As a teenager, Charlamagne tha God started making money by selling drugs. He was arrested for possession of marijuana and cocaine with the intent to distribute twice, he told The New York Times in 2013. He was also arrested for involvement in a shootout, though he contended he was only a witness. “I was in the back seat of a car and a shooting happened, and so all of us ended up going to jail for it,” he said. In a 2017 interview on “Elvis Duran and the Morning Show,” Charlamagne also admitted to selling crack.

Charlamagne’s parents did what was within their power to dissuade their son from pursuing a life in crime. “I had to bust him upside his head a lot of times to get him back on the right track,” Charlamagne’s father, Larry McKelvy explained to NYT. “He got in with the wrong crowd and did a lot of crazy stuff.” Since his dad’s tactics were clearly not working, McKelvey opted to let the judicial system teach Charlamagne a lesson. “The third time he got locked up, I let him sit there for approximately 41 days,” he recounted.

McKelvey had given Charlamagne plenty of warnings that he would not post bail if he wound up in jail again, the host said on “expediTIously with Tip T.I. Harris.” He doesn’t blame him. “I was wild,” the media personality added.

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