Drakeo the Ruler, an American rapper who performed as a member of Migos, has been murdered following a stabbing at a music event in Los Angeles.
The performer, who identified himself as Darrell Caldwell, had been scheduled to perform at the Once Upon a Time in LA music festival on Saturday night. His publicist confirmed his death to several US news outlets early Sunday morning. According to reports, the artist was attacked during an altercation backstage just before his performance was due to start.
The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating, but no arrests had been made as of Sunday morning. On Spotify, Drakeo the Ruler has more than 1.5 million monthly listeners and worked with Canadian artist Drake on the track Talk to Me.
At around 20:40 local time on Saturday (04:40 GMT on Sunday), paramedics were called to a stabbing in the city. The rapper was reportedly taken to a hospital following the attack, but he subsequently perished as a result of his injuries.
According to a representative for the festival, an altercation took place in the road backstage during the event, which was also set to feature performances by rappers 50 Cent and Snoop Dogg.
The statement added, “To honour those affected and in coordination with local authorities, artists and producers decided not to continue the remaining sets, therefore the festival was prematurely ended an hour before it was scheduled to conclude.”
Snoop Dogg revealed on Twitter that he was “in my dressing room when I was informed about the occurrence and chose to leave the festival grounds as soon as possible.”
“I send my heartfelt sympathies to the family and loved ones of Draeko the Ruler,” he added. “I’m asking for calm in the hip-hop industry.”
Other stars took to social media to pay their respects following the news of Drakeo’s death. “I’ll always be inspired by your zeal,” Drake wrote on his Instagram stories early on Sunday.
“Man, Drako was always incredibly nice and courteous,” tweeted Saweetie. “Prayers up for his family. RIP, The Ruler.”
“They know who we are as a result of our popularity, but we don’t know who they are because of our celebrity,” Jones wrote in an Instagram post.
“Every week felt like a rapper died this year. We used to be safeguarded in the community, regarded as superheroes. That is no longer the case.”
‘Nervous music’ pioneer
Drakeo was born on December 1, 1993, in South Central Los Angeles and raised by a single mother. He became interested in music as a means of escaping the perils of street life after spending much of his youth behind bars.
He began releasing music under the name Mr. Mosely in 2015, with a mixtape that pioneered a jerky, polyrhythmic sound he called “nervous music”. He later recorded verses for the mixtape Thank You for Using GTL over the phone while he was incarcerated at Men’s Central Jail awaiting trial in connection with the 2016 shooting death of a 24-year-old man.
Prosecutors later retried him and sought to try him on conspiracy charges, but he was acquitted. He took a plea bargain and was released from jail in November 2020.
In an interview with The Ringer shortly after his release, Drakeo said his goal was to “get my mother and everyone I can help out of poverty.”
“I have to make certain that they’ll never have to go without again. I want to show people that no matter how difficult a situation is, my experience shows that anything is achievable.”
He wasted no time in releasing a mixtape in late 2020, followed by his debut album, The Truth Huts, this spring. Although his music never reached the top of the charts, he was recognized as an innovator by his peers.
Jeff Weiss, a Los Angeles writer, dubbed Drakeo the “greatest west coast artist of a generation, a legend who invented a new rap language of slippery cadences, nervous rhythms, and psychedelic jargon.”
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