Lil Snupe, Meek Mill Protégé, Dead At 18

[The Core DJ's]

from Billboard

Emerging rapper Lil Snupe, a recent signee to Meek Mill's Dream Chaser's label, was shot and killed early Thursday morning (June 20) in Winnfield, La.

Police confirmed the 18-year-old artist's death with local NBC affiliate KALB, which reports that an investigation is underway. No arrests have been made, according toNBC33. Officials will be releasing a press release with more information later Thursday.

Winnfield (pop. 4,840) is located about an hour north of Alexandria in the heart of the state. It's not immediately known why Snupe was in the small town. Sources tell Billboard the artist may have been living in Baton Rouge while some previous articles written about the young rapper have listed Jonesboro, La., about 80 miles east of Shreveport, as his hometown.

In freestyle raps posted online, Snupe has name-dropped "225" -- the Baton Rouge area code.

Little else is known about the rapper, including his real name.

His manager, DJ Smallz and Dream Chasers' Louie V Gutta tweeted of Lil Snupe's death this morning.

Meek Mill signed Snupe to Dream Chasers last year after listening to his mixtape for 20 minutes, the late Louisiana rapper told MTV News in February. "He was in a van, they was finna pull off. And I went and knocked on the van, on the window. They let the window down, grabbed the mixtape and it was like 10 minutes later, 20 minutes later they called me," he said.

"He was spittin' so much pain, he's from the south with a flow like an east coast guy," Meek told MTV.

Snupe repped his home state in his last tweet, "i Hold it Down 4 Louisiana."

Snupe released his mixtape, "Real Ni--a in Charge," in April. Check it out below.

[King FrosT]

wow very sad...#RIPChilly