The rap world is ablaze after explosive footage surfaced on October 31, 2025, capturing NBA YoungBoy in a tense, face-to-face standoff with Lul Tim, the man long rumored to be involved in the 2020 murder of Chicago drill icon King Von. The clip, leaked on X and amassing 15 million views in 24 hours, shows the Baton Rouge rapper, 25, squaring up to Tim, 28, in a dimly lit Atlanta parking lot, voices rising amid a crowd of onlookers. “You know what you did,” YoungBoy snarls, finger jabbing inches from Tim’s chest, before security intervenes. Fans are shocked, speculating wildly: Is this closure, confrontation, or the spark for more violence in drill’s deadly legacy?
King Von’s death on November 6, 2020, outside an Atlanta nightclub, remains a wound on hip-hop’s conscience. The 26-year-old drill pioneer, born Dayvon Bennett, was gunned down in a shootout involving O’Block rivals and Quando Rondo’s crew, a feud rooted in Chicago street codes. Von, with hits like “Crazy Story” that humanized gang life, had risen from Englewood’s blocks to Lil Durk’s OTF label, his storytelling earning a Grammy nod. Tim, a Lil Durk affiliate from St. Louis, was arrested for the killing but released without charges in 2021, fueling theories of a cover-up. “Von’s murder was a hit,” Von’s mother Taesha said in a 2023 documentary. “Tim’s hands aren’t clean.”
YoungBoy, real name Kentrell Gaulden, has his own tangled ties to the beef. The Louisiana sensation, with 100 million monthly Spotify listeners and 14 jail stints since 2016, dissed Von in 2019’s “Vulture Island,” escalating tensions. Fresh from a 2024 Utah prison release for gun charges, YoungBoy’s confrontation—filmed during an impromptu meetup at a recording studio—feels like unfinished business. The 30-second video, grainy but unmistakable, shows YoungBoy circling Tim, entourage on edge, before a mutual nod diffuses it. “NBA’s calling out the killer—justice or just clout?” tweeted one fan, sparking #YoungBoyVsTim with 800,000 posts.
Reactions are polarized. Von’s O’Block loyalists hail it as “vengeance vibes,” with posts like “Von from heaven—finish it!” Lil Durk’s camp stays silent, but Quando Rondo, acquitted in Von’s case, subtweeted, “Streets talk.” Critics decry it as “glorifying grief,” urging peace amid drill’s death toll—over 50 Chicago homicides linked to feuds since 2018. YoungBoy’s manager, Lathan Echols, told XXL, “It was a conversation, not confrontation—men talking like men.” Tim, now a low-profile rapper, posted a cryptic Bible verse: “Vengeance is mine.”
The footage underscores hip-hop’s fragile truce. Von’s death, ruled homicide by Fulton County, saw no convictions, a void YoungBoy’s move fills with speculation. As drill evolves—Durk’s 2024 album Love Songs 4 the Streets topping charts—the confrontation revives calls for reform, with advocates like the VON Foundation pushing anti-violence initiatives.
YoungBoy, father of 11 and facing federal charges, channels pain into music, but this clip hints at unresolved rage. Fans debate: Catharsis or catalyst? In rap’s endless cycle, where beef births bangers, Von’s ghost lingers. The standoff isn’t closure—it’s a spark in a tinderbox. As YoungBoy raps in “Feel Good,” “Pain don’t fade, it just evolves.” Port Charles—er, the streets—watches warily. Justice for Von? Or just another verse in the saga?
