Before Young Pappy Dropped tracks like Shooters, 2 of Everything, Homicide and Killa
Before surviving a string of shootings targeting the up and coming rapper,
Before Young Pappy lost his life on May 29th, 2015, murdered by rival gang members,
Young Pappy grew up in the north side of Chicago, an aspiring drill rapper, who had practiced
his craft from the tender age of just 4 years old.
He's been cited by the likes of Lil Bibby and Montana of 300 as one of the best rappers
in Chicago, one who might easily have cracked the mainstream if it weren't for his untimely
passing.
Much debate still swirls surrounding the circumstances of his death, with many painting the shooting
as a response to the mockery he made of rival gangs in his lyrics.
Others, like his close friends, and mother, Ingrid, see it differently.
They tell the story of a young artist embracing a gangster image to help build a rap career
and escape the streets, but was then murdered by rivals who were jealous of his talent.
My name is Michael McCrudden, documenting the life and carer of Young Pappy prior to
is tragic passing, here for you on Before They
Were Gone.
I've covered other Chicago artists like G Herbo, Lil Durk and Montana of 300.
I also did Chief Keef a while back.
Let me know if you'd like to see an update
on that.
YOUNG PAPPY was born Shaquon Jerome Thomas on May 10th, 1995 in Chicago, Illinois, and
raised primarily by his mother, Ingrid Thomas.
Growing up on the North Side of the city, in Uptown, Edgewater, and Rogers Park, Shaquon
first started rapping when he was just four years old.
He was taught by his older brother, Ryan, who is still rapping today under the name
BuDouble.
Young Shaquon continued to develop a passion for hip hop, and mastered his freestyle skills.
As early as 2007, when Young Pappy was just 12 years old, he began uploading his music
to platforms like Spinrilla and YouTube.
While Young Pappy developed as a rapper throughout his teen years, he also seems to have gotten
into street life, joining the notorious Gangster Disciples.
His crew, in particular, were about 20 members of the Gangster Disciple faction then known
as the the Insane Cutthroat Gangers.
Today, they are known as the Pooh Bear Gang, or PBG, in honour of one of numerous fallen
members, Pooh Bear Sanders.
The gang has long running feuds with the Conservative Vice Lords and the Black P Stones.
The police, the media, and Pappy's own music help to paint him as a serious street hustler.
But his mother, Ingrid, tells a different story.
“That wasn't who he was,” she said, “It's a mode of survival.”
Ingrid claims that the Uptown neighbourhood she raised her son in was not as dangerous
as reporters painted it to be, and that her son's gangster persona, Young Pappy, was not
the real Shaquon.
Those closest to him seem to consistently paint Young Pappy as an artist who was shot
down more out of jealousy for his rap talents than for his gang connections.
And sure enough, his rap sheet is not exactly what you would expect of a dangerous gang
member.
Shaquon's first run in with the law began in eighth grade, when he was arrested after
school for having weed on him.
School authorities wanted to expel him, but Ingrid fought to keep him enrolled.
He would then continue to get picked up on minor charges like possession of weed, reckless
conduct, trespassing, theft, and disorderly conduct, and with his entry into the Juvenile
Justice system, things began to devolve.
And things got worse when Ingrid and Shaquon's father got divorced.
According to Ingrid, Shaquon was mesmerized by rap and gang culture, and adopted the persona
of Young Pappy to help develop his musical brand.
But aside from some minor charges, that image was more or less just an act.
“When did that ever become something new in the rap game?”
She asked, “They lie, they build up a persona to get people to buy into the image so they
can make money.”
At the same time, he did get into some more serious trouble with the law.
In 2013, he was convicted of felony weapon possession and sentenced to two years probation.
He was then found in violation of probation and sentenced to a year in prison, and in
later years, he would go on to be charged with a felony drug charge and be involved
in a five hour standoff against a SWAT team at his Edgewater home.
Either way, the gangster image, paired with his talents as a rapper, did in fact start
to pay off . He dropped a few music videos on youtube throughout 2013, which would receive
hundreds of thousands of views.
Competition would be his earliest to eventually exceed a million, dropped on December 16th,
2013.
As his career began to bubble, so did the animosity directed toward him, for whatever
reason, from rival gangs.
He would soon be the target of numerous shootings.
