read on how Durk saw Jam. Asked whether Durk considered Jam a real friend or an equal, he described him as a store runner. “He a businessman. He’s smart,” he said of Durk.
Jam has since turned his attention to Memo600 on social media, which the rapper believes stems from his public criticism. He pointed to past messages from Jam praising him and noted the irony. “I was his main supporter,” he said. He has responded with a new song called “Fried,” complete with imagery mocking Jam.
The distance between Memo600 and Durk during the period that produced the federal case now looks to him like divine intervention. “But yeah, I feel like that was God,” he said.
That distance did not stop investigators from trying to use him. Memo600 is facing his own federal case, a conspiracy charge tied to machine guns and allegations that he made straw purchases.
He denies it. “It wasn’t me,” he said. He said agents asked him for information on Durk in exchange for a reduced sentence, and he believes his own charges were never their real priority. “Cuz my charges weren’t even important enough, bro,” he said.
He said the arrest came around June. Agents also cracked jokes during the encounter and told him they were fans of his music. “We fans of you, bro,” he recalled them saying.
His case has kept him from showing up in person for Durk. He said a motion was recently cleared allowing him to travel after previously being restricted to Georgia. “I definitely would have been at that courthouse,” he said. He remains on federal house arrest, which he says keeps him focused on staying out of trouble.
With a second case against Durk still ahead, Memo600 is hopeful but realistic about his own priorities. “I pray to God he beat that, too,” he said. “I got my own life I got to worry about.”
He also had a warning for young people who might read the outcome as a blueprint. “To the youth and the community that’s paying attention, don’t let that geek your head up,” he said. “Your ass going to jail, shorty.”
As for Jam, Memo600 believes the witness failed to plan for the consequences of his choices. “Everything I do, I’ll be 5,000 steps ahead of what’s coming for me,” he said.
