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).
Fresh off a tour, Willie Bo aka Willie McCoy, had just returned to his native California when he was shot and killed by six police officers.
Police said they responded to a call on Feb. 9, 2019, regarding an “unresponsive” man in the drive-thru of a Vallejo Taco Bell. They found Bo lying in his car with a gun on his lap. When the 21-year-old became alert, the officers started to yell commands, such as “show me your hands.” Police say Bo reached for his gun, resulting in police firing their weapons at him. His family, however, claimed video footage showed he was scratching his arm and that he was asleep,d not awake, and not reaching for his gun, Essence reported.
The “Song for You” artist was hit 25 times with police bullets, including in the face and chest. He died at the scene.
Succeed Phlyguy, 40, was shot and killed during a home invasion on Oct. 12, 2019, in Las Vegas. He was 40. Two armed men in ski masks reportedly entered the house Succeed Phlyguy (born Ronnie Cravens Jr.) shared with a roommate. The home invaders ordered Succeed and a person he was with to the ground, Nicki Swift reported.
According to the roommate’s account, when he heard what was happening from a separate room, he grabbed his gun and a shootout ensued. Succeed Phlyguy managed to escape but was shot while exiting the house. He died in his front yard.
Police made two arrests in the case.
D.C. artist Tristan Vernon Sellers, who performed under the name Slim Tristan, was shot and killed during an altercation outside a Woodbridge, Va., studio on Nov. 18, 2019, DCist reported. The 32-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene.
Another local resident, Cinquan Louis Blakney, was later arrested and charged with murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony in connection to the case.
BankBoy Wayne, real name Thedric Morton, was sitting in a car in downtown Memphis on Nov. 29, 2019, when he was shot and killed, Nicki Swift reported. The 22-year-old was one of two people who were shot.
“BankBoy Wayne — that’s what I knew him by,” music producer Preston Gray said during an interview with News Channel 3 WREG Memphis. “We communicated through music. But he was always a pretty cool guy. Down to Earth.”
Theodore Jones, aka Young Greatness, had a hit right out of the box when he launched his career with “Moolah,” a song released by Capitol Records and Atlanta’s Quality Control Music. Young Greatness went on to perform the track on “The Late Show” With Stephen Colbert and it landed him a deal with Cash Money records. The song was his first gold certification.
On Oct. 29, 2018, the Louisiana-born artist was fatally shot and killed in New Orleans at age 34. He had been sitting in his car outside a Waffle House when gunfire broke out, according to TV station WDSU. Police reportedly found Young Greatness with a single gunshot wound to the back, Nicki Swift reported.
An arrest was made in the case.
Jimmy Wopo, 21, and another man were found shot on June 18, 2018, in a vehicle in Pittsburgh.
Jimmy Wopo (born Travon Smart) and the other victim were transported to a local hospital where the “Booby Trap” artist later died. Police said the other victim, who was not identified in a press release, was in stable condition.
Wopo, who had survived three previous shootings, first came to fame with his 2016 song “Elm Street,” which documented his life in his neighborhood. He was considered by many to be an heir apparent to fellow Pittsburgh heavyweight hip-hop artists Wiz Khalifa and Mac Miller, CNN reported.
It was reported that Wopo lead a local gang called 11 Hunnit gang that allegedly killed at least three rival gang members and injured or shot at more than a half dozen others in a “violent criminal enterprise that police said terrorized the city for years,” Trib Live reported.
Louis BadAzz (real name Louis Robinson Jr.) had the hit song “Let Me Thru Dis B” in 2015. By May 2, 2018, the 29-year-old was dead. He had been shot in a broad-daylight attack in Baton Rouge, La. He made it to a nearby hospital but died about an hour later, reported ABC News affiliate WBRZ.
A1 Lil Tony (real name Antonio Harper, Jr.) was an artist on the rise when he was killed in a shooting on May 1, 2018, while walking toward his mother’s apartment complex in Waldorf, Md. At around 10 p.m., he was approached by a gunman and shot several times, WUSA9 reported.
The 20-year-old artist died on the scene.
Melvin “Phanelli” Batties was shot and killed near the Bronx building he featured in his music video for the 2017 track “Half A Mil.” The 34-year-old artist died on Jan. 17, 2018, after being shot in the neck, The New York Daily News reported.
A witness told the Daily News that she heard multiple shots ring out before seeing two men run in the opposite direction of the shooting.
Florida-based hip-hop artists Christopher “YNW Juvy” Thomas, 19, and Anthony “YNW Sakchaser” Williams, 21, were affiliated with popular artist YNW Melly (Jamell Demons). The trio’s 2017 song “Youngins” became a regional hit, Nicki Swift reported.
The YNW Juvy and YNW Sakchaser were killed on Oct. 26, 2018, near Miramar, Florida, about 10 miles north of Miami. They were dropped off at Memorial Hospital Miramar riddled with bullets. Police do not know where the shooting took place, the Daily Mail reported. The two were seen in a video on social media a month earlier cavorting with a machine gun at the home of YNW Melly.
In February 2019, YNW Melly was arrested in the double homicide. He was also accused of staging the killings to appear as a random drive-by shooting, The Fader reported.
