Iconic rapper Chino XL, who's birth name is Derek Emmanuel Barbosa, has died at the age of 50.
News of Chino XL's passing made headlines after the Instagram account Rap Booklets honored the emcee in a post dedicated to the music star's album Here to Save You All shared on their page. “We at Rap Booklets send our heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Chino XL, who passed away today at the age of 50,” the post's caption read.
It didn't take long for hip-hop fans to begin paying tribute to Chino XL and his legacy on X, formerly Twitter. Since reports of the East Coast native's death have started popping up online, a plethora of people have used X to share how much the music-maker meant to hip-hop , thanking him for all that he contributed to the genre.
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"Rest in Power Chino XL. I’m grateful I had a chance to see you perform just a bit over two months ago. You will go down in history as one of the greatest lyricists of all time @CHINOXL," one X user wrote. A second added: "You were a giant, super supreme, top tier lyricist of the highest caliber. A real life hip hop superhero and a personal favorite. Absolutely gutted to hear the news. Condolences go out to his family, friends and fans."
A third shared, "Chino XL. Man. He was such a talented MC and great person. Here to save you all stayed in rotation for me. Wow. Rest in peace king. Thank you for the music. Thank you for always being kind and humble to me and everyone you ever met. Wow." Meanwhile, someone else admitted: "Damn. This one really hits hard. Brother never got his due but he was incredible on the mic. RIP Chino XL. There will never be another one like him."
Chino XL's rap career began in the early 1990s. He rose to fame in 1996 when he dropped his debut album Here to Save You All. That same album that put his name on the map was also the album that created a beef between him and the late rapper Tupac. In the song Riiiot!, the seventh track on Chino XL's first album, he raps the line, "By this industry, I’m trying to not get f--ked like Tupac in jail.”
Tupac lyrically retaliated against Chino XL in his 1996 legendary diss track Hit 'Em Up where he not only slammed Chino XL, but a few other hip-hop figures he was feuding with at the time. Diddy, his record label Bad Boy Records, and the artists attached to Diddy's label such as the late Notorious B.I.G, as well as those associated with Diddy or B.I.G in some capacity were verbally attacked in the record. Members of B.I.G's hip-hop collective Junior Mafia like Lil' Kim, and Lil' Cease was also targeted on Tupac's aforementioned diss track along with rap duo Mobb Deep, a musical act who Diddy almost signed to Bad Boy. Hit 'Em Up greatly fueled the East Coast - West Coast rivalry that led to the demise of Tupac, who died in September 1996, and his main foe at the time B.I.G, who died in March 1997.
It's uncertain if Chino XL and Tupac made amends before the California Love rapper's untimely death. However, in a forum on Reddit a hip-hop fan claimed that Chino XL "did a small tribute to Tupac" at a concert of his that they attended a "couple of years ago."
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