Rita Osakwe
American rapper Tory Lanez has released a surprise 17-track album in which he denied shooting chart-topping rapper, Megan Thee Stallion.
On Thursday, Lanez, whose real name is Daystar Peterson, issued an apology to his fans for his continued silence before declaring his return to the spotlight.
“To my fans … I’m sorry for my silence,” he wrote on his Twitter account before announcing the album. “But respectfully .. I got time today… 9PM EST.”
“There is a time to stay silent. And a time to speak ….. I said all I could say on this …”
On the record, called Daystar, Lanez references the incident in July that saw him arrested and charged with carrying a concealed weapon in a vehicle and Megan Thee Stallion suffering two gunshot wounds to her foot.
In one song, he raps, “I ain’t do it” and claimed “Megan people trying to frame me for a shooting.”
Reports immediately after the incident stated that Megan had cut her foot on broken glass but she made a statement three days later saying the shooter intended to physically harm her.
“I suffered gunshot wounds as a result of a crime that was committed against me and done with the intention to physically harm me.”
Lanez was arrested following the incident, charged with carrying a concealed weapon and released on bail. In August, the LA County district attorney’s office said it was reviewing the case over a possible assault charge, and asked LA police to investigate it further.
Later in August, Megan confirmed reports that it was Tory who shot her and said that she did not tell law-enforcement officers because of recent police violence.
“Yes… Tory shot me,” she said in a video posted to Instagram. “You shot me, and you got your publicist and your people to these blogs, lying… Stop lying!”
On the album, Lanez questions her account, rapping, “How… you get shot in your foot, don’t hit no bones or tendons?”
Immediately after its release, the rapper was criticized for using the incident to promote his streaming figures, prompting many hip-hop fans to boycott the album and stream Megan Thee Stallion’s album ‘SUGA’ instead.