Nappy Roots Rapper Fish Scales Injured After He Was Kidnapped, Shot Outside His Atlanta Brewery

Mar. 15, 2025

Fish Scales.Photo: Ray Tamarra/Getty

Nappy Rootsrapper Fish Scales is in stable condition after he was shot in the leg during a robbery that began outside the Atlanta brewery he co-owns.

Fish Scales (whose real name is Melvin Adams Jr.) is “in good spirits” after the incident, which happened Wednesday night after he closed Atlantucky, the brewery he owns with his Grammy-nominated Nappy Roots bandmates, the group said in a statement shared toInstagram.

“We are blessed to say that he is stable and in good spirits after suffering a leg injury. Luckily, none of our dedicated patrons of Atlantucky were at the scene or harmed during the robbery,” the statement read. “We are so thankful our brother is safe and on the road to recovery.”

The group continued: “We would appreciate some privacy as we are trusting the Atlanta Police Dept in the ongoing investigation. Scales also mentioned he is looking forward to getting back to work both on music and [at the] brewery. Love and Keep it Nappy.”

Officers responded to a report of a robbery at 11 p.m., and a preliminary investigation found that Scales, 45, and a customer were walking to a parking deck when two men approached and robbed them at gunpoint, according to apress releasefrom the Atlanta Police Department.

Nappy Roots is known for hits like “Good Day” and “Awnaw,” and also includes fellow Kentucky natives Skinny DeVille, B. Stille and Ron Clutch, who released their commercial debut studio album,Watermelon, Chicken & Grits, in 2002.

Nappy Roots.Cindy Ord/Getty

Members of the group opened Atlantucky together in February, with Scales telling localNBC affiliate WXIAat the time that “beer became a part of our journey as Nappy Roots.”

The musician said he and DeVille had started brewing their own beer in Scales' garage four years ago, and eventually decided to open a place of their own, making them some of the only Black owners of a craft brewery in the U.S.

“We want to stay right here in the community and continue to serve the people in the community,” Scales told the outlet. “Minorities, not even Black people, own less than one percent of all craft breweries in the country, so that is a mission for us to change that.”

DeVille told reporters after the robbery that Scales is his “best friend and my brother and my business partner.”

“I just said yesterday, if something happened to him, I’d be devastated,” he toldFox 5 Atlanta. “I was shocked, I didn’t know what to do.”

source: people.com