[Source: AP]

A$AP Rocky is at a crossroads.

He could soar to new heights of celebrity in 2025, or be brought back to earth quickly by a trial starting Tuesday that could led to his imprisonment for years.

The hip-hop star, and longtime partner to Rihanna, with whom he has two toddler sons, is set to touch the highest levels of high fashion as one of the celebrity chairs of the Met Gala in May along with Pharrell Williams, LeBron James and others.

And his modest acting career will get a major boost from starring alongside Denzel Washington in director Spike Lee’s “Highest 2 Lowest,” planned for a summer release.

But at the Los Angeles trial that’s expected to last about three weeks, he is charged with two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm. He’s accused of firing on a former friend on the streets near a Hollywood hotel in 2021. If convicted, he could get up to 24 years in prison.

The 36-year-old has pleaded not guilty, and his attorney says he committed no crime.

“We’re ready to go. It’s been a long time,” defense lawyer Joe Tacopina said after a hearing Wednesday. “It’s been something that’s waiting over Rocky’s head and Rihanna and their family’s heads for a while. We’re anxious to get this thing underway and get this behind him.”

A$AP Rocky and A$AP Relli
The trial has its roots in high school in New York, when the Harlem-raised Rakim Mayers, now known as A$AP Rocky, met Terell Ephron, also known as A$AP Relli, who will be the trial’s most important witness.

Ephron testified at a 2023 preliminary hearing that he brought Rocky into a crew of young creators who called themselves A$AP — for “Always Strive and Prosper.”

“We had dreams, pretty much,” Ephron said.

He testified that the members remained close even as Rocky became rich and famous, but the relationships would eventually erode.

The feud came to a head in Hollywood on the night of Nov. 6, 2021, when according to Ephron, Rocky fired at him three or four times, the shots grazing his knuckles.