It's no secret that hip hop and violence often go hand in hand.
In fact, the cause of more than 50% of rapper deaths is murdered.
So unfortunately, every year we can expect to lose
a few of our favorite artists especially if they're
gang bangers or have a criminal record. 2020 has been no
different and we've seen the loss of many of our favorite
rappers in the industry. Without further ado,
here are the rappers who have died in 2020
King Von
Chicago native King Von settled into stardom with his hit track
Crazy Story in 2018. The video for the song
currently has over 17 million views while the remix with Lil Durk
has over 40 million. Follow up to the song with
Crazy Story Part two has over 5 million views and part three
has nearly 30 million. It's safe to say that King Von was
on the fast track of fame and already networked enough to
find hot features and collaborations. Growing up in Chicago
in the 1990s, meant that King Von
or Davon Bennett was right in the middle of some serious gang war.
He lived most of his life in Parkway Gardens,
an apartment complex located on O'Block, a notorious gang hood and
the inspiration for Von's third studio album. Welcome to O'Block.
Surrounded by gangs, it was inevitable that he's gonna join up.
He was only a kid when he started his affiliation with
the Black Disciples. One of the most infamously violent gangs in Chicago.
He spent his teenage years in and out of juvy
and real jail after he turned 18. Aside from the music,
he's probably most known for beating a murder charge
back in 2014 after he and a friend open fire on a couple of
people at a party, killing one of them. Luckily for him, his buddy
who's with him at the time took the fall landing 28 years in prison.
Von was set free without more than a slap on the wrist.
But for rappers like Von, the drama and violence is
all part of the game. He was back at it again in 2019
when he allegedly shot and robbed a man with fellow rapper
and friend Lil Durk. According to prosecutors, the rapper shot a
man and stole his Jeep in $30,000 in cash. The rapper's lawyers tho
said that the victim was trying to rob the rappers
and they acted in self defense. In the end,
the man recovered and Von and Durk were released in June on
$250K and $300k bails. Since then, King Von seemed to be working on his
music and staying out of trouble. The problem is,
trouble found him. In the early morning of November 6, 2020,
a scuffle broke out at the Monaco Hookah Lounge in Atlanta.
Those involved in the fight poured into the street
throwing punches. There were two groups of people, Von and his crew,
mostly other Black Disciples, and a group
associated with rapper Quando Rondo. What started The start fight is unclear
But soon after the man were on the street, shots were fired.
Surveillance video shows Von landed on the ground with another man.
Soon he was helped by someone else
into a car and was taken to the hospital. Off duty the cops at the
club and a patrolling cop nearby attempted to stop the shootout,
opening fire on the shooters. King Von was
pronounced dead at the hospital. Two other men were
also killed in the shooting with several more wounded.
Police weren't immediately sure who shot the rapper
but they charged 22 year old Timothy Leeks with felony murder a
couple of days later. He's currently in custody at the
hospital as he recovers from gunshot wounds.
5th Ward Weebie
Known as the Bounce King, 5th Ward Weebie's real
name was Jerome Cosey. He had been a key player in
New Orleans hip hop starting in the 90s. While he's mostly a local
southern rapper, he still had quite a few hits and
collaborated with other well-known artists.
His biggest tracks include, Let Me Find Out, and the local hit, **** Katrina
At only 42 years old, Weave's death was early and unexpected
but unlike most rapper deaths, it wasn't due to violence.
Instead, in an unfortunate event, Weebie passed away from
surgical complications on a ruptured artery. He passed on
January 9th 2020 and was mourned by fans and artists alike.
Snoop Dogg, Lil Wayne, and others came out to give their
condolences but it wasn't just industry who felt the loss.
Even the mayor of New Orleans, Latoya Cantrell posted on
Instagram saying, he was an iconic personality,
a New Orleans legend, and a beloved friend. He was the bounce king
who showed us how to move, how to love, and how to bring
passion and humanity to everything we do.
New Orleans has lost the cornerstone of out culture. Our city would not be
the same without his voice and spirit. He was also called a
legend gone far too soon and a cultural figure who embodied
the city of New Orleans in a statement from Louisiana
representatives Richmond.
