Photo: (L-R) Drakeo the Ruler (Walik Goshorn/MediaPunch /IPX), FBG Cash in his video for "YB Flow" (Official FBGCash via YouTube), Young Dolph (mpi04/MediaPunch /IPX) Dayvon "King Von" Bennett (provided to NPR courtesy of the artist).
Daniel “MC Daleste” Pellegrine was a 20-year-old Brazillian hip-hop artist who was shot on stage in front of 4,000 fans at a free concert in Campinas, São Paulo, on July 7, 2013.
There were thoughts he may have been the victim of a vigilante death squad with links to the police that could also be responsible for the murders of six other MCs since 2010.
MC Daleste was shot in the stomach and video footage posted on the internet showed the rapper slumping to the ground midway through a rant about the police, The Daily Mail reported.
Many of his songs contain anti-police lyrics. Before his death, he was raking in more than $60,000 a month as an artist, The Daily Mail reported.
“They are a group of assassins that are made up of ex-policemen and serving officers,” Marcelo Rezende, an investigative journalist and presenter of Record TV’s prime-time crime show, told The Daily Mail.
Rezende added, “They are mainly military police officers who have either been expelled from the force or have left to go into crime because it offers a more lucrative return than their salaries.”
Greek hip-hop artist Killah P (Pavlos Fyssas) was noted for his anti-fascist activism. He was murdered on Sept. 18, 2013, in Keratsini, Greece, by a member of the neo-fascist group Golden Dawn. He was stabbed to death. Killah P and his father were members of the highly political labor union Syndicate of Metalworkers of Piraeus (SMP), Al Jazeera reported.
Killah P had been a staple on the Greek hip-hop scene since 1997, starting his music career in the low bap movement.
Low bap is a subgenre of the Greek hip-hop music scene that emerged in the mid-1990s and is characterized by slower tempo and rhyming than usual. The lyrics tend to have sociopolitical content.
Eighteen-year-old British hip-hop artist Depzman, whose birth name is Joshua Ribera, was stabbed to death after attending a tribute night for a knife murder victim. He died one day later at an area hospital on Sept. 21, 2013.
Depzman had been attending a fundraising event in memory of another teen killed a year prior. An 18-year-old man was arrested in Depzman’s murder, BBC reported.
Depzman was described as “a young, talented MC,” who by accounts was on the rise as a local artist.
According to his mother, Alison Cope, on the day he was murdered he had received his first royalty check for his debut album, “2Real.”
“I shouted up to him ‘Josh, Josh, your money has gone in’ and he shot out of bed. You know the first thing he did was buy me this gold Michael Kors watch,” she recalled to Birminham Mail in 2018.
Flabba (born: Nkululeko Habedi) was intentionally killed by his girlfriend on March 9, 2015, in South Africa. Sindisiwe Manqele was later found guilty of murder.
According to prosecutors, Manqele was jealous of seeing him talking to an ex-lover. An argument ensued and Manqele stabbed him through the chest, BBC reported.
He died at his home in a Johannesburg township.
Flabba was a member of Skwatta Kamp, considered the pioneers of South African hip-hop. Founded in 1996, Skwatta Kamp had hits such as “uMoya” and “Clap Song.”
A shooting outside a Toronto nightclub on June 30, 2018, resulted in the death of 21-year-old artist Smoke Dawg (birth name: Jahvante Smart).
Local news outlet CP24 reported that two men and a woman were shot in broad daylight outside the Cube Nightclub.
Smoke Dawg was best known for 2015’s “Trap House.” In 2017, his exposure grew when he traveled alongside fellow Canadian Drake for his Boy Meets World tour.
Following the news of Smoke Dawg’s death, Drake posted on Instagram: “All these gifts and blessed souls and inner lights being extinguished lately is devastating.” Drake captioned a performance photo with Smoke Dawg. “I wish peace would wash over our city. So much talent and so many stories we never get to see play out. Rest up Smoke.”
Filipino battle MC Lil John was 35 when he was shot and killed in the Philippines province of Cavite on Oct. 20, 2019. Born John Ross Delos Santos, he was sitting on a motorbike when a gunman approached and shot him twice in the head, according to ABS-CBN News (via Coconuts Manila).
U.K. Drill artist Donovan “Dimzordimma” Allen was killed in London on Feb. 7, 2022. The 18-year-old emerging artist was fatally stabbed after being chased on foot by his killer with a machete.
Having just enjoyed his first public performance days before, the artist was “chilling with friends” at the time of the attack, Evening Standard reported.
The 14-year-old assailant was reportedly arrested by local police two days later.
“Bare wheelups wow man my first show thanks to everyone who came to support really appreciate it still feels unreal!!!! Big up to the fits team 100x,” he posted on social media on Jan. 24.
Dimzordimma’s last release was “Juggin” at the top of 2022.
One of the biggest hip-hop artists in Sweden was murdered on Oct. 21, 2021. Besides making music, the 19-year-old was also caught up in gang violence, according to news reports.
Nils Kurt Erik Einár Grönberg, who was commonly known as Einár, was shot execution-style outside his apartment building in Stockholm, NDTV reported.
Einár was due in court to testify about being kidnapped by rival rappers in 2020. Two other musicians were ultimately sentenced to prison for kidnapping Einár, holding him at gunpoint for hours and robbing him of valuable jewelry, Pop Culture reported. The kidnappers also photographed him in humiliating positions and shared the pictures on social media.
Einár had a very public feud with fellow Swedish rapper Yasin, who was arrested and held in jail for nearly a year over a conspiracy to kidnap Einár. However, the plan went forward without Yasin’s involvement.
Toronto hip-hop artist Houdini (born Dimarjio Antonio Jenkins) was shot and killed in downtown Toronto on May 26, 2020. He was 21. Around 4 p.m. that afternoon, gunfire erupted around outside the Bisha Hotel in Toronto’s entertainment district.
Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders said it appeared the shooting was targeted.
“It turns out the suspect vehicle, based on the evidence we have right now, was waiting for about 40 minutes,” Saunders said.
Houdini, who grew up in Brampton, Ontario, was one of the most streamed independent Canadian rappers with 9.2 million plays on Spotify in 2019, Global News reported.
He started rhyming and writing his own music at age 15. His last EP was “underGROUND.” He was best-known for his tracks “Late Nights with Burna Bandz,” “Myself,” and “Backseats and Big Time.”
Puerto Rican hip-hop artist Kevin Fret, who billed himself as the first openly gay Latin trap artist, was fatally shot in San Juan on Jan. 10, 2019, according to the police reports.
Fret, 25, was riding on a motorcycle in the Santurce neighborhood at about 5:30 a.m. when he was shot twice. He was hit in the head and the hip, the police said. He was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital, The New York Times reported.
In April 2019, his hit single, “Soy Así,” or “I’m Like This”, was released.
No arrests were made, but Fret’s mother accused Latino trap singer Ozuna and his manager, Vicente Saavedra, of ordering the death of her son. The two artists reportedly were involved and then had a falling out. Fret was accused of blackmailing Ozuna over a leaked pornographic video that Ozuna appeared in as a minor, Newsweek reported.
Feis, born Faisal Mssyeh, was murdered on New Year’s Day 2019 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Police quickly arrested the shooter.
Feis, 32, was shot at about 4 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2019, following an apparent argument in a nightspot on the Gouvernestraat in Rotterdam, according to NL Times.
Authorities said Feis and his 31-year-old brother had nothing to do with the disagreement, but the shooter opened fire on the street and Feis was hit.
Feis died at a nearby hospital soon after the shooting.
