Free Republic

The Trump campaign says it invited long-dead rapper Tupac Shakur to attend the Wednesday vice presidential debate — in a bid to troll Democrat Joe Biden’s running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris. “I can confirm that we have left a ticket for Tupac Shakur, who as we know is Sen. Harris’ favorite rapper alive,” Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller told reporters on a conference call previewing the debate between Harris (D-Calif.) and Vice President Mike Pence. ... Harris was asked in a CNN interview last month who the “best rapper alive” is and replied “Tupac,” before adding, “Not alive, I...

Smoke Dawg’s affiliates confirmed he was the deceased person. He was working on his debut album. Rest in peace.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis police are investigating the fatal shooting of a young rapper whose group gained some notoriety before one of its three members went to prison earlier this year. James Johnson Jr. of Ferguson was found dead in the yard behind a St. Louis home about 10 a.m. Sunday. He had been shot in the head. Police have no suspects. Johnson was known as Swagg Huncho in the group 3 Problems. The group consisted of three 18-year-old cousins — Johnson, Taylor Merriweather of Jennings (known as Lil Tay) and Terrell Brown Jr. of Florissant (known as...

Two up-and-coming U.S. rappers, XXXTentacion and Jimmy Wopo, were killed on Monday in separate shootings near Miami and in Pittsburgh, police and local media reported. In Florida, the Broward County sheriff's office said that XXXTentacion, 20, was shot while leaving a motor sports dealership in Deerfield Beach, about 40 miles (64 km) north of Miami. The rapper, whose real name was Jahseh Dwayne Onfroy, was later pronounced dead, the sheriff's department said. "The adult male victim has been confirmed as 20 year old Jahseh Onfroy, aka rapper #XXXTentacion," the sheriff's department said in a posting on Twitter....

Hundreds of fans poured onto Melrose Avenue during the tribute to the 20-year-old who was gunned down in his car on Monday COPS were forced to shut down a memorial last night for rapper XXXTentacion after fans reportedly jumped off roofs and threw rocks. Hundreds of people gathered in LA to mourn the 20-year-old star who was gunned down in his car on Monday. Fans poured onto Melrose Avenue with some leaping off roofs into the crowds below during the tribute, reports claimed Police were called in after people climbed on top of vehicles and swarmed the streets, according to...

Between 300 and 500 people gathered in the street on Melrose and Spaulding avenues, blocking traffic in the roadway, said Los Angeles Police Officer Tony Im.... At one point, dozens of people in the middle of the crowd formed a mosh pit, jumping up and down. Police were called to the area about 7:20 p.m., and several police cruisers blocked the intersections around the protesters. Shortly before 9 p.m., more police officers were en route to disperse the crowd.

Westbrook's parents admit he got in trouble with the law when he was younger for at least one break-in but said he was getting his life together.

CHICAGO (Sun-Times Media Wire) - Chicago rapper Capo, a member of Chief Keef’s “Glo Gang,” was killed in a South Shore neighborhood shooting that resulted in a 1-year-old boy being fatally struck by a vehicle fleeing the gang-related attack Saturday afternoon, according to the group’s manager. The 22-year-old man was shot in the hip and back in a possible drive-by about 1:45 p.m. in the 7700 block of South Kingston, police said.

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)BALTIMORE —City police need help to identify a person of interest in the homicide of a Baltimore rapper. Authorities said 25-year-old Leedell Brown died after he was severely attacked inside the Hott Spott Lounge in downtown Baltimore. Hott Spott shut down for alcoholic beverage law violation. Brown's family said the sketch is one step closer to justice. Police released a sketch of a person of interest in the Brown's beating death inside the Hott Spott Lounge on Guilford Avenue in February. "He was just a good guy. I don't really have the words. He was my brother, my little brother,"...

A rapper was shot multiple times and killed and his passenger was critically wounded as he drove a Porsche down a Queens boulevard early Sunday, a police source said. Lionel Pickens, who goes by the stage name Chinx, was shot several times in the body and his 27-year-old passenger was hit twice in the back about 4 a.m. as they traveled on Queens Blvd. at 84th Dr. in Briarwood, cops said.

A Jefferson Parish jury rejected an Iraq war veteran's insanity defense Wednesday (April 8), finding he knew right from wrong when he shot a Terrytown rapper in the head during a dispute outside a Harvey bar last year. Devin Bonilla was convicted as charged of second-degree murder for killing Bowie Richard, 21, a local entertainer who used the stage name Yung Kaptin. Bonilla, 25, who served in Iraq and was discharged as a private from the Louisiana Army National Guard after his arrest last year, faces spending the rest of his life in prison. The jury of seven women and...

Devin Bonilla, the former Louisiana Army National Guardsman who says his combat experience in Iraq caused a stress disorder, was legally sane when authorities say he killed an aspiring rapper in Harvey a year ago, court-appointed doctors have concluded. Their report, which was filed in court Wednesday, contradicts Bonilla's insanity defense and means a trial jury might be asked to sort out conflicting mental health opinions. Bonilla, a 25-year-old Harvey resident, is scheduled to stand trial April 6 on a charge of second-degree murder in the Jan. 18, 2014, killing of Bowie Richard, 21. Richard, who used the stage name...

Police in north Louisiana say a 36-year-old man is accused of killing the 18-year-old rapper known as Lil Snupe in an argument that broke out during a video game at a friend's apartment.

[Updated at 6:30 p.m. The man shot at the Beverly Center mall this afternoon was identified as Atlanta-based Dolla, whose real name is Roderick Anthony Burton II, according to his publicist, Sue Vannasing. She said Dolla was shot in the head around 3:10 p.m. while he and another rapper, D.J. Shabbazz, waited in the area after shopping at the popular Westside mall. A friend who was with the rapper at Beverly Center also confirmed his identity to The Times. About two hours later, Los Angeles police detained a “person of interest” as he attempted to board a plane out of...