Words by: M Dee Dubroff

Experimenting with social media can be like playing with matches. For Cleveland-born rapper, Machine Gun Kelly, activity on his Twitter account has led to his arrest for organizing a flash mob. The event took place in Strongsville, Ohio at the suburban Southpark Center Mall, which is located some 20 miles from Cleveland.

It is illegal in Cleveland to promote flash mobs using social media. For the hundreds of fans who attended the event on Saturday, August 20th, as did Machine Gun Kelly, this fact was of no significance. The rapper was arrested for the charge of disorderly conduct after he refused to get down from a food court table.

The 21-year-old rapper, whose real name is Richard C. Baker, said of his arrest posted defiantly on Facebook:

“If havin’ fun with my fans and bringing the rage back to my hometown means I have to be arrested…then keep pullin’ the cuffs out.”

This self-destructive move has not hurt his career one little bit. In fact, it has enhanced it, as Kelly has just signed a deal with Bad Boy Entertainment, Sean “Diddy” Combs’ company.

Bad boy he is, but fans love the energetic rapper whose namesake was the moniker of a fearsome gangster from the Prohibition Era.

Go figure.