Rapper Lil Zay Osama pleads guilty to federal machine gun charge in Brooklyn court

NEW YORK — Rapper Lil Zay Osama could face time in federal prison after he admitted Thursday that he left a modified handgun in an Uber in Queens.

The 26-year-old, whose real name is Isaiah Dukes, pleaded guilty to possession of a machine gun in Brooklyn Federal Court, admitting that he left a .40-caliber Glock pistol on the seat of a ride-sharing car on Sept. 29, 2022. The gun had a switch installed to turn it into a fully automatic weapon.

Though the charge carries a 10-year maximum, federal guidelines put his possible sentence at 21 to 27 months.

The Chicago rapper and some associates were traveling from their Manhattan hotel to a Queens recording studio when their Uber driver noticed him handling a gun in the backseat, according to a criminal complaint. When the passengers got out, Dukes left the tricked-out weapon behind.

The feds initially charged Dukes on Sept. 30, 2022, but two months later, the case against him was dismissed without prejudice — which meant that prosecutors could revisit it at a later date.

Dukes boasted about the dismissal as a victory in an Instagram post he aimed at one of his rivals, “Bet Not Listen To The Media They Don’t Know My Life Fr F– That Wikipedia Case Dismissed,” but the celebration proved premature.

This past January, the feds came back at him with a grand jury indictment, charging him with with possession of a machine gun and possession of an unregistered firearm.

On Thursday, he changed his tune before Brooklyn Federal Court Magistrate Judge Taryn Merkl, pleading guilty to the machine gun charge.

“I knowingly possessed a firearm that was a machine gun in Queens County on Sept. 29, 2022,” he said. “I know that it was wrong and against the law.”

Dukes, who has a criminal record dating back to his teen years, has past convictions for robbery, battery, discharging a firearm and other offenses in Illinois. He also survived a 2015 shooting.

The rapper can be seen on various YouTube videos brandishing what appear to be weapons and rapping about violence and guns.

“Every day a different Glock,” Dukes raps on one track. “I just got a brand new Glock. With a 50 and a switch.”

The music video for the song carries a disclaimer, “All weapons used in video are props. No real firearms were used.”

Dukes remained held in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center. His sentencing date has not yet been set.