Trump-Pardoned Rapper NBA YoungBoy Moved to South Korea and Declared 'Never in My Life' Will He Return

Trump-pardoned rapper NBA YoungBoy says he has left the United States for good and is now living in South Korea, telling a podcast that he has 'never in my life' any intention of moving back as he confronts health problems and the prospect of a sharply shortened career.

A turbulent few years in which the multiplatinum artist, real name Kentrell Gaulden, moved from chart-dominating success to federal prosecution, a presidential pardon and a stint in home confinement.

Once one of the most-streamed rappers in the US, the 26-year-old is now describing a life that is geographically and emotionally far from his Louisiana roots and the American legal system that has tracked his every move.

On the Open Thoughts podcast released on Tuesday, hosted by comedian Funny Marco, NBA YoungBoy said he now resides in South Korea and is attempting to build a new base there, though he hinted his immigration status is still unresolved.

'It can't be my home until they give me my visa, right?' he remarked, half-joking, half-testing the reality of a country he clearly sees as a refuge.

Pressed on why he chose South Korea, he kept his answer vague. The country was 'out the way', he said, before offering a little more: 'I get the energy too. It's very safe here and very clean.'

NBA Youngboy Says Heart Condition Has Left Him 'One or Two' Albums From the End

YoungBoy's relocation is not only about geography. On the same podcast, he disclosed that he has been diagnosed with a heart condition which, he believes, means there are 'one or two' albums left in him.

He did not share a formal diagnosis. Instead, he recounted what he said a doctor had told him, that the left side of his heart was swollen.

Tugging at his chest, he tried to bridge the distance between his medical file and his catalogue of unvarnished, emotionally charged tracks. 'That explains the music, though, right? She's hurting,' he said, characteristically blurring real pain and performance.

He admitted he had kept the condition to himself while touring. 'I never told nobody, I just kept doing every show. I finished my tour out like that.' There was no medical corroboration offered on the podcast, and no paperwork has been made public, so for now his account sits entirely in his own words and should be treated with caution.

Still, combined with his promise that 'I'll go on tour one more time throughout my whole life and that's it,' it sounded very much like someone sketching the outlines of an exit plan.

NBA Youngboy, Legal Trouble and a Trump Pardon

Gaulden's career has been intertwined with criminal proceedings since his teens. According to court records referenced in his plea documents, he was previously convicted in Louisiana of aggravated assault with a firearm. More recently, he became entangled in overlapping federal and state cases in Utah.

In 2024, a federal judge in Utah sentenced him after he acknowledged possessing weapons as a convicted felon. Under an agreement, he resolved Utah state charges and two sets of federal charges. One case carried a 23‑month prison term; the other resulted in five years of probation and a $200,000 fine.

His lawyer, Drew Findling, said Gaulden was released from federal prison in March with credit for time served and moved to home confinement. When that ended, the legal picture changed again. Gaulden was one of a group of high-profile names granted clemency by Donald Trump.

The presidential pardon meant he no longer had to comply with probation conditions such as drug testing, giving him an unusual freedom to leave the country once his other obligations were cleared. That was not his only brush with the courts.

He pleaded guilty in November to his role in what prosecutors described as a prescription drug fraud ring operating from his Utah home. For that, he received a $25,000 fine but no prison sentence.

The pattern is familiar to anyone who has followed the more combustible end of American rap, but the destination is not. Instead of settling quietly in a gated community in the US, NBA YoungBoy has planted himself in a culture where fame means something very different, and where American rappers are usually visitors, not residents.

Asked outright if he could ever see himself returning to the US, he did not hedge. 'Never in my life,' he said. Coming from an artist whose lyrics have often circled around fatalism and escape, it sounded less like a publicity line and more like a final verdict.

The declaration also leaves a large question hanging over his fanbase and the industry that has made money from him.

He has four No 1 albums on the Billboard 200 and a Grammy-nominated feature on Tyler, The Creator's Wusyaname, alongside hits such as '38 Baby' and 'Outside Today.' Those numbers sit awkwardly next to the image of a young man counting down 'one or two' last albums from a self-imposed exile in a foreign country.

There is no official comment from US authorities on his living arrangements in South Korea, nor any confirmation from immigration officials there about his long-term status. Until that emerges, his account of a clean, safe life 'out the way' will remain largely unverifiable, half confession, half myth-making from one of rap's most polarising figures.