Murder is the leading cause of death for rappers
and it seems like we hear about the death of some of our favorite musicians
a couple times a year. Unfortunately, we do lose a lot of artist
to violence on the streets. Today, we'll look at the man who killed rappers
and whether justice has been served
Chinx Drugz. New York native, Lionel du Fon Pickens,
was born in 1983 and grew up in Queens. Like a lot of kids in the hood
he dropped out of high school in 9th grade.
He decided that music was where he would make his fortune.
So he stayed home right raps, and figuring out beats. Of course,
Pickens needed to pay for studio time if he ever wanted
to make it in the industry and there aren't many job openings
for 15-year-old high school dropouts.
His only option was to start slinging drugs
to get cash to pay for recording sessions. Just as his music was taken off
with the Riot Squad rap group, he was sentenced to almost 5 years in prison
on robbery and drug charges in 2005. His music was put on hold.
But due to some gang connections he made behind bars,
he was able to hook up with more established people in the industry
like French Montana.
The pair would form the group Coke boys together before Drugz
went on his own to to release some solo mixtapes. The Coke Boys
also kept working and releasing music over the next couple of years
At the end of 2014, he was already hinting about the upcoming release
of his debut studio album called Welcome to JFK. Unfortunately,
he didn't get to see the album released though because on May 17th 2015
he was tragically killed. Let's go to the beginning.
Chinx had just finished performing at a show in Brooklyn
and was driving back to his home in Queens in a silver Porsche.
A friend was sitting next to him in the passenger seat.
Instead of going straight home they decided to head to a favorite hookah bar
When they got there,
they saw that they were too late and it was already closed.
As they headed home on Queen's Boulevard around 4 in the morning
they pulled up to a red light.
A car pulled up next to the Porsche on the driver's side . Suddenly,
shots were fired and bullets smashed to the driver's window.
After the shots were fired, Chinx was able to pull the car away
from the light and toward the curb in front of a Dunkin' Donuts
The other vehicle drove off. The two men were rushed to the
Jamaica Hospital Medical Center where it was discovered
that Chinx had been hit at least eight times.
He died at the hospital.
His friend was shot twice and suffered a punctured lung but survived
The rapper's death was a shock to his friends in the industry.
Meek Mill tweeted,
"And the hood gotta stop glorifying suckas that kill good people"
and DJ Khaled posted, "God bless you, your family, your team..
Chinx is a good man, good heart, good friend.. God bless you, my brother !"
People in the neighborhood of Far Rockaway where Chinx grew,
weren't as surprised. One resident said after the announcement of the rapper
death that the only way out of Far Rockaway is either death or jail.
Another resident said, there are no success stories out here.
You're killed when you get successful.
There were no immediate leads as the police look for suspects.
The only thing that go on was one eyewitness say he saw a black Mercedes
speeding away from the crime scene. In fact, it wasn't until
December of 2017, two and a half years after his death,
that anyone was arrested in connection to the shooting.
On December 14th, police finally arrested two men
with evidence that the motive for the killing goes back a few years
Remember how Chinx was up for a few years on robbery charges back in 2005.
After he was released and his music career started taking off,
he was caught violating parole, which sent him back behind bars.
This time, he was locked up on Riker's Island. Another aspiring rapper,
Quincy Homere, AKA Qwality, was also there at that time.
On September 27th 2009, they got into a fight.
The commanding officer of the Queen's South Homicide Squad,
who's in charge of Chinx murder investigation,
says that "We're not exactly sure what the fight is about
but our perpetrator Quincy probably got the worst of it
and he wanted to get back at Chinx." It could have also been due to jealousy
when he saw Chinx's career starting to blow, he took it real personal
and figured that his own career was going south.
Qwality wasn't gonna stand by and be shown up so the beef escalated
In April 2015, the two met again at Chinx's performance in Philadelphia.
They quickly got into a verbal fight which led to Qwality being dismissed
and pretty much blacklisted from the industry. It took less than a month
for Qwality to make his final move on the years long beef between them.
He and his friend Jamar Hill knew where Chinx
will be performing that night in May and followed him away from the
venue before pulling up beside him and emptying a 9mm into the car in Queens
The two men were arrested and charged with 2nd degree murder,
2nd degree attempted murder, 1st degree assault,
and two counts of 2nd degree criminal possession of a weapon
All that came with an expected twenty-five to life.
Both of the suspects were arrested while locked up on unrelated charges
Jamar Hill died of a heart attack in July 2018
and while his case is going to court still,
there's little justice for the victim. Meanwhile, prosecutors have to
wait for Quincy who mirrors current robbery case to be
resolved before they can go forward with the trial.
