Late night at the 4/20 Venture Compound showcase in 2016; Swisher Sweets plumed in the late April humidity. After the show ended, I was introduced to Tampa hip-hop artist Benzo YB Ferrari aka Mark Pointer. He was holding court around a bonfire with other local artists and hellions.
“Tell me about your dreams,” Pointer asked before taking a deep drag off the communal blunt. He talked about artists he wanted to work with, providing for his son Lorenzo, making music and helping others do the same. It was Neville Allen Chambers, aka “Fayd the God”who asked Pointer to perform that night. The two local hip-hop musicians had already traded mixes and worked on some production. Chambers, who organized the April showcase, had yet to meet Pointer.
“I was there late waiting for him to come through,” Chambers said. “Benzo put his hands on my shoulder and said, ‘Look around, you did this.’”
The two became fast friends and started making more music together, releasing mixes and promoting each other’s work. Benzo promoted Fayd’s I’m Still Plugged mixtape on Facebook earlier in the day on Tuesday, August 16. Benzo’s own mixtape WITH OR WITHOUT THEM.
Four months later, Pointer was shot and killed in the parking lot of St. Pete’s main branch library. After what court documents describe as an attempted codeine transaction, Pointer was pronounced dead on Wednesday, August 17, 2016. Pointer’s friend Julius Buchanan was shot as well, but survived. St. Petersburg police originally booked Chambers for Pointer’s death, charging him with first degree murder. The arrest shocked many in the local hip-hop community, as the two were known as friends. The charges were later reduced to a third degree felony for attempt to purchase a controlled substance—codeine. On October 27, 2016, Chambers plead guilty and received two years of probation.
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Detectives charge one suspect in fatal shooting of Tampa rapper
The state charged Michael Murray, 27, with Pointer’s death; second degree murder and attempted first degree murder. In the court documents, Murray told police he intended to rob Buchanan and Pointer when he climbed into the backseat of the car with a loaded gun. He admitted to shooting them both and taking drugs from the car before fleeing. Murray’s past charges included felony assault, battery and stalking. He is currently serving a 44-year sentence at a state facility in near Pensacola.
When I first spoke to Chambers after his initial release, we met in early 2017 at the Panera in St. Petersburg. Legally, he can’t say much about the night Pointer died. “All I can say is I ran, I just ran.” He was staying with family when we spoke and trying to stay sober. He’s still making music.
“I’m a normal guy going through struggles,” Chambers said. “I can’t forget about Benzo, I’ll never forget about Benzo.”
In June, Chambers violated his two-year probation when he failed to appear in court for a misdemeanor battery charge. After five months in the Pinellas County Jail, he was released on December 12. He told CL he’s since relocated to Boston where he’s continuing to make music.
“I never changed my path,” he said. “I kept going as if Benzo was by my side.”
In 2014, Benzo formed record label Newtrapmafia with local hip-hop artist Tyrell Golden and Chambers. Golden was the second artist Pointer signed to the new label before his death. He says Pointer’s music was diverse, ranging from hard trap to grunge. Golden as the second artist Pointer signed to the new label before his death.
“Benzo was honestly like an older brother to me and Fayd,” Golden told CL. “When he died it killed me on the inside. He’s part of the reason I have a name.”
Mark Pointer would have turned 27 on January 27, 2018. JoAnna German aka JoJo, Pointer’s partner and mother to their child, writes to Pointer on the Legacy obituary site posted after his death. She writes to him on Father’s Day, Thanksgiving, the anniversary of his death. “He is a spitting image of you in every single way,” she wrote on their son’s first birthday. “He’s starting to walk and finally said mama today, after months of only saying daddy.”
This article appears in Jan 25 – Feb 1, 2018.