Huey
Huey had a pretty fast intro to the music world
when he put out the hit single Pop Lock and Drop It in 2006
It was one of the biggest songs of the
early 2000s and didn't take long before it rocked the
Billboard Hot 100 at number 6.
In 2013, Huey signed with Walker Flock of Flame's record label
Brick Squad Monopoly but never released an album with them.
In fact, he had all but disappeared from the industry
for quite a few years until news of his death broke earlier this year.
On June 26th, news outlets revealed that
Saint Louis rapper had been killed in a
double shooting near his hometown. Police were notified
of his arrival at the hospital as a victim of a shooting.
Since he died almost on arrival, they cannot question
him about the shooting. Because of that, cops simply don't know
what happened. According to authorities, detectives believe as
many as ten other individuals are present in and around the
crime scene during the occurrence of this incident.
Another victim involved in the shooting showed up at the
police station where he was taken to a hospital in stable condition.
So far, police have no leads, have not made any arrests,
and are looking for any eyewitnesses to help them
figure out who shot Huey.
Big Booda
24 year old Darnell Hodges, AKA Big Booda, was a local favorite in the
Washington DC hip hop arena. While he hadn't made it to the
mainstream industry, he was well on his way.
With four mixtapes to his name, the latest release at the end of 2019,
Big Booda was not short on ideas for his songs
A friend of his said the rapper was desperate to move on
from the way of life he had and that he truly wanted to get his
life right and leave the area. News of his death broke out
early on February 2nd 2020. According to police,
Booda had been sitting in a car the night before,
parked on the 3800 block of Minnesota Avenue, Northeastern DC.
Police rolled through and found the rapper suffering
from several gunshot wounds. Basically, bleeding out in the parked car.
He was rushed to a nearby hospital but died just after arriving.
His business partner posted on social media that
Booda's death had made him lose faith in DC. He said
"at one point in time, I used to be proud to say I was from SE DC!
I no longer am. I've been blessed to survive and punished at the
time to watch one single area and also a city rob me of 90%
of the people I grew up with and love." Other DC love felt the pain
as well especially the one-year-old child the rapper leaves behind.
Pop Smoke
Pop Smoke is one of the most missed rappers that we've lost in 2020.
He's potentially one of the most talented rappers to come out in recent
years so his death in February was a significant hit.
The rapper had come into fame with his first mixtape, Meet the Woo,
in April 2019. His single Welcome to the Party,
made him an instant favorite for many hip hop fans and even other artists.
Like other rappers, he took on topics like sex,
violence, and drugs but his beats was something new.
When Nicki Minaj got her hands on his single and started remixing,
he was launched even further in the fame.
He didn't let up with that first bit of attention either.
He kept putting out more music like MPR, Flexing, and Dior.
Throughout the rest of 2019, Pop put his head down
to get more music ready and by February 2020,
he released the mixtape, Meet the Woo 2. Featured on the album of artists
like Quavo, Lil TJ, and Fivio Foreign. A deluxe edition
of the tape was released a week later with three new songs added.
The mixtape didn't come out a second too soon.
It's 2 weeks after his release Pop Smoke was suddenly gone.
In the early morning of February 19th, 2020, the rapper was shot to
death in his own home. The circumstances are sketchy.
With him being killed by a few opportunistic thieves. See,
the day before he was killed, Pop Smoke posted a few photos on Instagram.
The first one was of gift bags that he had received
and he clearly showed his personal address on the tag.
Few hours later, he post another shot to Instagram.
This time of himself and a friend sitting in the car in his driveway,
holding up stacks of cash. Those in Instagram photos
led the robbers directly to his house and they showed off the
stuff they can steal once they got inside. At about 4 in the morning,
four men entered Pop's home. There were several people
in the house but the man found the rapper alone as they
look for jewelry and cash. They fired several times at him
before fleeing the home. Someone in the house heard the shots,
ran down, and called 911. An ambulance rushed him to the hospital
but he was announced dead on arrival
Four suspects have been arrested and charged with
murder for Pop Smoke's death. All of them teenagers. One man,
twenty-one-year-old Jaquan Murphy was charged with
attempted murder for his role in situation. Though he wasn't
inside the house. The men are held on 1 million dollars bails
as they await trial. Well, that's all for today.
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