Slain Chicago Rappers: 10 Artists Who Lost Their Lives Too Soon

Chicago has given Hip-Hop some of its most influential voices, but far too many promising careers have been cut short by gun violence. Source: (Photo by Prince Williams/Wireimage) / (Photo by Prince Williams/Wireimage)Chicago’s fingerprints are all over American music. The city has helped shape blues, gospel, house, soul and Hip-Hop, while producing generations of artists who found ways to make their neighborhoods, slang and experiences travel far beyond Illinois. When Chicago rap entered another era in the early 2010s, drill gave the city a new sound that would eventually influence rappers from New York to London and beyond. But telling the story of Chicago drill means confronting the environment that produced much of it. The music frequently documented neighborhood feuds, poverty, gang conflict, grief and gun violence that were already part of some young artists’ lives; it would be too simplistic to say the music itself created those conditions. As Pitchfork noted when looking back at drill’s rise, the genre emerged from communities dealing with a much longer history of segregation and neglect, with teenagers essentially reporting what they saw around them. The distinction matter...