American rapper Gangsta Boo has died at the age of 43.
The rapper, real name Lola Mitchell, was reportedly found dead at her home in Memphis at around 4pm on Sunday afternoon.
Gangsta Boo was the second woman to join Memphis hip-hop group Three 6 Mafia before leaving in 2002. She has collaborated with stars including Eminem and had previously worked with OutKast.
Three 6 Mafia founder DJ Paul announced the news of her death with a picture of her on Instagram. The cause of her death is not yet known.
Rapper Lil Jon was one of the first to comment on Paul's post, replying: "MAN WE WAS JUS TOGETHER 3 WEEKS AGO. REST WELL QUEEN.
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Gangsta Boo posted a video of herself performing on stage on her Instagram account, which had over 264,000 followers, on New Year's Eve. She wrote: "Some of the things that I did in 2022! So fun and productive, climbed out my shell alot!! 2023 go be 23'n! #JORDAN #BOOPRINT #recap Happy New 2023 everyone!"
Ty Dolla Sign replied to the post following the news of her death, saying: "Damn queen we were locked in,"
American radio DJ Peter Rosenberg paid tribute to her on Twitter. He wrote: "Gangsta Boo was such a unique artist... style wise, voice wise ...energy. She was not the token woman of the crew ... she really brought her own style to 3-6/Hypnotized Minds and made them a better more complete click/label..."
He shared a YouTube link of Gangsta Boo's collaboration with Yelawolf and Eminem, adding: "Gangsta Boo was on a record with @eminem and absolutely killed it ... slept on banger with her, em , and @Yelawolf."
Mitchell appeared on the first five studio albums of Three 6 Mafia, which consisted of Paul, Juicy J, Lord Infamous, Koopsta Knicca, Crunchy Black and herself.
She cited several reasons for leaving the group in 2002, including financial mismanagement, creative differences but also to purse a solo career.
While in the hip-hop group, she had already released solo albums Enquiring Minds and Both Worlds *69 with the latter reaching number 29 on the Billboard 200 and eighth on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart.
Gangsta Boo released her third and final studio album in 2003 Enquiring Minds II: The Soap Opera which only peaked at number 53 in the R&B/Hip-Hop chart.
She had also worked on material with other rappers such The Game and Gucci Mane among others.
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