The music world lost too many rappers in 2022. From up-and-coming stars-in-the-making
to a popular 90s hitmaker, here are all the people that hip-hop fans said farewell to.
Rapper PnB Rock died during an armed robbery at Los Angeles'
Roscoe's House of Chicken 'N Waffles in September 2022. As BBC News reported,
he was having lunch with his girlfriend, social media influencer Stephanie Sibounheuang,
and saved her life by pushing her under a table when a robber opened fire. The late musician,
who was 30, was struck by multiple gunshots. Sibounheuang wrote in part on Instagram:
"My man saved my life [...] I'm not supposed to be here but bc of him I am."
Born Rakim Hasheem Allen in Philadelphia, PnB Rock had broken into the charts with his song
"Selfish" in 2017. He later collaborated with Ed Sheeran and Chance the Rapper on
"Cross Me" and Pop Smoke on "Backseat," before his sudden death sent shockwaves
around the rap world. After the news of his death broke, Nicki Minaj wrote on Twitter:
"My heart is hurting for the MOTHERS OF THESE KIDS that
tried to make something better of their lives!!!"
Meek Mill also expressed his grief, writing,
"Rip dawg you didn't deserve that."
The Atlanta rapper Lil Keed started out by making music with his little brother and
scoring some viral hits online. As he told Complex in 2020, Young Thug was a mentor
and an inspiration to him because they came from the same neighborhood. In 2018,
Lil Keed featured on the Lil Uzi Vert song "Heavy Metal" and had his own hit single with "Nameless."
Lil Keed then released his first album in 2019 — titled Long Live Mexico after his late friend,
Mexico — and collaborated with Young Thug and Future. Lil Keed told Complex:
"My goal and my intentions for my future? I wanna be a megastar. I don't wanna be
no superstar. [...] I wanna try to be past Prince and Michael Jackson
and 'em. And I know I can do it as long as I stay committed to what I'm doing."
"I made it from where folk don't make it from."
His sudden death came after the rapper had been experiencing severe stomach pains,
according to TMZ, and his organs began to fail after he went into
the hospital. His brother and fellow rapper, Lil Gotit, wrote on Instagram,
"Can't believe I seened u die today bro I did all my cries I know what u
want me to do and that's go hard for Mama Daddy Our Brothers Naychur and Whiteboy"
Fans of JayDaYoungan were devastated when the Louisiana rapper was killed in July 2022 after
being ambushed by five gunmen outside his house. After starting out as a SoundCloud musician,
JayDaYoungan had been popular online for songs like "Interstate," but it
was "Elimination" that became his breakout hit in 2018. He stated
that his ambition was to start his own label, telling Genius the following year:
"Later on in my career, when I get to a certain point,
I will be signing artists. [...] Just perfecting my craft each and every day."
JayDaYoungan's father was sitting with him outside their house when his son was shot
down. His father was also shot in the arm, but JayDaYoungan lost too much blood after
receiving at least eight gunshots and later died in a nearby hospital. He was only 24.
Trouble died at age 34 in June 2022 after being shot during a home invasion in Atlanta,
Georgia. The Rockdale County police explained in a press conference that the rapper had
been visiting an unnamed female friend at the time. The suspected shooter, rather than being
familiar with Trouble himself, had previously been involved in a domestic incident with her.
Trouble started rapping at age 14, as he told XXL. In his early career,
he was praised by Complex for his authenticity and honesty about his past brushes with the
law. After his career took off in 2018, Trouble appeared on the song "Bring It Back" with Drake
and collaborated with The Weeknd on "Come Thru." His record label, Def Jam, wrote on Instagram,
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the children, loved ones, and fans of Trouble.
A true voice for his city and an inspiration to the community he proudly represented."
Snootie Wild died in February 2022 after being shot in the neck in Houston. The "Yayo" rapper
was 36 at the time of his death, as Deadline reported. The Memphis rapper was best known
for his collaborations with Yo Gotti, T.I., and Master P. Snootie Wild released his own
EP Go Mode in 2014 and followed it up with the Ain't No Stoppin' Me mixtape.
Snootie Wild's death came after he seemingly got
into an argument with an unidentified man and woman over a road accident,
as Houston police told ABC 13. The authorities confirmed to the news station:
"They were talking for a bit, and then all of a sudden,
gunfire went off. Only one shot, actually."
After the rapper was found next to his SUV, he was taken to a nearby hospital
for treatment, where he later died. Up-and-coming rapper TDott Woo was killed
in a shooting in February 2022, less than a day after signing his first big record deal.
He was only 22 at the time of his death. His killers shot TDott Woo in the head and
knee when he was walking around his home, the Canarsie neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York.
TDott Woo had been known for inventing dances and working with other New York City rappers.
He had been friends with the late rapper Pop Smoke, who was also from Canarsie and died in
a similar drive-by shooting in Los Angeles two years prior, as the New York Daily News
noted. After news of TDott Woo's death broke, Bronx rapper Lil Tjay wrote on Instagram:
"U Iconic gang !! Energy unmatched ... we gon miss u forever."
The rapper Wavy Navy Pooh was shot while driving a car with two children and an adult woman inside in
January 2022. According to the local police, the musician died at the scene after being
surprised by his killers on his way to a nearby zoo. Both the kids and the woman were unharmed.
