Rapper Lil Poppa, who was based out of Jacksonville, Florida, passed away at the age of 25, TMZ reports.
The Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office in Georgia told the outlet that Lil Poppa, whose real name is Janarious Mykel Wheeler, was pronounced dead today at 11:23 AM ET. No cause of death was released.
According to Complex, the rapper was set to perform at the Fillmore in New Orleans on March 21, having also just released a new single, “Out of Town Bae” on Feb. 13.
Fans Pay Tribute To Lil Poppa
“This Lil Poppa news hurt my heart,” one person posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“i’ve cried to lil poppa songs soooo many times. i hope he atleast knew how felt he was,” another person wrote.
“Man lil poppa you got me through a lot when we going through the same thing,” someone said.
“Rest in peace Lil Poppa. Yo music got me through a lot man,” one fan commented.
“Lilpoppa one of them ones fasho bro music was very therapeutic damn another one gone,” another fan stated.
More About Lil Poppa
Lil Poppa was signed to Yo Gotti’s Collective Music Group and has gone on to released several track over the years, including a 16-song album called, “Almost Normal Again.”
In July 2021, Lil Poppa spoke with DJ Booth, opening up about his childhood and why he became a rapper, specifically revealing that his name came from being called “Poppa” by his mom, while adding the “Lil” because he was often around older kids. He started rapping because of his older brother, honing in on his craft while dealing with a chronic blood disease that left him bedridden.
In 2018, Lil Poppa survived a drive-by shooting, where one of his close friends was killed. He spoke about the incident in his song, “Purple Hearts,” also detailing how he uses his life experiences to influence his work.
“Being an artist is easy as long as you got something to talk about. As long as you’ve been through something, it’s gon’ always be easy,” he told the outlet in an interview. “That’s what I tell a lot of people when they ask me for advice on how to become a rapper and all that. It’s easy, as long as you got something to talk about. If you don’t got nothing to talk about, you gon’ say the same thing we hear from everybody else.”
