SAN FRANCISCO — A prominent Bay Area rapper who survived multiple attempts on his life and ducked homicide investigators’ attempts to link him to unsolved killings has pleaded guilty to a federal gun possession charge, court records show.
Jarico Anderson, who raps under the stage name DreamLlifeRizzy, pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm that was seized by police in a March raid in Albany. The charge carries up to 15 years in prison or as little as supervised release with no jail time.
Anderson is on pretrial release out of state, after federal prosecutors tried and failed to keep him in jail while the case was pending. He will remain free at least until after his sentencing date, which was set for next January, court records show.
Anderson’s music has garnered millions of views online, and his life as an alleged Bay Area gangster is storied. He has survived two shootings, one allegedly committed by members of the Tre-4 gang in Pittsburg, the other in Oakland, where someone in a vehicle pulled up next to Anderson on Highway 24 and shot him in the leg. Two Stockton rappers, Jaymani “EBK Jaaybo” Gorman, and Xavier “Baby Maxx” Jones, were later caught with the firearm used to shoot Anderson in Arkansas.
Police in the Bay Area have listed Anderson as a suspect in unsolved killings, but he has never been charged. He was arrested on suspicion of murder in 2021, but later released.
Anderson is one of several prominent Northern California rappers facing serious felony charges at the moment. Gorman and Jones are awaiting sentencing in their gun possession case for having a gun used to shoot Anderson. A Richmond-area rapper, Luis Rincon, aka Weez Gotti, recently pleaded guilty to a federal gun charge.
The most serious case involves Reno Fiapoto aka TIO Greezy, a San Francisco rapper and alleged Tre-4 gang member facing a pending murder case. Contra Costa County prosecutors claim Fiapoto shot and killed a member of the Double Rock gang, whose alleged members include Anderson.