This wasn't his first time getting shot: Wavy Navy Pooh previously received a gunshot wound
in his leg in May 2020, and local law enforcement was reportedly already investigating his possible
connections to other shootings. He had been 28 at the time of his death and had garnered an online
fan base through songs like "M.I.A.M.I. (Murder is a Major Issue)." His label,
Quality Control, mourned the loss on Instagram, confirming that the social
media speculation had been true, and the rapper was dead. The label wrote:
"It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that we announce the loss of one of our beloved
artists, Wavy Navy Pooh. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family at this time."
Tragedy struck at Lil Devin's family home in January 2022
when the 24-year-old Indiana rapper was murdered at a New Year's Eve
party by several masked intruders. His brother, Donald Cox, shared with Fox 59:
"He was just one of those people that believed in me before I even believed in myself."
The rapper's mother later claimed to the outlet that somebody in Lil Devin's
inner circle must have helped plan his death, telling Fox 59:
"To know that he felt that type of pain and that somebody would do that to him breaks my heart."
The rapper had dropped his own album just a couple of months before his
untimely death. 900 Vet included songs like "Long as I'm Free/First
Day Out." One of the young teenagers that Lil Devin mentored told Fox 59:
"[Lil Devin] was all about all the kids staying in school, doing good, listen to your parents. [...]
He was a good, respectful, loving person." Archie Eversole's death made headlines when
it was revealed that the Atlanta rapper's own brother, Alexander Kraus, was charged with his
murder. The 37-year-old was shot in the home where he lived with that brother on March 25,
2022. Although the rapper survived long enough to seek help at a nearby store, he died nine days
later at Grady Memorial Hospital. Eversole's mother has since claimed Kraus' innocence.
Born in Germany, Eversole started rapping as a young man in Atlanta. Best known for his
crowd-pleasing 2002 hit "We Ready," which could often be heard at sports events,
Eversole soon became a staple of the Dirty South rap scene. The sports world quickly reacted to the
shocking news of Eversole's death. An Atlanta United supporters group wrote on Twitter:
"This one hurts, fam. A lot. Whether it was attending tailgates,
his constant presence at games, or manning the capo stand,
few Atlanta hip-hop stars embraced #ATLUTD as hard as Archie had."
Drill rapper FBG Cash was killed in a drive-by shooting in Chicago during the early hours of
June 10, 2022. As ABC 7 Chicago reported, the 31-year-old rapper was in a car on the
South Side of Chicago with a woman who was also injured in the gunfire. Although he was
rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment, FBG Cash was later pronounced dead. His rap group,
Fly Boy Gang, had tragically already lost one member to gun violence: FBG Duck,
another drill rapper, was shot down in broad daylight by four masked attackers in 2020.
Alongside rappers Lil Jay, Wooski, Billionaire Black, Young Mello,
and FBG Dutchie, FBG Cash racked up millions of views on songs like "Back Again 2X's" and
"Computer Murderers." He released his final music video, which was made for the song "Intro" only
two weeks before his death. Fellow rapper Wiz Khalifa paid tribute to him in a concert soon
after the sad news was announced, showing FBG Cash's picture during a live performance
of "See You Again" alongside other artists who had recently died before their time.
DJ Kay Slay, aka the "Drama King" of rap, died in April 2022 from COVID-19 complications. He was
55 and had been put on a ventilator months earlier. His family wrote in a statement:
"Our hearts are broken by the passing of Keith Grayson, professionally known as
DJ Kay Slay. [...] [He was] a dominant figure in hip-hop culture with millions of fans worldwide."
The New Yorker began as a graffiti artist but started performing as a
DJ with his own mixtapes in the '90s. DJ Kay Slay told The New York Times in 2003:
"I told myself I would be so big that one day the same people I
was begging for records would be begging me to play their records."
In addition to releasing his own albums, like The Soul Controller and More Than Just a DJ,
the artist later became known for giving air-time to feuds like Nas vs. Jay-Z or 50 Cent vs. Ja
Rule, introducing the world to their diss tracks. Rap legend Coolio was 59 when he died on September
28, 2022. The "Gangsta's Paradise" artist was found on a friend's bathroom floor in
Los Angeles. Sources cited by TMZ Hip Hop revealed that paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene,
and his manager later suggested that Coolio's cause of death was cardiac arrest.
He started rapping as a teenager in Compton and joined the group WC and the Maad Circle
in the early '90s. As a solo artist, Coolio had his first hit with "Fantastic Voyage." But it
was "Gangsta's Paradise," a Grammy-winning track that sampled Stevie Wonder and became
Billboard's single of the year in 1995, that made him internationally famous.
"I was determined. I was going to make it or I was going to probably end up in prison."
A wide range of fans and celebrities paid tribute to Coolio after his death,
including contemporaries like LL Cool J and Snoop Dogg. Meanwhile, Michelle
Pfeiffer recalled how "Gangsta's Paradise" had been used in her movie Dangerous Minds,
which is why she also appeared in the music video. She wrote on Instagram:
"I remember him being nothing but gracious. 30 years later I
still get chills when I hear the song. Sending love and light to his family."