The Roots: How a “Check-In” Racket May Have Become a Death Sentence
Long before Swifty Blue’s name hit national headlines, he was infamous in L.A.’s rap world for his open embrace of gang culture and his viral social media claim: artist traveling to L.A. had to “check in” with him—or suggestively face the consequences. In street parlance, these check-ins are suggestive of a thinly veiled extortion racket, charging visiting celebrities thousands in so-called “rent” (mandatory ‘payments or fees’ in prison parlance) to perform, record, or even party in certain neighborhoods.
In September 2022, he launched a website, www.swiftcheck.in, as a promotional stunt tied to the concept of “checking in” when visiting Los Angeles, which also refers to a cultural practice where individuals, often in gang-affiliated or street contexts, are expected to announce their presence or seek permission to operate in certain areas, sometimes involving payments or “taxes” to local gangs or figures like the Mexican Mafia for protection or legitimacy.
The website allowed up to 2,000 people to receive a free “Check In” pass for the L.A. area, valid for one week, complete with a certificate. This was primarily a marketing move to promote his music and brand, leveraging the “check-in” concept to generate buzz.
What Swifty may not have realized: in the eyes of the Mexican Mafia, there’s no room for a solo operator collecting their street tax. According to a sprawling indictment and years of jailhouse recordings, the Mafia saw Swifty’s earnings as an intrusion—unless he paid a cut, he was now “no good,” marked for violence, and fair game for retribution.
