Rapper Pooh Shiesty pleads not guilty to charges of robbing and kidnapping fellow rapper Gucci Mane in Dallas.

DALLAS — Rapper Pooh Shiesty, whose real name is Lontrell Williams Jr., pleaded not guilty in a federal courtroom on Friday to all counts related to allegations that he robbed and kidnapped fellow rapper Gucci Mane in Dallas, his attorney confirmed to WFAA.

The DOJ announced the arrests of Pooh Shiesty and eight others – including his dad, Lontrell Williams Sr. and Rodney Wright, Jr. a/k/a “Big30” – at the beginning of April. The DOJ indictment alleged that the group kidnapped and robbed at gunpoint numerous victims at a music studio in Dallas back in January.

During an April 8 hearing in front of a federal judge in Dallas, Williams’ defense brought up the fact that it took federal investigators three months to make their arrest, calling the case a “he-said, he-said type of case.” In response, the federal prosecutors brought up Williams’ long criminal record and said that the conditions of his 2025 release didn’t allow him to be in Dallas at all.

Pooh Shiesty was transferred to the Kaufman County Jail in mid-April, where he has remained after a federal judge deemed him a flight risk. The Memphis rapper filed a motion at the end of April to get new attorneys, which was granted, records showed.

In the aftermath of the April indictment, Gucci Mane released a song called “Crash Dummy,” which references betrayal related to the alleged kidnapping and robbery in January.

Throughout the track, Gucci Mane suggests he was set up during what he believed was a business meeting. The lyrics repeatedly point to betrayal within his circle, with Gucci Mane adding, “They smile in your face, then they stab you in your back,” and, “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.”

In another pointed line, he appears to reference his business relationship with Pooh Shiesty, who was previously signed to his 1017 label: “And after all that, boy, you still signed to me.” Gucci Mane also frames the situation as strictly business, rapping, “I don’t take it personal, for me it’s only business,” while emphasizing his role as both an artist and executive: “The artist and the CEO, I wear a lot of hats … the head [person] in charge, it’s my name on the check.”

If convicted, each defendant faces a sentence of up to life imprisonment, according to the DOJ.