In February of 2014, he was at a McDonald's restuarant at Pratt boulevard and Clark Street.
A masked gunman entered and began shooting at Shaquon.
He, and three other teens were hit, but Shaquon managed to escape with his life.
A 17 year old bystander, Markeyo Carr, was not so lucky.
He was shot in the head while running away, and fell dead in the parking lot.
After the incident, Young Pappy tweeted,
“Im still here”
In March of 2014, he dropped 2 Cups, which would go on to receive well over 7 million
views by the time of this recording.
While that video began to pick up views, the police seemed to believe that Young Pappy's
music was to blame for the violence in his neighbourhood.
In 2014, 48 people were shot and 14 died in Rogers Park, Edgewater, and Uptown.
Former Rogers Park Police Commander Thomas Waldera called Young Pappy's music videos
“technological kerosene”, which fuelled the gang violence.
Within days of the release of 2 Cups, Young Pappy would be in court on a reckless conduct
charge, and sentenced to 60 days in Jail.
After his release, he got to work promoting what would be his first official mixtape.
On July 13th, the rapper would once again be the target in a shooting.
This time, he was walking down Devon Avenue, near his dad's house, when an unknown passenger
was allegedly ordered by Conservative Vice Lord Eric Vaughn to shoot Young Pappy.
Once again, Pappy Survived, and escaped the shooting unscathed.
But a 28 year old photographer, Wil Lewis, who was taking photos of the rapper at the
time, caught the volley of bullets meant for Shaquon, and died as a result.
As for Young Pappy, he got right back to work on his music, and 2 Cups Part 1 one was released
on August 21, 2014 to Spinrilla.
His more explicitly violent titled song, Killa, would follow in November of 2014, and become
his most popular music video ever.
At the time of this recording, it has nearly 24 million views, and counting.
2015 would bring more music and more violence for Young Pappy.
At one point, he returned to the same McDonald's where he was shot and almost killed the year
prior.
This time, he got into a fight, which moved outside and down the street, and the man he
was fighting ended up with a bullet in his leg.
Young Pappy was charged with reckless conduct.
On April 17th, 2015, Young Pappy dropped the official video for his song Homicide, which
continued to gain him traction, with over 9 million views at the time of this recording.
His second mixtape, 2 Cups Part 2 of Everything was released on May 9th, 2015.
The night before that, he threw a wild mixtape release party, and things got out of hand.
Shots were fired during the festivities, leading to a SWAT team showing up at his house.
Young Pappy and 30 others were charged with misdemeanour disorderly conduct.
On May 22nd, 2015, Young Pappy dropped Shooters, featuring Lil Shawn.
This song would become the one most associated with his death.
One week later, Young Pappy's life would be tragically cut short.
Around 1 35 am on Friday, May 29th, he was with a friend in the 4800 block of North Kenmore
Avenue, when a gunman walked up and started shooting.
Shaquon was hit twice in the back and rushed to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center.
He was pronounced dead at 3 01 am.
The media mainly reported the killing as a response to his lyrics' mockery of rival gangs.
The Chicago Tribune pointed to his song Homicide, and quoted the lyrics,
"we pop out at night but you can still get smoked at noon.
... Head shots rolling up on the dead opps.
I don't lack, I got my gat."
They also, along with numerous others, quoted lyrics from the song shooters, like,
“Gotta whole lotta shooters on the squad, gotta squad full of shooters”
“If I catch an op, I'm smokin them”
and
“You don't even know how to shoot.
I ain't saying I'm a pro pro when I shoot, but the opps can't flex on my name.”
But according to Young Pappy's loved ones, that story is an over simplification.
According to Morrocco Vaughn,
“They act like he made a video taunting a rival gang and the rival gang came and killed
him.
That's not what happened.
That's what happened with Lil Jojo.
So they tried to replicate the story.
Violence in the City of Chicago is a hot topic, so they try to make things neatly fit into
that box.
This don't fit into that box.”
At the time of his death, Young Pappy was working on a third mixtape, 2 cups Part 3.
It was released post houmously in July of 2016.
As for the rest of the story, well, his story lives on in his music and loved ones, because
this before they were gone.
My name's Michael McCrudden, thanks for watching this video.
I've got two more for you down here.
Be sure to check those out, let me know who's next in the comments down below, and I'll
see you in another video!