A$AP Rocky's longtime friend and collaborator testified at his Los Angeles trial Friday that the hip-hop star fired a starter pistol that he carried as a prop during a scuffle with a former friend on a Hollywood street in 2021.

The testimony from the man who goes by A$AP Twelvyy is essential to Rocky's defense against two felony charges of assault with a semiautomatic firearm and a potential sentence of up to 24 years in prison with a conviction.

"He walked around with a prop, like a starter pistol," Twelvyy said, looking at the jury. "I seen it on several occasions."

And his testimony suggested the accuser, their mutual friend who goes by A$AP Relli, knew the pistol wasn't real when Rocky first pulled it out.

"He told him to shoot that fake-ass gun," Twelvyy said under questioning from the defense.

All three men and a fourth who was at the scene, A$AP Illz, were members of the A$AP Mob, a crew of musicians and other creators that formed at a New York high school nearly 20 years ago.

But just one of them, Rocky, became a major mainstream success starting in the early 2010s with a pair of No. 1 albums. He has since been nominated for three Grammys, but has become known as much for his dealings in fashion as his music, and for his relationship with singing superstar Rihanna, with whom he has two toddler sons.

She was not in court Friday. She made an appearance in the audience Thursday afternoon after an absence of several days.

Twelvyy, a rapper whose legal name is Jamel Phillips, has acted as an on-stage hype man for Rocky and has appeared in his music videos. He testified that Rocky had reason to fear for his life in the 2021 fight, since both of them were stabbed in a brawl at a New York club in... Read More