A$AP Rocky & Rihanna Promise to Name Next Baby After Rapper’s Lawyer Following Trial Win
A$AP Rocky and Rihanna are going above and beyond a simple thank-you note to show their gratitude to Joe Tacopina — the lawyer who successfully led the rapper to a not guilty verdict in his felony shooting trial Tuesday (Feb. 19) — and it has to do with Baby No. 3.
In a video interview with Extra posted one day after the three-week legal proceedings wrapped up in Los Angeles, the attorney revealed that the couple jokingly promised to name their next child after him in celebration of their victory. “Rihanna and Rocky said to me in the courtroom yesterday, they grabbed me and they said, ‘Listen, our next baby is A$AP Joe,'” Tacopina told the outlet, smiling.
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In theory, little A$AP Joe Mayers would join older brothers RZA, 2, and Riot, 1 — and Rocky and Rih have every reason to want to honor Tacopina. The Harlem native had been facing up to 24 years in prison over a November 2021 incident in which he’d been accused of firing a gun twice at former friend A$AP Relli, for which he was hit with two felony counts of assault with a firearm.
But as seen by everyone in the court — and countless fans watching along — Rocky proved to be victorious in his fight against both counts, which he celebrated as soon as his not guilty verdict was read out by sprinting away from the defendant’s stand, jumping straight over a courtroom railing, and wrapping the Fenty mogul in a big hug. “THE GLORY BELONGS TO GOD AND GOD ALONE! THANKFUL, HUMBLED BY HIS MERCY!” Rihanna wrote on Instagram Stories shortly afterward.
Recalling the passionate moment from his POV, Tacopina told Extra, “I look to my right, he’s gone … he was just gone,” the lawyer said, laughing. “I said to my partner, ‘Did he leave?’ … And I see him on top of Rihanna… I couldn’t process quickly enough.”
Tacopina — whom Rocky also christened “A$AP Joe” outside the courthouse after the ruling — went on to share how close he and the two stars have gotten since they started working together on the case. He was even on hand to babysit RZA in 2023 back when Rih was preparing for her Super Bowl halftime show performance.
“All of a sudden, Rocky said, ‘Can you just take care of a baby? I’m getting a pedicure,'” Tacopina recalled. “There was a different type of relationship with him than with most clients.”
Watch Tacopina break down Rocky’s court win below.
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