Rapper Huey, best known for his 2006 single “Pop, Lock & Drop,” was shot to death Thursday night while in front of his house in St. Louis. He was 32.
According to local media, Huey – whose real name is Lawrence Franks Jr. – was pronounced dead after being rushed to hospital. Another victim, identified only as a 21-year-old male, was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Huey released his debut album Notebook Paper in 2007 and reportedly signed a deal with rapper Waka Flocka Flame in 2013 but had been relatively inactive in music in recent years.
He is the second rapper to be fatally shot this week. On Sunday, up-and-coming California rapper Bris (aka 24-year-old Christopher Treadwell) was killed in a Sacramento shooting.
The growing list of young rappers that have been shot in the last year also includes Tray Savage, who died after being shot last week in Chicago at 26, and Houdini, who was shot and killed in broad daylight on a downtown Toronto street last month. He was 21.
In January, 19-year-old fourty4double0 – one half of rap duo Tallup Twinz – was shot to death inside an Airbnb rental in downtown Toronto.
Rapper Pop Smoke, 20, was shot and killed in Los Angeles in February.
Last December, Toronto area rappers Bvlly and Why-S were killed only hours apart in separate incidents in Ontario and B.C.
Chicago rapper Lil Reese, 26, was shot in the neck in November and, last June, teen rapper C Glizzy was shot in the head in Pompano Beach, Florida. Both survived.
Earlier this month, Toronto rapper Bizz Loc dropped a track in which he addresses the violence in the city’s rap scene. It’s titled “Is It Worth It?"