Julio Foolio’s Mom Blames Son’s Death On His Rap Career

YouTube Screenshot

Julio Foolio‘s mother, Sandrikas Mays, is blaming her son’s death on rap music. In a new interview with Newsweek, Mays opened up about her relationship with her late son and how he got into music. The mother explained that he began taking rapping seriously at around 16 years old, and she was “active” in his career to prevent him from getting into trouble.

“Everything went through me. Any decision, any record labels that contacted him, he will always contact me to ask me, ‘Hey, can you look over this?’”

However, Mays insisted that no matter how supportive she was of his career and dreams, rap music was ultimately his demise. Sandrikas told the outlet that after Julio Foolio was shot eight times at point-blank range, she had a heart-to-heart with him about his career.

“We have to understand that Charles wasn’t getting shot at because he killed somebody, because he robbed somebody, because anything like that,” the mother claimed. “That’s not what happened. All this happened because of rapping.”

Julio Foolio’s mother speaks up after the death of her son, mentioning that she begged him to stay out of beef ??️

The Jacksonville rapper was murdered while celebrating his 26th birthday in Tampa, Florida. pic.twitter.com/kXIWzlfH3U

— The Beat Boulevard (@thebeatblvd) June 27, 2024

“I was telling him, ‘It’s your rapping. You need to stop it,’” Mays expressed. “This has been going on for over a decade, and I talked to him about these things, but these kids do what they want to do. You can’t tell them anything. Even as an adult, you can’t. He’ll listen to some things that I say, but he did what he wanted to do.”

Later in the interview, Mays pleaded with his fans and other spectators of Foolio’s demise. Sandrikas stated that she didn’t want her son to be remembered as “a dog on a street” but as someone who “touched a lot of people’s lives.”

“I have thousands of messages, good messages, all from people from Africa, from Russia, U.K., that told me that his music helped them cope with a lot of things.”

Julio, né Charles Jones, was shot and killed while the rapper was celebrating his 26th birthday in Tampa.

Lewis Fusco, the rising rapper’s attorney, stated that the artist was “ambushed” in the parking lot, resulting in his untimely demise. “Mr. Jones had been in Tampa to celebrate his birthday over the weekend,” Fusco said in a statement regarding Jones’ death. “Law enforcement reports indicate that he initially stayed at an Airbnb but was asked to leave due to exceeding occupancy limits. He subsequently relocated to the Holiday Inn, where he was involved in an incident in the hotel parking lot and reportedly ambushed.”

Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox