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).
Tristian Hamilton, aka FBG Cash, was part of the Chicago drill group Fly Boy Gang. He was killed in a shooting that also left a woman seriously wounded on June 11, according to police.
FBG Cash, 31, and a 29-year-old woman were inside a vehicle on a Chicago street around 5 a.m. when a black four-door sedan approached them, Block Club Chicago reported.
FBG Cash sustained multiple gunshot wounds to the body, while the woman was shot in her left arm and upper back.
Popular hip-hop artist and entrepreneur Young Dolph of Memphis was murdered in his hometown in a drive-by shooting on Nov. 17, 2021. His birth name was Adolph Robert Thornton Jr.
Known as the “King of Memphis,” the father of two was 36. The shooting occurred at Makeda’s Homemade Butter Cookies, a local business Young Dolph supported, according to reports. In January 2022, two men were indicted for his murder.
A cult figure ion the Los Angeles hip-hop music scene, Drakeo the Ruler (birth name: Darrell Wayne Caldwell) was scheduled to perform at the Once Upon a Time festival in Los Angeles. The 28-year-old was stabbed during a dispute backstage on Dec. 18, 2021. He died afterward at an area hospital.
His mother, Darrylene Corniel, blamed not only the killer but the event’s security and said she planned to sue the event organizer, Live Nation. Police arrested a man and in January 2022 investigated Drakeo’s death as being linked to the suspected gang-related murder of fellow L.A. hip-hop artist Slim 400, who was killed on Dec. 8, 2021.
Drill lyricist Supa Gates, 25, born Aaron Williams, was up-and-coming in Brooklyn.
He was scheduled to go on tour and was preparing for his first live show on July 5, 2021, when his life was cut short on April 11, 2021. He was shot multiple times in the passenger seat of a Mercedes-Benz in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and died almost two months later, the New York Daily News reported.
His single, “Yellow Bentley” was featured on Drake’s OVO Sound Radio show, and he was getting ready to sign with a major studio, Complex reported.
Melvin Abdul Noble Jr., better known by his stage name MO3, was gunned down in broad daylight on Nov. 11, 2020, on Interstate 35 in Dallas, according to police.
The suspect, who was later arrested, got out of a car and approached MO3 while he was sitting in a car. Mo3 got out and ran down the freeway while the suspect chased him and fired multiple rounds, according to the police.
Mo3 was hit multiple times and transported to a local hospital where he died of his injuries, police said.
Ultimately, two people were arrested for his murder. In 2016, Mo3 released his first album titled “Shottaz Reloaded.” He went on to release five more albums. His latest album, “Badazz MO3,” came out in 2020.
On Nov. 6, 2020, Chicago hip-hop artist King Von (born Dayvon Daquan Bennett) was one of three men shot and killed outside a downtown Atlanta nightclub after an argument between two groups of men erupted into gunfire. The police arrived and got involved.
King Von, 26, was gunned down in the parking lot of the Monaco Hookah Lounge before the police officers arrived and got involved, according to Atlanta police. Signed to fellow Chicago rapper Lil Durk’s record label Only the Family and Empire Distribution, King Von had just released a much-anticipated album, AJC reported.
The hip-hop artist behind “Pop, Lock & Drop It” was killed on June 25, 2020 in Kinloch, a city in St. Louis County, Missouri.
The 32-year-old was a victim of a double shooting, according to the police report.
“Pop, Lock & Drop It” was released in 2006 when Huey, born Lawrence Franks Jr., was still a teenager. The song peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent 23 weeks on the charts, NPR reported. It also inspired a popular dance.
During his career, Huey released a couple of albums and a mixtape, and later signed with Waka Flocka Flame’s Brick Squad label, but he never duplicated or surpassed the success of “Pop, Lock & Drop It.”
Brooklyn-born hip-hop artist Pop Smoke was on the verge of massive stardom when he was murdered in a Hollywood Hills, California, home on Feb. 19, 2020. Authorities say they have arrested those involved in the home invasion in which Pop Smoke, whose birth name was Bashar Barakah Jackson, was shot twice and died.
Authorities said four hooded men entered the home at about 4:30 a.m. One wore a ski mask and carried a handgun. Two adults and two teens were charged in the murder, The Los Angeles Times reported.
An Instagram post led the killers to the home where the 20-year-old New York City artist was staying. Earlier that day, Pop Smoke, 20, posted a photo on his Instagram page that exposed the house address on a package Pop Smoke was holding. After a talent manager for the artist’s record label noticed the address was visible, the post was taken down. But the robbers-turned-killers had already taken note. Court papers revealed they used the real estate website Zillow to view photos of the inside of the house.
Most music experts say Pop Smoke was on the verge of stardom as he had already racked up a number of popular songs.
