Rich Homie Quan, the Atlanta rapper born Dequantes Devontay Lamar, has died. After rumblings on social media, TMZ confirmed on Thursday afternoon that the rapper had died with no cause of death officially reported. He was 34 years old.
Best known for songs like “Flex (Ooh Ooh Ooh)”, which inspired a dance trend on Vine in 2015, and “Lifestyle,” a collaboration with Young Thug, Lamar was a prominent member of Cash Money Records side project Rich Gang. His catchy, often quotable songs were right at home in the moment when trap music turned toward pop, and pop music turned its ear toward trap.
Born in Atlanta in 1989, Lamar began his career after a stint in jail. “I had two felonies on my record at that time, so I tried to focus more on my craft,” Lamar told XXL Magazine in 2014. “At first it was poetry, and then I wanted to put poetry to a beat, and it went from there. Then after that I told my story.” The rapper released his first mixtape, I Go In on Every Song, in April 2012, and a follow-up, Still Goin In, less than six months later. Still Goin In: Reloaded the following February became his first project to land on a Billboard chart, I Promise I Will Never Stop Going In made it to number 25 on the rap charts in November.
Lamar’s real mainstream breakthrough came with “Flex (Ooh Ooh Ooh),” a lighthearted track that spawned a dance trend big enough to spawn another dance trend when “Hit The Quan” by iLoveMemphis took off in summer 2015. The song, from the mixtape If You Ever Think I Will Stop Goin’ In Ask RR (Royal Rich), made it to number 26 on the Billboard Hot 100, and remains his biggest hit.
In the latter half of the 2010s, Lamar dealt with legal issues, including with his former record label T.I.G., and drug charges in Georgia in 2017. Lamar released his final EP of music, Family & Mula, in late 2022, and was performing in festivals as recently as this past May. That month, he reflected to CarvdnStone about his legacy, and specifically what he wants to leave behind to his four children: “With me being they father, I’m they biggest hero. So, I want the message to be inspiring; I want the message to be motivating; I want the message to be empowering.”
