In the streets, anything can happen.
Sometimes best friends can become enemies, over money or even petty beef.
Here is a look at a few rappers who were stabbed in the back by someone close to them
and killed by one of their friends.
Lil Snupe
Lil Snupe was a rapper from Jonesboro, Louisiana
best known for his association with Meek Mill and Dreamchasers Records.
The rapper was a hot up-and-coming talent
who had managed to get the co-sign of major artists in the industry before
he was tragically murdered by a friend over a video game.
Snupe grew up in a rough part of Louisiana known for violence and crime.
He was raised by a single mother who had him at just 15 years old
and they struggled to get by when the rapper was growing up.
His mother says that Snupe always had the dream of becoming a big rapper
and making it out of the hood.
He started rapping at a young age and became known around his city
as a talented freestyler.
When Snupe was 17,
he went to see Meek Mill do a concert at Louisiana Grambling State University
and caught the rapper getting into his van after the performance.
He went and knocked on the window and managed to catch Meek’s attention.
He slid him a demo tape and only 20 minutes later,
Meek called him back to set up a meeting.
Snupe later met up with Meek and spit a hot freestyle for him and his crew,
which led to the rapper getting signed to the Dream Chasers shortly after.
At only 18 years old,
Lil Snupe was in a good position to do major things in the rap game.
He had cosigns from legends in the industry like Rick Ross and Bun B.
DJ Khaled even said that he predicted that Lil Snupe would be the next artist to blow up.
He dropped his first mixtape RNIC in 2013.
The track Melo from that mixtape blew up and currently has over 17 million views on YouTube.
Snupe had a gift for blending the sound of Southern hip hop with an East Coast flow
and his freestyling abilities
made him one of the most promising up and coming rappers of the time.
But, like many talented rappers, Lil Snupe lost his life far too soon,
after getting killed by one of his close friends.
On June 20th, 2013,
Lil Snupe went to the Maplewood Apartments in Winfield, LA
to see his friend Tony Holden.
He was there along with another friend named Edrick Stewart aka Lil E.
The three men were in the apartment playing video games
and shooting dice when allegedly an argument broke out
and somehow Lil Snupe was shot.
Paramedics were called around 4 am, but unfortunately, Snupe could not be revived.
It’s not entirely clear what happened that night
because the only witnesses were the two primary suspects,
Lil E and Tony Holden.
Initially, authorities reported that Tony Holden was the one who fired the fatal shot.
Being a convicted felon, Holden was charged with first-degree murder,
armed robbery, and illegal possession of a weapon.
Lil E was also arrested and charged with manslaughter.
But, strangely no one was ever convicted for the killing of Lil Snupe.
Tony Holden was charged and sentenced to 10 years in prison but not for murder,
only for possession of a firearm as a felon.
The charges against Lil E were later dropped and he was allowed to walk away a free man.
Lil Snupe’s mother has claimed that the autopsy revealed
that it was not Tony Holden’s bullet that killed her son.
She says that Tony is also partially responsible,
but she believes her son’s true killer was Lil E.
She says that Tony Holden had some sort of business relationship with the chief of police,
which led to the investigation not being handled correctly.
That’s why he only got hit with a gun charge and Lil E was able to walk,
even though her son was killed in cold blood.
Lil E did a follow-up interview to deny the claim,
saying that if he was responsible for the murder he’d be locked up.
He says that they were gambling over games and Snupe took Tony for a lot of money,
so Tony shot him to death.
Fans will probably never know what really went down that night.
It does seem strange that no one was officially charged with murder,
even though they know who was there and that both Holden and Lil E had weapons on them.
Louisiana is known for having a pretty corrupt justice system
and it’s possible that the police did not put as much effort into the case as they should have.
But it does also seem strange that Tony would end up doing 10 years
and Lil E would be allowed to walk,
if Tony somehow had connections within the police department.
Either way, one of Lil Snupe’s friends did him dirty.
He was a promising rapper with a lot of potential and, sadly,
he didn’t get a chance to realize his full potential.
His story should be a lesson to any rappers to keep an eye on the people you hang around
because you never know who might be a snake in the grass.
But Lil Snupe isn’t the only promising rapper to get gunned down before reaching his true potential.
This next artist was killed by a former associate
after a shootout outside a recording studio, where the police recovered more than 50 shells.
Bankroll Fresh
Bankroll Fresh was a rapper from Atlanta
who was killed back in 2016 by another local artist named No Plug,
who was also a childhood friend.
Bankroll grew up in the Zone 3 neighborhood of Atlanta
and was well known in the city as a hustler before he became a rapper.
He started making music under the name Yung Fresh,
featuring on several Gucci Mane projects in the early 2010s.
Then he started linking up with famous producers in the city,
appearing on the track For the Love produced by Metro Boomin
and Screen Door produced by Mike Will Made-It.
He dropped his first mixtape Life of a Hot Boy in 2014
and followed up with a sequel the following year.
With cosigns from Atlanta Rap legends like Gucci and 2chainz,
many thought that he would be the next major rapper coming out of Atlanta.
But, just as Bankroll Fresh was blowing up,
he was shot and killed after an altercation with No Plug.
The shooting happened on March 4th, 2016 outside Street Exec Studios in Atlanta.
Bankroll was brought to Hughes Spalding Hospital in Atlanta
where he was pronounced dead.
Police found more than 50 shell casings at the scene
because both rappers had an entourage with them that were also letting off shots.
No Plug turned himself into police but was acquitted for self-defense
after it was established that Bankroll started the fight.
Security footage from the scene
shows a bunch of dudes with weapons crouching outside the studio
waiting for something to happen.
Something starts popping off out of the camera view
and suddenly the men spring into action.
It’s hard to tell from the footage exactly what went down.
