Da Brat’s Career Took a Huge Hit After She Went to Jail for Assault

The world of entertainment, especially music, can be a fickle business. One day everyone's bumping your stuff and thinking you're the greatest thing since sliced bread and butter. Remember when everyone and their mother was blasting "Blurred Lines" by Robin Thicke? It helped launch Emily Ratajkowski's career and Thicke became a household name. Not very long after, he was sued by Marvin Gaye's estate and his marriage with Paula Patton came apart.

Da Brat's career hit a huge road block for a different reason though: She ended up going to jail. But why?

Da Brat was a ridiculously talented and highly respected emcee in the rap community who was featured on a number of popular tracks that received a ton of airtime on both TV and radio.

What's perhaps most impressive is that she managed to "break through" during a time when major record labels still dominated the music industry and weren't exactly so understanding of folks they couldn't "put in a box."

Da Brat's 1994 album Funkdafied made her the first female rapper to ever go platinum, shattering a lot of preconceived notions as to how women in music could be marketed toward fans.

She would go on to enjoy features on other successful artist's tracks as well as pumping out her own solo albums. The Chicago-based rapper wasn't just known for her prowess in the studio, however. Stories about her hot temper would eventually make major headlines.

A hot temper that sometimes apparently manifested itself in violent acts. In 2000, Da Brat was accused of beating someone in a nightclub over a VIP seating situation. The story goes that she pistol-whipped the victim, who required six stitches to the head.

Da Brat plead guilty to misdemeanor reckless conduct and served 80 hours of community service and a year of probation. She also paid a $1,000 fine instead of serving time in prison.

However, it was another violent altercation, which took place during a 2007 Halloween party at Jermaine Dupri's house, that culminated in Da Brat's three-year jail stint.

Georgia police reported that the rapper struck a woman with a bottle of rum during the celebration. The bottle broke open resulting in a gnarly slash across the woman's face, culminating in a permanent scar.

Da Brat plead guilty to the attack and was handed a three-year prison sentence as a result, which was more than likely administered because of her prior guilty charge.

MTV News reported that Da Brat began serving her sentence in 2008 and that the victim in question had previous beef with the rapper. Apparently, the two had run-ins with one another in the past.

After being released from Prison in 2011, Da Brat made a promise to change herself and show that someone can live a happy, non-violent life following incarceration. "I’ve always wanted to go back and talk to women, inspire women and tell them they can. It’s OK to make mistakes. Just try not to make the same mistakes over," she said during an interview with We TV.

"It feels so funny being in here just walking around," the rapper continued. "It was kind of an eerie feeling for me because I never wanted to be back in that situation, but this time I was on the other side, and I was hopefully touching somebody’s heart."

The female rapper came out in 2020 and dished on her relationship with one of the NBA's most popular stars during the height of their respective careers. While chatting with Kandi Burruss on The Real Housewives of Atlanta star's YouTube show, Da Brat said, "I used to wake up and pick his clothes out and cook breakfast. The things he liked, I just made sure he was happy. And he spoiled me and made sure I was happy."

She continued, "I was like, 'This is amazing. This is it.' Then I think basketball players? Hoes. He had a baby mama, some kids. He had a lot of stuff going on. So it lasted for a good while."

Da Brat ultimately ended the relationship because Iverson had "too many b****es," but what made her ultimately call it quits was a single incident in a hotel she was staying at with the 76ers star.

"This half-naked b***h walks up the hallway looking for him. I'm sitting there with him ... I'm like b***h you motherf****ing see me sit here with this [n-word] and you still gonna say you’re looking for him? I must've molly whopped that b***h down the hall. I said I can't do this, I can't do this with you."

Da Brat is currently in a relationship with entrepreneur Jesseca Dupart, the two became an "official" couple in 2020.