Gangsta Boo has died on the age of 43, in line with Fox 13 Memphis.

A pioneering determine within the Southern Rap scene and one-time member of Three 6 Mafia, Gangsta Boo was discovered useless in her hometown of Memphis at round 4:00 p.m. native time on January 1st. Her explanation for dying was not instantly often known as of press time.

Gangsta Boo was born Lola Mitchell in Memphis, Tennessee. She started rapping on the age of 14, and inside two years she turned a member of Memphis horrorcore rap group Three 6 Mafia. Throughout her six-year tenure, Three 6 Mafia crossed into the mainstream with albums like Chapter 2: World Domination and When the Smoke Clears: Sixty 6, Sixty 1. The latter launch — that includes hit singles “Sippin’ on Some Syrup” and “Who Run It” — peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 and was licensed platinum after promoting a million items.

As a member of Three 6 Mafia, Gangsta Boo launched her first solo album, Enquiring Minds, in 1998. Her 2001 follow-up, Each Worlds *69, cracked the highest 10 of Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop chart and reached No. 29 on the Billboard 200. By the top of 2001, Gangsta Boo determined to depart Three 6 Mafia to additional pursue her solo profession.

Gangsta Boo put out a 3rd solo album in 2003. Over the following twenty years, a lot of her musical output got here within the type of mixtapes, together with collaborations with DJ Drama and BeatKing. In 2013, she reunited with Three 6 Mafia members DJ Paul, Crunchy Black, Koopsta Knicca, and Lord Notorious to type an offshoot group referred to as Da Mafia 6ix and was closely featured on their first mixtape, 6ix Commandments. Nevertheless, she left the group the next 12 months.

Most just lately, Gangsta Boo collaborated with Blood Orange’s Dev Hynes (“Gold Enamel” from his 2019 album Angel’s Pulse) and Run the Jewels (“Strolling within the Snow” from 2020’s RTJ4).

“At a time within the 90s the place it felt like a lot of people didn’t respect Southern rap or girls rapping, Gangsta Boo was a pressure of nature on the intersection of each these subgenres who let people know neither the South nor girls had been to be fucked with on this rap shit,” famous DragonFly Jonez of the podcast Jenkins And Jonez in a tweet reacting to her dying.

“Gangsta Boo was the witchy godmother of rap. An actual, uncooked voice for girls within the south. Her fingerprint is ALL OVER fashionable hip-hop,” added Essence editor Brooklyn White-Grier in a collection of tweets eulogizing the rapper.

Gangsta Boo shared her personal tackle her legacy in a 2012 interview with Ardour of the Weiss. “When it’s all stated and executed, I wish to be remembered as Gangsta Boo from Three 6 Mafia. The primary girl of Three 6 Mafia. The primary girl of crunk music. The primary girl who introduced a platinum plaque again to Memphis. The primary girl who introduced a gold plaque again to Memphis. I’m the one feminine rapper in Tennessee that has ever did that and doubtless I would be the just one that ever will. I simply wish to be often known as somebody that put her coronary heart into her music and who actually actually appreciated her followers.”

1 / 4-century later and it nonetheless would not make any sense how Gangsta Boo was rapping this difficult at 17 years outdated. pic.twitter.com/1hQch8jVv5

— Otto Von Biz Markie (@Passionweiss) January 1, 2023

The information about Gangsta Boo actually hurts. She gave numerous girls — throughout the South & past — a blueprint to retool and rework for themselves. Her affect is incalculable and nonetheless so current at present. A legend in each sense, who was dedicated to encouraging future innovators.

— Kiana Fitzgerald (@KianaFitz) January 2, 2023