Rapper turned podcaster Gillie Da Kid got the worst news today, as his son, who was also a rapper, was reportedly killed in a shooting in their native Philadelphia. According to Philly’s NBC affiliate, 25-year-old YNG Cheese was shot and killed in the Olney neighborhood at around 8:30 PM. He was shot once in the back, taken to the hospital by police, and pronounced dead just ten minutes later. Two other men — 28 and 31 — were also shot, and are reported in stable condition. Police are investigating but so far, no arrests have been made or weapons recovered.
Gillie Da Kid was a fixture on the city’s underground rap scene but rose to prominence over a feud with Lil Wayne in 2006 after claiming to have ghostwritten some of the New Orleans rapper’s songs. To this day, Lil Wayne and Cash Money Records deny his claims but the exposure was enough to help Gillie launch his rap career proper after years of independently releasing projects, both on his own and as a member of the Major Figgas crew.
Since the 2010s, he’s sporadically released new music or featured on other artists’ songs, but he recently gained more popularity as a host on the Million Dollaz Worth Of Game podcast, which finds him interviewing other rappers and entertainers from the perspective of an industry insider. In the most recent episode on YouTube, he interviews North Carolina rapper DaBaby alongside footage of his experiences playing pro-am basketball.