Lil Durk's protegee is a scary character.
By Bernadette Giacomazzo — Written on Jan 24, 2020
Lil Durk's protegee OTF Dede is currently in a world of trouble. Not only does he have the taint of sexual assault surrounding him but the woman he;s been accused of assaulting was found shot and killed not long ago. So who is OTF Dede, and what really went on with this alleged crime?
It bears stating that OTF Dede hasn't been arrested nor charged with a crime at the time of this writing. What's more, there's even suggestion that this entire case may be little more than an "urban legend," for lack of a better word, because no "hard news" outlet has reported it as a fact. Is this really all publicity for an upcoming project by OTF Dede — and this story is little more than a ploy for attention (albeit a rather macabre one)? Or is this really evidence of a crime?
Let's look at what we know about OTF Dede and the controversy surrounding him.
1. Who is OTF Dede? He's a rapper under Lil Durk's "charge."
It's very difficult to come by information on OTF Dede, or even to hear any of his music, because he doesn't have a website and seems to be a bit of a cypher on social media. What is known, however, is that he's a Chicago-based artist who is under rapper Lil Durk's "charge," and he's from Chicago, just like Lil Durk. Outside of that, however, he is a pretty minor player on the Chicago hip hop scene.
2. The rumors about what happened about a week ago, a week ago...
On or about January 16, 2020, rumors started bubbling up from the "underground" about OTF Dede getting "violated" by a rival gang of Lil Durk's. According to several sources, OTF Dede was involved with a woman who subsequently "set him up" by telling a rival gang about their encounter. The gang members then robbed him and forced him to perform oral sex on a woman while she was on her period. (The oral sex also entailed "eating her a--," according to several sources.) To complete the humiliation, the rival gang then cut OTF Dede's locs off. The video above goes into the encounter in graphic detail, so be forewarned.
3. Did the woman really end up dead?
Camerie Crawford, a 17-year-old girl, was allegedly the woman that OTF Dede was forced to perform oral sex on. But on January 17, 2020, she was shot and killed in the South Side of Chicago. All that is currently known about her death is that it has been ruled a homicide, and the crime was committed by a "group of males" in a silver car.
4. Was Camerie Crawford really the woman in the OTF Dede video?
There are a few issues with the entire "tale of the tape" surrounding the OTF Dede case. For one, Camerie Crawford is a teenager, not a woman, and the woman in the OTF Dede tape was clearly a woman. Second, there's no evidence from a reputable source to suggest the OTF Dede "setup" had anything to do with Crawford's murder — or even if she knew OTF Dede in the first place.
5. But Lil Durk isn't above adding fuel to the fire.
Right now, all that's known about the OTF Dede situation — aside from the rather graphic video above — is that something happened, though with whom and under what circumstances is unclear. But that doesn't mean that Lil Durk isn't going to pass up the opportunity to get free publicity out of the situation. Check out what he wrote on Twitter shortly after news of the alleged sexual assault and murder took place.
6. Lil Durk has enough legal problems of his own.
Perhaps Lil Durk should remain focused on his own problems, rather than try to create problems for his up-and-coming artists. Even though he was recently denied entry into the Bahamas because of his outstanding legal drama, he's another one who isn't above creating controversy to try to sell records (like his pretend "beef" with French Montana). So, perhaps this OTF Dede case may be nothing more than a case of a tale growing taller in the telling, not a serious legal drama.
But, we will definitely keep you apprised of any developments as they come up.
Bernadette Giacomazzo is an editor, writer, publicist, and photographer whose work has appeared in Teen Vogue, People, Us Weekly, The Source, XXL, HipHopDX, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, BET.com, and more.