Who Is “Big U”? An Explainer Of Alleged Rollin’ 60s Crip Gang Leader

He was featured on FX’s ‘Hip-Hop Uncovered’ series

Big U was highlighted by FX in the 2021 six-part television docuseries Hip-Hop Uncovered. The official website describes the South Central native as “a world-renowned street legend, community activist, philanthropist, entertainment industry executive, and owner of the record label Uneek Music.”

Now available to stream on Hulu, the nonfiction work, executive produced by Big U among others, “takes a deep dive into the paradox of America’s criminalization of the genre and its fascination with the street culture that created it and still exists within it.” It is directed by Rashidi Natara Harper.

The full cast of Hip-Hop Uncovered includes Deb Antney, Bimmy, Trick Trick, and Haitian Jack.

His son plays in the NFL

Big U‘s son Daiyan Henley currently plays for the Los Angeles Chargers NFL team as a linebacker. According to AZ Sports, Daiyan Henley received a raise from the sports organization earlier this month after his breakout season in 2024. In the 2023 NFL draft, he was drafted as the third-round pick by the team.

Daiyan Henley and his father teamed up to orchestrate a youth football camp last summer.

He formerly worked with Nipsey Hussle, Kurupt 

Big U‘s music industry credits include managing Kurupt and Nipsey Hussle.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Big U started managing Kurupt after a stint of drug dealing in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1991, he was arrested in a sting operation after he and another person attempted to rob someone they assumed to be a drug dealer. After serving 13 years, Big U was released in 2004. Kurupt then took Henley to Death Row Records to meet Suge Knight.

He advocates that Kurupt helped him financially and “put me in a position to win.”

Big U then began to work with Nipsey Hussle, who at the time lived with Big U’s family and recorded some of his first tracks in their downstairs studio.

“Nipsey was actually signed to me. He was signed to me for production, but I was also doing a little management too, me and Steve Lobel. I brought Steve in to be our frontman because, you know how hard it was to be Big U, my reputation precedes me. I had to put a white face in front of a black situation. And because we were moving at that time, I was half and Steve was half. But no, he was signed to me at Uneek Music, my production company,” he explained to VIBE in 2020.

He later added, “I came home in 2004. I didn’t pick Nipsey up until 2006-2007. At that time, Me, Suge [Knight] and brother-in-law [Rick] were running together. Suge was giving me studio time. A lot of that early studio recording time with Nipsey was because of Suge. It was me coming home and trying to teach my whole community to love the community. To help them get an understanding of us and what Crenshaw was. People from the outside who didn’t understand us were coming in and filming in the ‘hood and writing books about the ‘hood and I said, ‘Y’all can’t come in here anymore.’ Know what I mean? The homies didn’t understand that, but Nip did.”

His current arrest and criminal allegations 

On Wednesday (March 19), Big U and other alleged members of the Rollin’ 60s Neighborhood Crip gang were arrested as part of a federal investigation. According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California, Big U was revered as a leader in the gang and also operated the mafia-like “Big U Enterprise.” He is named the lead defendant and charged with conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.

“The lead defendant and others in this case have for too long gotten away with violent acts and stealing money from taxpayers and well-intentioned donors whether they use intimidation tactics or wield influence as purportedly rehabilitated original gangsters,” detailed Akil Davis, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “The FBI and our partners have worked for four years to bring justice in this case and will continue to root out this kind of criminal behavior plaguing the streets of Los Angeles.”

Big U is accused of an assortment of cirminal activity including murder, extortion, robbery, trafficking and exploiting sex workers, fraud, and illegal gambling. If convicted, he would face a statutory maximum sentence of life in federal prison.

The murder Of Rayshawn Williams

In the RICO charges, Big U is accused of carrying out a 2021 murder. Listed as R.W. in the public statement from federal investigators, the Los Angeles Times identified the victim as aspiring rapper Rayshawn Williams.

The memo details Williams as a signee to Big U’s Uneek Music. At the time of the incident, Big U had paid for Williams to travel to Las Vegas and record music. The schedule allegedly shifted causing a rift between the executive and the artist. Williams recorded a song where he allegedly dissed Big U rapping that he might get shot in the face “for thinkin’ sh*t funny,” and mentioned a .38 revolver with “no trace.”

According to the Times, Williams was found in a ditch near a landfill with a gunshot wound to the face from a revolver that left no shell casings. A witness detailed Big U returning to the studio in the early morning before the body was discovered “drenched in either sweat or water.”

He allegedly defrauded Draymond Green, Shaq O’Neal

Draymond Green and Shaquille O’Neal are among those who were allegedly defrauded by Big U through his Developing Options organization. According to the Los Angeles Times, the two athletes donated to Big U’s charities under the guise of supporting nonprofit organizations while he allegedly transferred funds to his personal bank account. He is also accused of fraudulently obtaining money from the Gang Reduction and Youth Development program overseen by the L.A. mayor’s office.

Green made a $20,000 donation to Developing Options in August 2019 and O’Neal wrote a $20,000 check intended to support Developing Options and the Crenshaw Rams youth sports team.

The outlet reported, that Big U’s nonprofit, Developing Options, received $550,000 annually as part of the program, collecting $2.35 million from the city from July 1, 2018, to June 30, 2023. From that, Big U allegedly “has drawn hundreds of thousands of dollars, purportedly in salary.”

In 2020, Big U described the mission of the alleged charity to VIBE as follows:

“The ultimate goal is to be for young African-American kids what the YMCA and these other places could’ve and should’ve been. They probably were a lot of good things to other people, they just weren’t to us because I never had one of them out here. The only thing we had was the park so I don’t really know what the experience was. I always hear them talk about the YMCA and the Boys’ Club. In the Crenshaw area we don’t have one.”

In his own words

Before turning himself in to federal authorities, Big U shared a video on Instagram, alleging Wack 100 to be involved in his takedown and reiterating his dedication to community upliftment.

“If you had something against a Black man you should handle it with a Black man in the streets. Wack said 100 times he was gonna take my contracts, he working with the FBI,” Henley relayed. “I ain’t been nothing but help to our community. But I guess it is what it is. This is the price being Black and trying to help somebody, trying to help your community and do what you can. You just guilty because somebody else don’t like you and they go on the internet and do what the f**k they want to and y’all gon’ promote it.”