DA: Local rapper named ‘Big Phil’ receives sentence

JACKSON, Tenn. – District Attorney Jody Pickens announced that a local rapper named “Big Phil” has been sentenced over drug and firearm possession.

According to the news release, on October 15, 2020, Paul Michael Cheairs, or “Big Phil,” was pulled over by the Jackson Police Department for a window tint violation.

According to the officer, Cheairs was actively smoking marijuana during the traffic stop, leading to the car being searched, and the discovery of one pound of marijuana, drug paraphernalia, and a loaded FN 9mm handgun.

The release says that Cheairs had already been convicted of aggravated robbery in 2013, leading to a Madison County Grand Jury to indict him in 2022 for being possession of marijuana with intent to sell or deliver, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a firearm during commission of a dangerous felony, unlawful possession of a firearm, and possession of a firearm by a convicted (violent) felon.

During the following trial in August of 2023, officer testimony and a rap video produced by Cheairs were used as evidence, with the jury later convicting him of being a felon in possession of a firearm and possession of marijuana with intent to sell/deliver, the release says.

He was recently sentenced to 17 years in the Tennessee Department of Correction.

You can find additional details in the full news release here.