Rappers Who Died In Bizarre Ways

Rap, or hip-hop, music has become such a dominant pop cultural force and a popular musical style in part because it's unafraid to be real. Songs provide frank depictions of the lives and experiences of the genre's practitioners, and sometimes that pursuit of the truth can get pretty dark. Hip-hop may detail crime, death, despair, and other less than savory and unenviable parts of life, but that's just what makes it so relatable and vital to fans. And by presenting emotionally and objectively real things in their music, rappers are held up as bastions of authenticity — they often write and perform music about the things they know.

Sadly, the very subjects that rappers elucidate sometimes turn out to be the same things that claim their lives. These musicians often go far too soon, falling prey to criminal violence or dying from common but fatal diseases. Others have died in abnormal, weird, or even totally random ways — be they somewhat obscure rappers or superstars who died right at the peak of their musical fame. These are the strangest rapper deaths in history.

Presenting a gritty, visceral, and bleak depiction of urban New York life in the early 1990s, Mobb Deep helped define the East Coast gangsta rap sound of the era. The duo, consisting of Havoc and Prodigy, released eight albums' worth of material, including acknowledged hits and classics like "Shook Ones (Part II)," "Quiet Storm," and "Front Lines (H*** on Earth)."

Mobb Deep's Prodigy contended with chronic medical issues from infancy. As a baby, he was diagnosed with sickle cell anemia, wherein red blood cells change form and don't last as long as they should, leading to extremely painful blood flow problems as well as weakness and diminished motor skills. In June 2017, Prodigy performed at an outdoor hip-hop festival in Las Vegas, and the extreme heat triggered an episode that required hospitalization. That's common for sickle cell anemia patients, but while under medical supervision for that health issue, Prodigy (born Albert Johnson) choked to death. He was eating an egg, and part of it became lodged in his airway, killing the rapper. Prodigy was 42 years old.

A producer, singer, and writer as well as a rapper, Static Major was instrumental in the creation of some of the biggest and most era-defining hip-hop-flavored hits of the late 1990s and early 2000s. He wrote Aaliyah's "Are You That Somebody?" and "Try Again," helped produce Ginuwine's "Pony," and earned a featured artist credit on Lil Wayne's "Lollipop," a Grammy-winning No. 1 hit in 2008.

In February 2008, the musician born Stephen Garrett sought medical treatment at Baptist Hospital East in Louisville, Kentucky, the city where he grew up. Doctors explained that his suite of symptoms was caused by myasthenia gravis, a scarcely diagnosed autoimmune disease characterized by antibodies breaking down nerve and muscle communication pathways, leading to the destruction of skeletal and voluntary muscles. It's a chronic condition that usually appears in men over the age of 50; Static Major was only 33, and he wouldn't survive his hospital visit. During immediate treatments, a surgeon placed a catheter into the rapper's neck, and he immediately reported severe pain, not at the point of insertion but in what felt like his internal organs. An x-ray indicated an improperly placed line, and when a nurse removed the catheter, Garrett lost consciousness. Doctors were unable to save him. 

The dark, introspective, and highly descriptive rap subgenre known as drill emerged in the 2010s, and Pop Smoke became one of the movement's earliest and best-known figures. In 2019 and 2020, Pop Smoke released "Meet the Woo" and "Meet the Woo 2," the latter peaking at No. 7 on the U.S. album chart. In the summer of 2020, the rapper scored four top 20 hits: "For the Night," "What You Know Bout Love," "The Woo," and "Mood Swings." But he wouldn't get to enjoy much of that success, as the rapper is among those musicians who died before their music became popular.

In February 2020, the Brooklyn-based Pop Smoke — also known as Bashar Jackson — lived temporarily in the Hollywood Hills area of Los Angeles, in a home owned by "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" cast member Teddi Mellencamp. In the early hours of February 19, 2020, a group of four young men staged a home invasion with the intent to rob the house and the rapper. During the altercation, one of the masked intruders shot Jackson. Suffering mortal wounds in the attack, the rapper was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where his death was declared. Pop Smoke was 20 years old.

Social media had enabled the home invaders to locate Pop Smoke. Hours before the crime took place, the rapper had posted photos of elaborate, expensive gifts he'd been sent in congratulations for the recent release of "Meet the Woo 2," with a label bearing his Los Angeles address.

A major player in the tangled life of Kid Rock: performer Joe C. Joining the Twisted Brown Trucker band in the 1990s after being spotted in the crowd by Kid Rock, and appreciated for his deep knowledge of the star's early, indie work, Joe C. rapped and served as a hype man, helping to popularize his boss and friend's then-novel combination of hip-hop, hard rock, and country.

Early in childhood, Joe C. was diagnosed with Celiac disease. Commonly thought of as a digestive disorder that precludes the consumption of gluten because it leads to gastrointestinal problems, Celiac disease is a serious autoimmune condition that can lead to joint pain, mental health issues, and growth and maturation problems. For the rapper born Joe Calleja, Celiac disease is the reason why his adult height was limited to 3 feet, 9 inches. He also endured intestinal pain, and in attempts to stay healthy, he ingested 65 pills and underwent kidney dialysis treatments, both daily. On November 16, 2000, Joe C., who'd had to cut down on his touring jaunts with Twisted Brown Trucker for health reasons, died in his sleep from complications of chronic Celiac disease at the age of 26.

