Death of PnB Rock

NEW+YORK%2C+NEW+YORK+-+FEBRUARY+08%3A+PnB+Rock+attends+the+R13+front+row+during+New+York+Fashion+Week%3A+The+Shows+on+February+08%2C+2020+in+New+York+City.+%28Photo+by+Bennett+Raglin%2FGetty+Images+for+NYFW%3A+The+Shows%29

Getty Images for NYFW: The Shows

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – FEBRUARY 08: PnB Rock attends the R13 front row during New York Fashion Week: The Shows on February 08, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for NYFW: The Shows)

Hugo Delgado, Reporter/Editor

On September 12th 2022, rap artists Rakim Hasheem Allen, better known by his stage name PnB Rock, was shot and killed while eating with his girlfriend in Los Angeles at Roscoes House of Chicken n’ Waffles. Allen was only 30 years old.Rakim Allen rose to fame with his hit single “Selfish” which peaked at number 51 in the US Billboard Hot 100 in June of 2016. He was signed with Atlantic Records and collaborated with Wiz Khalifa, Young Thug, and Kodak Black.His debut album TrapStar Turnt PopStar was released in May 2019. PnB Rock and Chance the Rapper were featured on Ed Sheeran’s song “Cross Me” from Sheeran’s album No.6 Collaborations Project. In January 2020, PnB Rock released the track “Ordinary” featuring late rapper Pop Smoke; in January 2021, he featured for the late rapper King Von, on a song titled “Rose Gold”. In February 2022, PnB Rock released the mixtape SoundCloud Daze which featured various artists including Pasto Flocco, Iayze and Yung Fazo. He independently released “Luv Me Again” on September 2, 2022, which was the last single he released during his lifetime.Following his death, there has been an urgencyto assign blame. PnB’s girlfriend, Stephanie Sibounheuang, has been vilified for posting a geo-tagged Instagram story of their fatal lunch date at Roscoe’s, a local chain Barack Obama visited while campaigning for a second term in the Oval Office. Nicki Minaj was one who took particular exception to Sibounheuang’s post. “You’re not loved like you think you are!!! You’re prey!!! In a world full of predators!!!” she tweeted in a warning to her peers. PnB is the latest rapper who has been cut down in his prime. Other recent hip-hop casualties include his former collaborators XXXTentacion (2018) and Pop Smoke (2020); PnB also joins Biggie (1997), Smoke and Nipsey Hussle (2019) on the disheartening list of hip-hoppers who have lost their lives in the City of Angels. The LAPD chief, Michel Moore, singled out Sibounheuang’s Instagram post as the probable prompt for the robbery, which investigators suspect was a two-man job.