‘I thought it was going to blow up.’ Rapper Risky Blunt’s Lamborghini burns in Key West
When a Lamborghini caught fire in downtown Key West recently, people were left puzzled. The island may be a legendary party town, but it doesn’t see a lot of burning sports cars.
So here comes Gregorio Darian Castellanos, aka rapper Risky Blunt, although he also goes by his middle name.
Castellanos, 22, of Sugarloaf Key, was driving the 2007 Lamborghini that broke out in flames, interrupting part of Fleming Street on Aug. 27.
“I thought it was going to blow up,” he said the day of the fire. “The fire was, from the back, it was like probably two feet over the car.”
But the rapper behind the album ‘”Life’s Risky” walked away without injury.
Castellanos has videos of him behind the wheel of the Italian luxury sports car and also some of firefighters extinguishing the blaze. He says he plunked down $2,200 to rent it for 24 hours for a video shoot.
But the car’s owner, Alex Perez, said he let Castellanos borrow the car. It wasn’t rented, Perez said.
“He’s a good friend of mine,” Perez said of Castellanos. “I let him borrow it for a photo shoot. I thought it’d be a cool idea.”
Perez said the Lambo is at his home in Marathon and he’s awaiting news from the insurance company.
“It happened on my birthday,” Perez said of the fire. “Imagine that. I love that car.”
Perez thinks it was the muffler that caught fire.
“Those cars are known for the muffler to get on fire,” he said.
“I don’t even understand how it happened,” Castellanos said during an interview, while seated at Beards & Brews Bar and Barbershop, which he helped open with his family in January.
Before the fire, a friend drove by him and jokingly told him, “Don’t blow the car up.”
Next, the rapper said he was tooling around in the Lambo when he made a right turn on Fleming Street, saying he was going 25 mph — and, yes he has driven one before, along with a Ferrari and a Rolls-Royce.
That’s when a man on a bicycle told him the car was on fire.
Risky Blunt jumped out and called the fire department.
Key West firefighters were called to the 500 block of Fleming St. at 12:05 p.m. They found a silver Lamborghini with smoke coming from the engine in the back, according to the incident report.
After putting it out, the car engine was left with burned components and a charred electrical system.
The fire was unintentional and the cause undetermined, according to the fire department’s report.
“Due to the vehicle exhaust being located near the area of origin, overheating cannot be ruled out as a cause of the fire,” Capt. Jason Barroso, the fire inspector, wrote in the report.
“I’m happy I didn’t die,” Castellanos said.
He says insurance will cover the damage.
Born in Miami but raised on Stock Island, which is just outside of Key West, Castellanos graduated from Key West High School and then became a licensed barber.
But hip-hop music is his main focus and he says he’s Miami-based. He owns his own label, Risky.
He’s got big plans.
“I just made a song with Twista,” Castellanos said. “I’ve been doing shows in front of tens of thousands of people. I’ve worked with some of the biggest artists in the world.”
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