BROOKHAVEN, Ga. Chicago rapper Aspen Kartier just found out her January arrest has a paying audience, and her reaction was disbelief aimed at her own fame. The 19-year-old, whose legal name is Aspen Easterling, said she is “not even that damn famous” after learning that viewers were paying to watch the bodycam footage from her booking night, according to a clip the rap news account My Mixtapez posted Thursday night.
The footage traces back to January 30, when Brookhaven police took Easterling into custody at her apartment on Town Boulevard and booked her into the DeKalb County Jail on a cruelty-to-animals charge. The arrest came one day after a Twitch livestream in which she repeatedly struck Louie, a three-month-old Maltipoo puppy, and lifted him by the skin of his back, and 11Alive reported that officers identified her within hours after a flood of viewer tips. DeKalb County Animal Control took the puppy that night. Twitch banned her channel as the clip spread.
The bodycam video of that night has kept circulating since, and the moment My Mixtapez flagged has turned into the case’s strangest footnote. “Chicago rapper Aspen Kartier can’t believe people actually paid for her arrest bodycam footage, saying she’s: ‘not even that damn famous!'” the account wrote. The post had drawn more than 800 likes by Friday, according to the platform’s syndication data.
Her October court date explains why the footage found a second life. Easterling pleaded guilty on October 21 to one misdemeanor count of cruelty to animals, and Atlanta News First reported that the three-minute clip played on the courtroom projector, the puppy’s whimpering audible as Easterling yelled about the dog’s behavior. Court records described by CBS News Atlanta showed a second count was dropped under the plea.
The sentence landed the next day. A DeKalb County judge ordered 10 days in jail with credit for two already served, a year of probation and a ban on being around dogs, along with 24 anger management classes, 100 hours of community service and an animal abuse prevention program, FOX 5 Atlanta reported. The order included $3,048 in restitution for the puppy’s veterinary bills and shelter care at LifeLine Animal Project, the organization that took Louie in, plus $39 a month in probation fees. Officers took her from the courtroom directly to jail.
For Kartier, paid bodycam views are the second time this year that footage of her has turned into a product. Hypefresh documented her viral $20 million “Sold Soul” TikTok claim as fans questioned her behavior, and the same audience that debated that clip now has a receipt to click. Police bodycam involving rappers has become its own viral currency this year, from Karrahbooo’s roadside clash with Georgia police to Chicago’s Montana of 300 being tased during a Peoria domestic dispute and the FBI raid footage from NBA YoungBoy’s 2023 arrest.
There is a grim symmetry in her complaint. The case began with footage she broadcast herself, footage viewers sent to police, and it ends with the state’s own camera work selling to strangers. The only party that never asked for any of it was the puppy, who is safe with LifeLine.
Kartier is serving out the jail term that runs into early November, and her probation terms keep her away from dogs for a full year. She may keep insisting she is not that famous. The queue of people paying to watch her booking night says the market disagrees.
Attribution note: arrest, plea and sentencing details come from TMZ, 11Alive, Atlanta News First, CBS News Atlanta and FOX 5 Atlanta, whose coverage was consulted directly. The reaction clip, its caption and the engagement figures come from the platform’s syndication data for the My Mixtapez post.
