Lil Marlo dead: The 30 year old rising Atlanta rapper was shot dead on a highway

Rudolph Johnson, who was popularly known as Lil Marlo, was an up-and-coming Atlanta Rapper. The 30-year-old rapper was found dead on Saturday, July 11, 2020. As per the reports of a news portal, the Atlanta Police Department said that their officers had initially responded to the case of a single-vehicle accident on Highway I-285 at around 11:30 p.m. However, the rapper was discovered with gunshot wounds. Read on to know more about the incident.

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Lil Marlo death: How did Lil Marlo die?

Lil Marlo was shot and killed on Saturday night on an Atlanta Highway. As per the reports of a medial portal, the investigators believe that the Atlanta Rapper was the intended target of the gunfire. The news of Lil Marlo’s death came amid a few weeks of rash gun violence in Atlanta City. 

As per the reports of a news portal, the Lil Marlo is survived by his mother, Sandra Maxey, his cousin, Denise Hill-Love, and his two sons, R.J. and Marlo Jr. Atlanta City has seen a turbulent period of protests against the police brutality and the killings of Rashard Brooks in Atlanta on June 12, 2020. The incident came after the death of  George Floyd in Minneapolis.

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Who was Lil Marlo?

Rudolph Simmons Johnson or Lil Marlo, as he was popularly known in Atlanta, was born on May 1, 1990, and was raised in Bowen Homes which is one of Atlanta’s most notorious neighbourhoods. The rapper had turned to music relatively late in his life and was locally known as Young Rudy. According to the reports of a media portal, through his music, Lil Marlo was hoping to escape what he often referred to as “the streets” of Atlanta. 

Atlanta City is known to have many neglected neighbourhoods where gun violence and drug-dealing has become fairly common.  In the year 2017, he signed with a home-grown Music label known as Quality Control Music. The label had been the reason behind the rise of local rappers like Migos and even Lil Yachty.

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Lil Marlo’s Work

The late Atlanta Rapper Marlo released five mixtapes with Quality Control Music. This included his debut, 2 the Hard Way. He has also worked with along with the popular Atlanta rapper Lil Baby. Some of Lil Marlo’s most popular works include mixtapes The Wire, 9th Ward God, and The Real 1. 1st and 3rd, was released on June 19, 2020, and was his latest song.

The song features appearances by Future, Young Thug and Gucci Mane. Through his rap music, Lil Marlo talked about his hyperlocal street tales, delivered threats and talked about regrets he had from youth. Though the rapper hadn’t yet made it to the Billboard charts yet, through his rap he was striving to deliver authentic stories from the street life in Atlanta.