There are rumors of plea deals but no details yet.
Quincy is still maintaining a complete innocence in the case.
Doe B, Alabama-based rapper Doe B was born Glenn Thomas in 1991
His childhood and teenage years were mostly uneventful
except for the shooting in 2009 when he took a bullet to the eye
resulting in his signature eye patch.
In 2012, he started getting his music career on the road,
releasing his first full-length mixtape under Hood Ridge Entertainment
It features production from greats like Lex Luger and Zaytoven
and immediately started turning heads
After his release, TI approached Doe to sign a Grand Hustle Records
and was featured on a mixtape compilation.
Doe B would only be able to work in the industry for a short while though.
Almost exactly a year after signing with the label,
he was shot and killed unexpectedly. On December 28th 2013
Doe B was with a group of people at the Centennial Bar and Grill on
Highland Avenue in Montgomery, Alabama into the late night
He was set to perform that night and a man named Jason Williams
wanted Doe to help him get into the club which Doe wouldn't do
Once McWilliams and his friend Darius Thomas
were able to get into the building, they started throwing up gang signs
and swearing at Doe and his crew.
The antagonizing escalated until Thomas and Doe were face to face.
One shoved the other, the bottle went flying, and suddenly,
McWilliams was shooting into the crowds.
Thomas ran to the stairs and shot up the place from there.
After the chaos had died down, ambulances and police arrived.
One woman, 21-year-old college student, Kimberly Johnson
was pronounced dead at the scene.
Another man, Tenarius Hamilton, also died of his wounds
and five other people were injured. Doe B was rushed to the hospital
where he was pronounced dead shortly after arriving. On hearing the news,
TI took the Twitter to say, "RIP to my lil brother Doe B.
We gon miss u my ****. U'll never be forgotten & u will not die in vain.
We love u champ. Always"
Doe B's management firm released a statement
calling the rapper an amazing young man in every sense of the word.
A truly talented artist, a loving father, and a dedicated member
of the hip hop community at large. We ask that you remember him
not by his untimely death but by his love of life
and the music he left behind. Just 2 days later, McWilliams
turned himself into police, charged with 2 counts of capital murder
He was held without bond. Darius Thomas
was arrested soon after for his part in the shooting.
He ended up pleading guilty to all three deaths from the shooting
and on January 10th 2018, he was sentenced to 85 years in prison.
In September of that year, another man, Taboris Mock,
was arrested and charged with three charges of 1st degree assault
Since Thomas took the rap for the killings,
both Mack and McWilliams only got assault charges. They pleaded guilty
and each received 15 years for their part in the shooting
Young Greatness
Young Greatness is probably best known for his 2015 breakout hit, Moolah.
As the song climbed the billboard charts that year, the rapper seemed to be
cementing himself into the industry pretty well.
He was even named one of the 10 artist he needs to know by
Rolling Stone In March 2016. The rapper was born
Theodore Jones in 1984 in New Orleans but relocated with his
family to he Houston in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina
destroyed his hometown. He took his musical influence from Jay Z
and Biggie Smalls and was soon attracting attention from
local Houston rappers like Mike Jones and Bum B.
That kind of industry attention was just what he needed
and he came out with the record deal with quality control music
and Motown labels in 2015. Unlike a lot of his fellow rappers,
Young Greatness tended to stay out of trouble
and never really got involved with gang banging or drug dealing.
He did get caught on drug possession charges and
spent some time in prison between 2007 and 2010 but after that,
he doubled down on his focus and works hard to make the music happen
That unfortunately, came to an end on October 29th 2018
Back in New Orleans for business, he was outside of a Waffle House, Facetimi
Facetiming his manager All of a sudden, shots started popping and
eyewitnesses say they saw Greatness running away from the restaurant.
A little while after the shots had ended,
the rapper was found face down, not far away, shot in the back.
He was pronounced dead right there and it was noted that his car
was missing from the parking lot. There are no suspects
and no leads except for some surveillance footage.
After some investigation and help from the public, police had their suspects
17-year-old Lovance Wix, 19-year-old Donny Maxwell,
and 39-year-old Donald Reaux. In 2019, Wicks pleaded guilty
of armed robbery and obstruction of justice.
He denied killing Greatness but admitted to illegally firing a weapon
He received a twenty-year sentence
helped by the fact that he was only sixteen at the time of the murder
Maxwell pleaded guilty to all those same charges
as well as manslaughter as a waiting sentencing.
Donald Reaux has pleaded not guilty to charges of 2nd degree murder,
being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm and a few other charges.
If he's convicted of the murder, he'll be handed life sentence.
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