A medical mishap, an onstage seizure, and a deadly attack with an axe. These rappers gained fame with their music, but became infamous on account of their tragic deaths.
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00:00A medical mishap, an onstage seizure, and a deadly attack with an axe, these rappers
00:05gained fame with their music, but became infamous on account of their tragic deaths.
00:10Presenting a gritty, visceral, and bleak depiction of urban New York life in the early 1990s,
00:14Mobb Deep helped define the East Coast gangsta rap sound of the era.
00:17The duo, consisting of Havok and Prodigy, released eight albums worth of material, including
00:22acknowledged hits and classics like Shook Ones Part II and Quiet Storm.
00:26Mobb Deep's Prodigy, born Albert Johnson, contended with chronic medical issues from
00:30infancy.
00:31As a baby, he was diagnosed with sickle cell anemia, wherein red blood cells change form
00:35and don't last as long as they should, leading to extremely painful blood flow problems as
00:39well as weakness and diminished motor skills.
00:42In June 2017, Prodigy performed at an outdoor hip-hop festival in Las Vegas, and the extreme
00:47heat triggered an episode that required hospitalization.
00:50That's common for sickle cell anemia patients, but while under medical supervision for that
00:54health issue, Prodigy choked to death.
00:56He was eating an egg, and part of it became lodged in his airway, killing the rapper.
01:00Prodigy was 42 years old.
01:03A producer, singer, and writer as well as a rapper, Static Major was instrumental in
01:07the creation of some of the biggest and most era-defining hip-hop-flavored hits of the
01:10late 1990s and early 2000s.
01:12He wrote Aaliyah's Are You That Somebody and Try Again, helped produce Genuine's Pony,
01:17and earned a Featured Artist credit on Lil Wayne's Lollipop, a Grammy-winning number
01:21one hit in 2008.
01:23In February 2008, the musician-born Stephen Garrett sought medical treatment at Baptist
01:27Hospital East in Louisville, Kentucky, the city where he grew up.
01:31Doctors explained that his suite of symptoms was caused by myasthenia gravis, a scarcely
01:35diagnosed autoimmune disease.
01:37It's a chronic condition that usually appears in men over the age of 50.
01:41Static Major was only 33, and he wouldn't survive his hospital visit.
01:45During immediate treatments, a surgeon placed a catheter into the rapper's neck, and he
01:48immediately reported severe pain, not at the point of insertion, but in what felt like
01:53his internal organs.
01:54An X-ray indicated an improperly placed line, and when the nurse removed the catheter, Garrett
01:58lost consciousness.
02:00Doctors were unable to save him.
02:02The dark, introspective, and highly descriptive rap subgenre known as drill emerged in the
02:062010s, and Pop Smoke became one of the movement's earliest and best-known figures.
02:10In 2019 and 2020, Pop Smoke released Meet the Woo and Meet the Woo 2, the latter peaking
02:16at number seven on the U.S. album chart.
02:18In the summer of 2020, the rapper scored four Top 20 hits â For the Night, What You Know
02:22About Love, The Woo, and Mood Swings â but he wouldn't get to enjoy any of that success.
02:27In February 2020, the Brooklyn-based Pop Smoke, also known as Bashar Jackson, lived temporarily
02:32in the Hollywood Hills area of Los Angeles, in a home owned by Real Housewives of Beverly
02:36Hills cast member Teddy Mellencamp.
02:39In the early hours of February 19, 2020, a group of four young men staged a home invasion
02:43with the intent to rob the house and the rapper.
02:45During the altercation, one of the masked intruders shot Jackson.
02:49Suffering mortal wounds in the attack, the rapper was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center,
02:52where his death was declared.
02:54Pop Smoke was 20 years old.
02:55While the rapper's death was undoubtedly tragic, the bizarre aspect was the part that social
03:00media had enabled the home invaders to locate Pop Smoke.
03:03We showed police social media posts that appear to show Pop Smoke and a friend posing in front
03:08of the home yesterday.
03:10Hours before the crime took place, the rapper had posted photos of elaborate expensive gifts
03:13he had been sent in congratulations for the recent release of his mixtape, Meet the Whoop
03:172, with a label bearing his Los Angeles address.
03:21Performer Joe C. joined the Twisted Brown Trucker Band in the 1990s after being spotted
03:25in the crowd by Kid Rock.
03:27Appreciated for his deep knowledge of the star's early indie work, Joe C. rapped and
03:30served as a hype man, helping to popularize his boss and friends' then-novel combination
03:34of hip-hop, hard rock, and country.
03:37Early in childhood, Joe C. was diagnosed with celiac disease.
03:39Aside from its gastrointestinal effects in relation to the consumption of gluten, celiac
03:43disease is also a serious autoimmune condition that can lead to joint pain, mental health
03:48issues, and growth and maturation problems.
03:50For the rapper-born Joe Calleja, celiac disease is the reason why his adult height was limited
03:54to 3 feet 9 inches.
03:56He also endured intestinal pain, and in attempts to stay healthy, he ingested 65 pills and
04:01underwent kidney dialysis treatment, both daily.
04:03On November 16, 2000, Joe C., who had to cut down on his touring jaunts with Twisted Brown
04:08Trucker for health reasons, died in his sleep from complications of chronic celiac disease
04:12at the age of 26.
04:14James Jamie Patterson built a reputation locally as a musician, and more specifically as a
04:19rapper on Long Island, New York.
04:21In 2022, Patterson left New York in favor of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and was gearing up to
04:25put out his first album.
