{"id":1989,"date":"2026-02-19T14:19:03","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T14:19:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/?p=1989"},"modified":"2026-02-19T14:19:03","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T14:19:03","slug":"rapper-lil-poppa-dead-at-25-music-community-mourns-rising-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/rapper-lil-poppa-dead-at-25-music-community-mourns-rising-star\/","title":{"rendered":"Rapper Lil Poppa Dead at 25, Music Community Mourns Rising Star"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Rapper Lil Poppa born Janarious Mykel Wheeler has died at the age of 25, officials confirmed on February 18, 2026 in Fulton County, Georgia. The Fulton County Medical Examiner\u2019s Office says the cause and manner of his death are still under investigation, with no official determination released yet.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Lil Poppa rose from Jacksonville\u2019s hip-hop scene with a raw, introspective style that earned him a devoted following. He first broke through with tracks like \u201cPurple Hearts\u201d, which reflected his personal experiences and emotional honesty, and went on to release several projects, including Almost Normal Again in August 2025. He was signed to Yo Gotti\u2019s Collective Music Group (CMG) and had collaborations with major artists within the rap community.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Just five days before his death, Lil Poppa dropped his new single \u201cOut of Town Bae\u201d, sparking buzz for a spring project and an upcoming performance in New Orleans that was scheduled for March. Fans and peers have expressed shock and sadness, sharing tributes on social media as news spread of his passing.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Though details are limited and the investigation continues, the loss of Lil Poppa has resonated deeply with listeners who connected with his candid lyrics and storytelling \u00a0a reminder of the fragility of life even as his music was reaching new heights. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rapper Lil Poppa born Janarious Mykel Wheeler has died at the age of 25, officials confirmed on February 18, 2026 in Fulton County, Georgia. The Fulton County Medical Examiner\u2019s Office says the cause and manner of his death are still under investigation, with no official determination released yet.\u00a0 Lil Poppa rose from Jacksonville\u2019s hip-hop scene [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1991,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[160],"class_list":["post-1989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","author-urbanafrica"],"authors":[{"term_id":160,"user_id":2,"is_guest":0,"slug":"urbanafrica","display_name":"URBANAFRICA","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/cropped-FFB50F59-0D6C-491C-BACA-64123F72D056.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/cropped-FFB50F59-0D6C-491C-BACA-64123F72D056.jpg"},"0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1989"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1992,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1989\/revisions\/1992"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1989"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=1989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}