BATON ROUGE - Kentrell DeSean Gaulden, a 21-year-old rapper with a cult following, has spent the majority of the past few weeks behind bars instead of in the studio. 

The chart-topping musician is a Baton Rouge native who is known to many fans as NBA Youngboy.

Despite a rise to fame in 2017, Gaulden has wrestled with a veritable mountain of legal issues related to drug and weapons charges. Since 2015, the young artist has been arrested at least five times and seen many a stint in jail.

On Monday, while Gaulden was jailed in Louisiana's St. Martin Parish Prison, his thoughts apparently went to the words of a fellow celebrity who publicly chastised him for allegedly leading Los Angeles Police on a March 2021 chase.

It occurred when police were attempting to engage with Gaulden in connection with a 2020 drug arrest. Instead of complying, the 21-year-old allegedly fled on foot.

Representatives with the FBI and LAPD say the rapper led them on a short pursuit before they called in a K-9 unit and, with this assistance, were able to apprehend him.

After all of this unfolded, talk show host, Wendy Williams spoke candidly of Gaulden's actions while addressing her March 23 studio audience.

Williams said, "He’s got to go to jail. How do you do a hot pursuit? There are innocent people out here. You could’ve hurt innocent people in your hot pursuit and running through people’s backyards. Nobody wants that—bringing down the property values. And how is that you do what you do with seven kids at only 21 years old.”

Apparently angered by this, Gaulden's mother publicly responded to Williams' words immediately, according to reports from various news sites.

But the criticism appears to have stuck with the artist, because he appeared to addressed Williams' by means of a new letter uploaded to Instagram on the official Never Broke Again LLC’s page.

The letter says, "I can leave my kids millions of dollars to divide but can't give them the time they truly deserve."

"Nobody understand me they never did (expletive) some times I don't understand myself but that's fine because I'm okay I ain't looking for you to feel sorry for me."

"I just ask one thing- For you to let me suffer in peace."

"Tell Ms. Wendy Williams I say she got a good soul and she's a beautiful woman I can see that threw all the bad comments thrown at her tell her count her blessings (stay in good spirit)."

Gaulden found himself behind bars in St. Martin Parish Prison due to his involvement in the filming of a September 2020 music video that came to an end when local authorities in Baton Rouge were called to the scene, and upon arriving, found drugs and weapons at the abandoned structure that was being used as a set.

In connection with this arrest, a federal grand jury in Louisiana recently indicted Gaulden on charges of possession of an unregistered gun and of being a felon in possession of a firearm. 

It was then that Judge Scott Johnson warned Gaulden of the punishment he potentially faced. One count of being a felon in possession of a firearm could earn him a maximum of ten years in jail, a $250,000 fine or both.

Gaulden's legal woes don't end there.  

He also faces state charges tied to the same September 2020 arrest. 

So, on Tuesday, the Baton Rouge native left a cell in St. Martin Parish Prison for a court appearance in his hometown.

During the April 20 motion hearing, Gaulden faced weapons and drug charges. 

During the hearing, Judge Tiffany Foxworth-Roberts, ruled that Gaulden would be freed from bond obligations for the state charges.

The decision was made because Gaulden was already facing similar federal charges.

The rapper will remain in prison and await a federal trial, which is scheduled for June. 

He entered two 'not guilty' pleas to both federal charges last week.

Gaulden, a father to five boys and two daughters, is known among colleagues for his work ethic and has often been praised for an ability to produce music quickly.