Troy Ave is honoring his late friend Ronald “Banga” McPhatter with The Ronald McPhatter Scholarship fund, according to the BSB rapper’s lawyer, John Stella in an exclusive statement to HipHopDX.
The MC born Roland Collins was arrested last month on charges of attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon after a shooting broke out May 25 at New York’s Irving Plaza during a T.I. concert. Three people were injured and Banga died in the gunfire. Troy Ave was shown in surveillance footage firing a gun at the venue.
He pled not guilty and, on his Free Troy Ave mixtape, spoke of his innocence and declared what a great friend Banga was. His legal team has said the surveillance video does not tell the whole story of the incident and the rapper was acting in self defense.
Now, Troy Ave has committed $10,000 to New Utrecht High School in Brooklyn, New York, the same school that he, Banga and Ave’s little brother attended and played football. Stella tells HipHopDX that the money will be distributed in $2,000 increments each year and the recipients will be chosen by the Utes football program.
“The scholarship honors one of the things Ronald loved most in life, playing sports. And, specifically, New Utrecht football,” Stella says in his statement.
The first recipient of The Ronald McPhatter Scholarship is New Utrecht senior defensive end Gianni Penso, DNAInfo reports. The 18-year-old is planning on playing college football at Pace University, where he will play at linebacker in the fall.
“I just want to thank this family,” Penso said at an award ceremony yesterday to his coaches, Collins and his mother, who helped set up the fund. “Football has taught me a lot, you guys taught me how to be a man, and I’m just so thankful.”
Troy Ave is scheduled to appear in court for arraignment June 22. He is being held without bail and is currently at Rikers Island.
Why would you make a scholarship in honor of someone you killed?
He didn’t kill him a** hole he fought the gun off the guy that did and shot in the leg fighting over it till it then tried to shoot them that’s why he has (attempted ) murder charges
Dude was his body guard and best friend
He thinks this is going to help him avoid prison after murdering someone and cheddar bobbing himself in a nightclub, lol I highly doubt it.
Troy Ave is a real nigga with street cred and he single-handedly saved New York hip-hop for real. haters can suck a dick. swag
In the wake of doing this, it’s not looking good.
To the imbeciles up on here, either you have a donut as a brain or you are really stupid talking about ‘cheddar bob’ and ‘naming a scholarship for someone you killed’, Good Grief, do some research before you speak.
Gotta be a pretty sick fuck to start a foundation for a man you have a part in killing if not didnt kill yourself…then agains thats what 80% of charitys started are for…to change your image or how the public percieves you…thats why almost everytime a celeb does it it has to be bragged up on hhdx or tmz or some bullshit… more ticket and album sales cause people think your feeling them then in actuality all your doing is taking the money back from your fans by writing your $50K donation off as a tax write off and getting the money back in a sense while the average americans taxes 27% of there income and they pay around 95% of that 27%… but seriously fuck troy ave i hope they r a p e him till hes bleeding out of his eyes…
You got that Troy did all this crap you talking about from this article???? Seems you have a problem that has more to do with Tax Laws and other celebrities…you just made all that up bro!!!!
Haters get off Troys dick! #Free A Real One!!!!
All the people on here who are purposely ignoring the facts just so you can spread hate on the internet, I feel sorry for you! Somebody got killed and clowns on here talking about it like its a joke. Obviously have never been involved in or known anyone involved in a situation like this or you would just shut the f@#k up!!!
Does this pledged scholarship exclude female students?
The pledge is a pro-social idea, which would benefit 5 students (as well as Troy Ave, at trial). But would the fact that it’d be administrated by the football department, limit female access? How many females are involved with the school’s football department? The application process would need to be made inclusive.