Durham rap group 83 Babies went from a record deal to tragedy. Here’s what to know
The Durham rap trio 83 Babies signed with a division of Atlantic Records in 2019, but the group’s three members have since been killed, imprisoned or shot. Within two weeks in March 2026, one member was fatally shot and another was wounded in separate incidents.
Read more at:
FULL STORY: 2nd member of NC rap group 83 Babies shot in Durham within 2 weeks
FULL STORY: Durham rapper ‘Lil Tony’ and 2nd defendant get life for 9-year-old boy’s murder
FULL STORY: NC rap trio 83 Babies was once a rising group. Now 1 is dead and another in prison.
Here are key takeaways:
• The trio — Tevin “Young Boss Tevo” Burney, Antonio “Lil Tony” Davenport Jr. and Tyrese “SetitOff83” Taylor — was associated with the Eight Trey Gangster Crips in Durham’s Braggtown area, according to court documents. Around 2018, their song “No Cap” attracted multiple labels before Georgia rapper Rich the Kid signed them to his label, a division of Atlantic Records, in 2019.
• Also in 2019, Davenport and two co-defendants opened fire on an SUV they mistook for rival gang members. The SUV carried five children headed to get snow cones. Nine-year-old Z’Yon Person was struck in the forehead and died the next morning. In 2022, Davenport was sentenced to two concurrent life sentences plus 10 consecutive years.
• After the killing, the group was “essentially blackballed,” Burney said in a 2021 interview shared on YouTube “There shouldn’t be no reason that you are going backwards,” he said.
• Taylor was convicted in 2022 in Wake County of attempting to assault a law enforcement officer with a firearm and possessing a gun as a felon. He was released from prison in November 2023.
• On March 13, 2026, police found Burney, 23, and Jarrett Godfrey, 26, fatally shot in a car near North Roxboro Street.
• After Burney’s death, Taylor, 25, posted on social media: “I never thght I’ll be the LAST MAN STANDING. We were (on the way) TO GENERATIONAL WEALTH.”
• Eleven days after Burney was killed, Taylor was found shot with non-life-threatening injuries in a parking lot on Wake Forest Highway.
The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists. The full story in the link at top was reported, written and edited entirely by journalists.