But, a few months after the shooting,
No Plug did an interview with DJ Vlad
where he broke down the whole beef and gave his side of the story.
He says that he and the bankroll were good friends growing up
and had known each other since they were 10 or 12 years old.
He says that they were always cool with each other
and there wasn’t any beef until Bankroll started blowing up as a rapper.
He doesn’t go into specifics but claims that there was drama over females
and other petty disagreements in the streets.
He mentions one incident in particular that set off the whole beef.
Apparently around Thanksgiving 2015,
both Bankroll Fresh and No Plug’s cousin
were doing a Turkey Drive in different neighborhoods.
After Bankroll passed out all the toys he had,
he decided to drop the Turkey Drive in No Plug’s hood.
No Plug and his boys weren’t happy about Bankroll just dropping by unannounced
because there was already some drama and they asked him to leave.
No Plug claims that they weren’t trying to disrespect him,
and the rapper wasn’t robbed or attacked,
they just weren’t cool with him pulling up without checking in with someone.
After that, No Plug didn’t see Bankroll until the day of the shooting.
He says that he was at the studio to meet up with a business partner
when he ran into the rapper.
Bankroll was clearly upset about the Turkey Drive incident
and confronted No Plug about why he let his boys kick him out of their hood.
No Plug even claims that he was spotted by a girl who was cool with Bankroll
and the rapper pulled up strictly to confront him.
He said that when he went to leave, Bankroll tried to mess with him
and the two ended up grabbing at each other and falling down the steps.
A mutual acquaintance ended up separating them.
He tried to leave after the scuffle,
but realized that he had dropped his two cellphones in the studio.
He says that when he came back to grab them,
Bankroll and his crew were armed and ready to fight.
Bankroll even had a stick – a street term in the South for a gun.
He says that he was kind of annoyed
because he didn’t feel like the situation was so serious
that it should warrant that many weapons.
Suddenly Bankroll fired off a shot and No Plug’s crew started firing back.
It turned into a crazy shootout with both sides letting off a shower of bullets
and during the mayhem, Bankroll was shot and killed.
After that, No Plug says he called his lawyer Ash Joshi,
an Atlanta-based lawyer known for defending high-profile rappers like Gucci Mane.
He turned himself in to police to give a statement
and and was released without being charged.
The surveillance footage does seem to back up No Plug’s side of the story
because Bankroll and his crew were clearly looking for drama.
Unfortunately, another talented rapper lost his life over a petty disagreement
that could have been easily squashed.
The fact that No Plug and Bankroll were childhood friends
makes the whole situation even more tragic.
But if you thought that was crazy,
this next rapper was murdered by someone from his hood
and it’s been rumored that he only shot because the killer mistook him for his brother.
Big L
Big L is a legendary rapper from Harlem, New York
who was killed back in 1999.
Before his murder,
Big L was one of the most respected MCs coming out of New York
and was famous for his freestyling abilities and unique wordplay.
His debut album, Lifestylez ov da Poor and Dangerous
is considered a classic album in New York City hip hop
and it was the only studio album the rapper released while he was alive.
Although Big L was respected in the underground,
he never quite achieved the commercial success his talent deserved.
Just before he died,
he was in talks to sign to Roc-a-fella Records for his second album the Big Picture.
But, before Big L had his moment to truly shine, he was gunned down at just 24 years old.
Around 8:30 pm on February 15th, 1999,
Big L was shot nine times in the face and chest
during a drive-by shooting outside of 45 W 139th Street in Harlem.
Police later arrested a man named Gerard Woodley,
who happened to be one of Big L’s childhood friends that he grew up with in Harlem.
The police also put out a statement claiming that
“it’s a good possibility that the killing was retaliation
for something that Big L’s brother did, or Woodley believed he had done”.
But, the world will never truly know what happened
because Woodley was later released due to lack of evidence
and to this day the case remains unsolved.
There are several theories as to what may have happened.
One theory is that Woodley was actually beefing with Big L’s brother Leroy Phinazee,
who was in prison on an armed robbery charge at the time.
Allegedly, Big L was wearing Leroy’s chain on the day he was killed
and Woodley either shot Big L thinking he was his brother
or chose to shoot the rapper because he couldn’t get to his intended target,
so he went after the closest thing to him.
Another theory was that Big L was the target
and he was killed in retaliation for setting Woodley up to get robbed.
It’s been rumored that Big L was known around Harlem for setting up drug dealers
by pretending to do business with them,
only to send their location to his crew of jack boys,
who would steal their cash and product.
It’s been alleged that Woodly was one of the dudes Big L set up
and he killed the rapper as payback.
A third theory is that Big L and his brother tried to put a hit out on Woodley,
who found out what they were planning
and decided to kill the rapper before he was able to carry out the hit.
This theory is supported by Cam’ron,
who also grew up in Harlem around that time and knew both Woodley and Big L.
In an unreleased song the rapper previewed on IG Live in 2016, Cam’ron raps
“Grew up with Big L and the dude who supposedly killed him,
A week before that, though, Big L had tried to kill him.
What was he to do?”.
But, Cam never actually released the song or made it clear whether he was just speculating
or if he had some sort of information that the public didn’t know.
The murder of Big L was just another example of a talented rapper
who lost his life before he was able to reach his full potential.
Even if he isn’t around to enjoy it,
his legacy lives on in the music he left
and he is now considered one of the most talented lyricists to emerge
from New York City in the 1990s.
But, his story and the others mentioned in this video
should be a lesson to every up-and-coming artist
to watch who you surround yourself with,
because even your childhood friends can lead to your own death.
If you liked this video check out some of our previous videos!
From Rappers Who Ran From Cops to Rappers Getting Ran Up On
we cover the most insane stories that you need to hear!
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