Max B

In a whirlwind stretch of just three years during the mid-2000s, East Coast rapper Max B joined Jim Jones’ Byrd Gang crew, parted ways after a very public and bitter split, and received a 75-year sentence on a murder conviction. He kept writing and recording behind bars, issuing several mixtapes before his incarceration took full effect, among them the Million Dollar Baby series along with the Coke Wave collaboration alongside French Montana.

Born Charly Wingate in 1978, he grew up in New York City amid a large and financially strained household. Wingate turned to street crime at an early age and served time for robbery from 1997 until 2005. Immediately after his release he launched a rap career, devising the moniker “Max Biggaveli” by fusing nicknames associated with the Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z, and Tupac Shakur’s brief Makaveli phase, then shortened it to Max B. Childhood friend Cam’ron connected him with Jim Jones, and Max B quickly became a central figure in Byrd Gang when the crew formed in 2006. That same year saw the release of his first mixtape, Million Dollar Baby, followed by Public Domain: Million Dollar Baby Radio. Also in 2006 he faced felony murder charges tied to a robbery at a Holiday Inn in New Jersey. While locked up he watched the third installment, Public Domain 2: Rise of the Silver Surfer, appear in 2007. Ten months into his detention he posted two million dollars in bail, funds obtained by selling his publishing rights to Jones. Mounting financial disputes with Jones prompted Max B’s exit from Byrd Gang in 2008 and triggered an intense public feud between them.

Remaining highly active through 2008 and 2009, he dropped one mixtape after another, adding further entries to the Public Domain and Million Dollar Baby catalogs, releasing Wavie Crockett, and issuing two volumes of Coke Wave with French Montana. In June 2009 the court handed down the 75-year sentence for the 2006 case. During his imprisonment, longtime associate and collaborator Dame Grease completed final work on the studio album Max B had largely finished in 2008; that project, Vigilante Season, reached stores in 2011. He continued contributing to assorted mixtapes and guest tracks throughout his time inside. A 2016 plea agreement sharply reduced the sentence, opening a possible path to parole in 2025.