James Patterson grew up in Riverhead, a community in Long Island, New York. He built a reputation locally as a musician, and more specifically, as a rapper, preferring to go by the name Jimi. In 2022, Patterson left New York in favor of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and was gearing up to put out his first album. Early in the evening of October 17, the rapper was sitting on a friend's sofa in the living room of their apartment, eating an egg roll. On the other side of the room stood Israel Trejo, in the middle of negotiating the purchase of an axe from another person in the residence. At no point did Trejo and Patterson ever speak; they reportedly hadn't met before that night. That makes it all the more inexplicable when Trejo decided to swing the axe, in Patterson's direction, without any warning or obvious cause. The axe landed squarely in the rapper's head.

The vicious, sudden attack led to Patterson immediately being sent to a Tulsa hospital, while Trejo was arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon. Three days later, Patterson died from injuries to his head and brain; he was 22 years old. Police changed Trejo's charge to first-degree murder, for which he received a sentence of life in prison.

Atlanta's YSL Records is the home of many emergent trap rappers, including label founder Young Thug as well as Gunna and would-be superstar Lil Keed. In 2018, the latter released his first two mixtapes, "Keed Talk to 'Em" and "Trapped on Cleveland 2," and he'd follow up regional success and accolades with some national, long-form hits, "Long Live Mexico" and "Trapped on Cleveland 3." Lil Keed's career was still on the rise when it all came to an abrupt and tragic halt.

In May 2022, Lil Keed experienced stomach and back pain so extreme that he couldn't leave his bed for four days. After his brother noticed Lil Keed's eyes had taken on a jaundiced yellow hue, a potential sign of liver problems, he took the rapper to a Los Angeles hospital. En route, the rapper had a seizure and lost consciousness. About two hours after arrival, Lil Keed was declared dead; he was 24 years old. An investigation conducted by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner determined that the rapper's death stemmed from an undiagnosed and untreated case of eosinophilia. In that rarely diagnosed condition, the body dangerously overproduces eosinophils, a variety of defensive white blood cells, possibly in response to a threat of a parasite, cancer, or an allergen.

Ambitious and eager to see if he had what it took to be a rapper, the musician who called himself Indian Red Boy loitered at Los Angeles-area recording facilities and waited for his chance. "He just went into the studio, hoping someone would hear him out," his aunt, Jasmine Rivera, told University Times. "And one day, they did and let him record." The ascendant rapper ultimately recorded very little music before his untimely death.

On the afternoon of July 8, 2021, Indian Red Boy sat in a parked car outside of an apartment complex in Hawthorne, California, near Los Angeles, to make an Instagram Live video. As he spoke with his friend and influencer Kapone, who was at another location, an unidentified man approached the car and opened fire. At least 12 gunshots could be heard in the live feed, broadcast out to the rapper's tens of thousands of followers. In response to a panicked Kapone's pleas for clarification about the attack, Indian Red Boy replied "Help" and "I'm in Hawthorne" before the video feed dropped out. Hawthorne police arrived at the scene and found the rapper deceased in the driver's seat of his car, having sustained a number of gunshot wounds. The rapper, born Zerail Dijon Rivera, was 21 years old, and the victim of what police believed to be a premeditated act.

Born Costantinos Tsobanoglou and adopting the name Costa Titch, this rapper was among the biggest rising stars in African hip-hop, utilizing lyrics in English and South African languages as well as cutting-edge American beats. Albums "Made in Africa" and "You're Welcome" proved to be big hits in the 2020s, and Akon recruited the rapper to his Konvict Kulture label and performed on and amplified the remix of the hit "Big Flexa." Costa Titch was seemingly primed for big success outside of his home country.

Costa Titch was a major draw to the 2023 Ultra Music Festival, staged in Johannesburg, South Africa. As he performed his set on March 11, 2023, the rapper suddenly fell down on the stage and was assisted back up to his feet by one of his dancers. The performance continued for a few more moments, only for the rapper to once again stumble, this time tumbling off the stage. Despite receiving emergency medical treatment, Costa Titch died shortly thereafter, joining the list of performers who died in front of their audiences; he was 28 years old. More than a year later, the musician's family shared the results of an autopsy, which determined that a series of natural causes and undiagnosed health issues led to the sudden and seemingly inexplicable death of the rapper. A combination of long-term stress and pressure on his heart triggered an irregular heartbeat, which then led to a fatal seizure.

A rapper and singer associated with the Afrobeats movement, Mohbad developed a significant following in his home nation of Nigeria. After he performed a September 2023 show in Ikorodu, Mohbad engaged in a violent altercation with life-long friend and fellow hip-hop musician Oluwatosin Owoduni, otherwise known as Primeboy. Mohbad reared up to punch Primeboy, but didn't make contact and instead hit a car window, severely lacerating his hand. Across the next couple of days, the untreated injury grew inflamed and became extremely painful, leading the rapper to seek out medical attention, and he went to a nurse's assistant who practiced out of her home. She delivered multiple medicines intravenously, including what was supposed to be a tetanus shot to prevent potential bacterial infection. 

Immediately after, Mohbad, born Ilerioluwa Oladimeji Aloba, suffered seizures and died in the early morning hours of September 12, 2023; the musician was 27 years old. The National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives reported that the nurse who delivered the medicine wasn't a licensed medical professional, and she was subsequently arrested.