Hip-hop fans have been through a lot in the last few years. There hasn’t been a single year in the past half-decade that hasn’t seen the death of one of rap’s most prominent rising stars. In 2019, Nipsey Hussle was shot and killed in front of his Marathon Clothing store in Los Angeles. Later that same year, Juice WRLD overdosed coming off a flight at Midway International Airport in Chicago. More recently, Drakeo The Ruler was stabbed to death backstage during Once Upon A Time in LA Festival, and Lil Keed died of apparent kidney failure earlier this year.
Last night, during his set at Something In The Water Festival, Compton rapper Roddy Ricch paid homage to these artists and more with a tender performance of his breakout hit “Die Young.” Images of his fallen peers and contemporaries flashed behind him as he crooned the all-too-fitting lyrics of his song’s chorus: “Tell me, why the legends always gotta die quick?”
#RoddyRicch pays tribute to fallen rappers Lil Keed, Juice Wrld, Nipsey Hussle, Drakeo + more during his performance of Die Young ?? #SITWFest @sitw pic.twitter.com/gUWtDTzt18
— UPROXX Music (@uproxxmusic) June 18, 2022
Roddy was at least partly associated with many of the rappers to whom he paid homage Friday night; he won a Grammy with Nipsey Hussle for their song “Racks In The Middle,” while Keed was a member of YSL Records, a frequent Roddy collaborator via Gunna and Young Thug. Roddy shouted out Gunna on Instagram, calling for his release from Fulton County jail as he awaits trial on racketeering charges with the rest of the YSL crew.
Watch Roddy’s tender performance of “Die Young” above.
