Shawty Lo Killed in Car Crash

Atlanta rapper and D4L co-founder Shawty Lo, born Carlos Walker, was killed in a car crash on Interstate 285 this morning, 11 Alive reports. Atlanta radio DJ Ryan Cameron announced the news on Twitter after hearing confirmation from Walker’s manager. (Police reports that the incident was a hit and run have since been retracted.) Walker was 40.

Around 2:20 this morning, Walker’s car crashed through a highway guardrail and into multiple trees, ejecting him and catching fire, according to Fulton County police (via WSB-TV). Two passengers were taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. A statement was released via Shawty Lo’s Twitter:

My brother has passed he is no longer here but his spirit, his kind heart , and his music will live on Long live Shawty Lo King of Bankhead

— SHAWTY LO (@THATSSHAWTYLO) September 21, 2016

Shawty Lo broke out in the mid-2000s with Atlanta rap crew D4L. In 2005, they signed to Asylum to release their debut album, Down for Life, which featured the breakout single “Laffy Taffy.” It became their biggest hit—peaking at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100—as well as their swan song. After a two-year break, Lo returned with a pair of solo mixtapes, I’m Da Man and I’m Da Man 2, as well as Guapaholics with Gucci Mane. In 2008, he released his debut album, Units in the City, featuring the single “Dey Know,” which was eventually certified gold.

From then until 2014, Lo continued to release at least one mixtape every year; in 2011, his D4L imprint signed a deal with 50 Cent’s G-Unit South to release the tapes. In 2013, Lo made headlines when a controversial Oxygen documentary about his 11 children and their 10 mothers—called All My Babies’ Mamas—was scrapped, in part due to online protest. Last month, Gucci Mane paid tribute to his longtime collaborator with a bar on “Last Time,” his single with Travis Scott: “Like Shawty Lo, I got 10 children/Yeah, Lo my partner/Wop!”

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