Rap deaths
A partial list of rappers who died before their time:
•Scott “Scott La Rock” Sterling, 25. Shot in the head and neck Aug. 26, 1987, while sitting in a Jeep in the South Bronx.
•Eric “Eazy-E” Wright, 31. Died of AIDS on March 26, 1995.
•Randy “Stretch” Walker, 27. Shot during November 1995 car chase in Queens, N.Y.
•Seagram Miller, 26. Drive-by shooting in Oakland, Calif., July 1996.
•Yafeu “Kadafi” Fula, 19. Shot in the head Nov. 10, 1996, in Orange, N.J.
•Tupac Amaru Shakur , 25. Died Sept. 13, 1996, after drive-by shooting in Las Vegas.
•Christopher “Notorious B.I.G.” Wallace, 24. Drive-by shooting on March 9, 1997, in Los Angeles.
•Lamont “Big L” Coleman, 26. Shot nine times in the face and chest Feb. 15, 1999, blocks away from his Harlem home.
•Raymond “Freaky Tah” Rogers, 28. Single shot to the head on March 28, 1999, while leaving a hotel in Queens, N.Y.
•Karnail “Bugz” Pitts, 21. Two gunshots to the back in Detroit in May 1999.
•Christopher “Big Pun” Rios, 28. Heart attack, perhaps because of obesity, Feb. 7, 2000.
•Anthony “Poetic” Berkeley, 35. Colon cancer, July 15, 2001.
•Jason “Jam Master Jay” Mizell, 37. Shot in head in his Queens studio, Oct. 30, 2002.
•Jason “Camoflauge” Johnson, 21. Shot May 19, 2003, while walking outside his studio in Savannah, Ga.
•James “Soulja Slim” Tapp, 25. Gunshots to face and chest, Nov. 26, 2003.
•Russell “Ol’ Dirty Bastard” Jones, 35. Overdosed at studio Nov. 13, 2004, on cocaine and prescription painkillers.
•Deshaun “Proof” Holton, 32. Shot in head in Detroit after-hours club April 11, 2006.