I recently blogged about rapper T.I., currently being held in jail on gun charges. He allegedly sent his bodyguard to purchase machine guns. Machine guns? Seriously, didn’t those go out of style with Prohibition? Who needs a machine gun in this day and age?
I do enjoy listening to some rap music, but I also think some is pure trash. Anyhow, I started thinking about all the rappers lost to tragedy when I read today that rapper Big Moe had died at the age of 33 due to a heart attack. While his death was not related to violence, it was tragic in that he died at such a young age.
What other rappers have met an untimely end? Here are just a few:
One of the most high profile rapper deaths occurred when Tupac Shakur was shot in 1996. Tupac has sold over 75 million albums, but never lived long enough to see his 26th birthday. He was shot four times in the middle of the Las Vegas strip while riding around with Death Row owner Suge Knight after a Mike Tyson fight. He died six days later. Despite being in the middle of Vegas on a busy night, his death has never been solved.
Biggie Smalls (The Notorious B.I.G.)
Rumored to have been involved in the death of Shakur, Biggie too died at the age of 25, less than eight months after Tupac. Biggie was in California to promote his upcoming album, ironically titled Life After Death. He attended a party for Vibe Magazine that was held at the Peterson Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. Biggie and his entourage left right after midnight. When his GMC Suburban stopped at a red light a mere 50 yards from the museum, it was riddled with bullets, four of which hit Biggie. He was rushed to Cedar-Sinai Medical Center, but pronounced dead at 1:15 am. Another case of a rapper murdered in a crowded area, his murder was never solved, although many think it was a retaliation hit for Shakur’s death.
Jam Master Jay
A founder of the innovative hip-hop group Run-D.M.C., Jam Master Jay had already survived one gunshot wound, but on October 30, 2002, he was shot and killed while in a recording studio in Queens, New York. Again, many thought this murder stemmed from a rap feud, which involved Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff. McGriff was angered at Jam Master Jay for helping then unknown 50 Cent, who McGriff felt has exposed to much about him in his song “Ghetto Qur’an.” McGriff is serving a life sentence in prison having been convicted of paying to have rapper E-Moneybags and his associate Troy Singleton murdered.
This past April, prosecutors named Ronald “Tenad” Washington as an accomplice to Jam Master Jay’s murder. He is also a suspect in the murder of another rapper/producer, Randy Walker, an associate of Tupac Shakur who was murdered in 1995.
Big L
Big L was known for his freestyling, which he often did in his Harlem neighborhood. He was shot multiple times in the head and chest on February 15, 1999. His murder was never solved, but many believe it was due to a debt owed by his older brother, Leroy Phinazee. Phinazee was in prison at the time Big L was killed. Once he got out, he too was murdered on the same street as Big L. His murder remains unsolved.
But, not all the rap deaths are murders:
MC Trouble:
The first female rapper signed to Motown, MC Trouble died in 1991 from heart failure due to an epileptic seizure. She was 19.
Buffy
Darren Robinson, better known as Buffy, sang with the 80s rap group The Fat Boys. He died of a heart attack at the age of 28. He reportedly weighed 450 pounds.
Easy-E
Easy-E entered the hospital for what he thought was bronchitis. Turns out it was an advanced case of AIDS. He died in 1995 at the age of 31.
Grym Reaper (Too Poetic)
Diagnosed with colon cancer in 1999, Anthony Berkeley, whose rap names were Grym Reaper and Too Poetic, was given only three months to live. However, he managed to live almost two year longer than his prognosis, dying in 2001.
ODB
Oddly enough, there doesn’t seem to be many rappers that have died due to overdoses, but ODB is one of them. Taking the lethal combination of cocaine and the painkiller Tramadol, ODB died in 2004.
Big Pun
Big Pun was another case of a rapper who died of a heart attack due to his obesity. With weight fluctuating between 450 and 700 pounds, Big Pun died in 2000 at the age of 28.