04:26Early in the evening of October 17, the rapper was sitting on a friend's sofa in the living
04:30room of their apartment, eating an egg roll.
04:32On the other side of the room stood Israel Trejo, in the middle of negotiating the purchase
04:36of an axe from another person in the residence.
04:39At no point did Trejo and Patterson ever speak, and they reportedly hadn't met before that
04:43night.
04:44That makes it all the more inexplicable that Trejo decided to swing the axe in Patterson's
04:47direction without any warning or obvious cause.
04:50The axe landed squarely in the rapper's head.
04:53The unprovoked attack, really the demonic aspect of this entire case, is difficult to
05:00get out of your head.
05:01After three days in a Tulsa hospital, Patterson died from injuries to his head and brain.
05:06He was 22 years old.
05:08Police charged Trejo with first-degree murder, for which he received a sentence of life in
05:11prison.
05:13Atlanta's YSL Records is the home of many emergent trap rappers, including label founder
05:17Young Thug as well as Gunna and would-be superstar Lil Keed.
05:21In 2018, Lil Keed released five mixtapes, including Keed Talk to Em and Trapped on Cleveland
05:262, and he followed up regional success and accolades with some national long-form hits
05:30Long Live Mexico and Trapped on Cleveland 3.
05:34Lil Keed's career was still on the rise when it all came to an abrupt and tragic end.
05:37In May 2022, Lil Keed experienced stomach and back pain so extreme that he couldn't
05:42leave his bed for four days.
05:43After his brother noticed Lil Keed's eyes had taken on a jaundiced yellow hue, a potential
05:47sign of liver problems, he took the rapper to a Los Angeles hospital.
05:51En route, the rapper had a seizure and lost consciousness.
05:54About two hours after arrival, Lil Keed was declared dead.
05:57He was 24 years old.
05:58An investigation conducted by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner determined
06:03that the rapper's death stemmed from an undiagnosed and untreated case of eosinophilia.
06:07In that rarely diagnosed condition, the body dangerously overproduces eosinophils, a variety
06:12of defensive white blood cells, possibly in response to a threat of parasite, cancer,
06:16or an allergen.
06:18Ambitious and eager to see if he had what it took to be a rapper, the musician who called
06:21himself Indian Red Boy loitered at Los Angeles-area recording facilities and waited for his chance.
06:26As his aunt, Jasmine Rivera, told University Times,
06:30He just went into the studio hoping someone would hear him out, and one day they did and
06:33let him record.
06:34The ascendant rapper ultimately recorded very little music before his untimely death.
06:38On the afternoon of July 8, 2021, Indian Red Boy sat in a parked car outside of an apartment
06:43complex in Hawthorne, California, near Los Angeles, to make an Instagram Live video.
06:48As he spoke with his friend and influencer Capone, who was at another location, an unidentified
06:53man approached the car and opened fire.
06:55At least 12 gunshots could be heard in the live feed, broadcast out to the rapper's tens
06:59of thousands of followers.
07:01Hawthorne police arrived at the scene and found the rapper deceased in the driver's
07:04seat of his car, having sustained a number of gunshot wounds.
07:07The rapper, born Zarell Dijon Rivera, was 21 years old, and the victim of what police
07:12believed to be a premeditated act.
07:15Born Constantino Soblanogla and adopting the name Kostetic, this rapper was among the biggest
07:20rising stars in African hip-hop, utilizing lyrics in English and South African languages
07:24as well as cutting-edge American beats.
07:27Albums Made in Africa and You're Welcome proved to be big hits in the 2020s, and Akon recruited
07:31the rapper to his Convict Culture label and performed on and amplified the remix of the
07:35hit Big Flexa.
07:37Kostetic was seemingly primed for big success outside of his home country.
07:40Kostetic was a major draw to the 2023 Ultra Music Festival, staged in Johannesburg, South
07:45Africa.
07:46As he performed his set on March 11, the rapper suddenly fell down on stage and was assisted
07:49back to his feet by one of his dancers.
07:52The performance continued on for a few more moments, only for the rapper to once again
07:55stumble, this time tumbling off the stage.
07:58Despite receiving emergency medical treatment, Kostetic died shortly thereafter.
08:01He was 28 years old.
08:03More than a year later, the musician's family shared the results of an autopsy, which determined
08:07that a combination of long-term stress and pressure on his heart triggered an irregular
08:11heartbeat, which then led to a fatal seizure.
08:14A rapper and singer associated with the Afrobeats movement, Mobad, born Illirio Lua Olandamigi
08:19Oloba, developed a significant following in his home nation of Nigeria.
08:23He represented a voice that is not normally heard in Nigeria, and that's for the inner-city
08:29youth.
08:30After he performed his September 2023 show in Ikorodu, Mobad engaged in a violent altercation
08:35with a lifelong friend and a fellow hip-hop musician known as Prime Boy.
08:38Mobad reared up to punch Prime Boy, but didn't make contact and instead hit a car window,
08:43severely lacerating his hand.
08:44Over the next couple of days, the untreated injury grew inflamed and became extremely
08:48painful, leading the rapper to seek out medical attention, and he went to a nurse's assistant
08:52who practiced out of her home.
08:54She delivered multiple medicines intravenously, including what was supposed to be a tetanus
08:58shot to prevent potential bacterial infection.
09:00Immediately after, Mobad suffered seizures and died in the early morning hours of September
09:0512, 2023.
09:06The musician was 27 years old.
09:09The National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives reported that the nurse who delivered
09:13the medicine wasn't a licensed medical professional, and she was subsequently arrested.
09:18For more stories, visit nyseagrant.org