Rapper Baby Huey, best known for his 2006 hit “Pop, Lock & Drop It,” was shot and killed Thursday night outside St. Louis, the city where he made his name, according to multiple news reports.
He was 31.
Huey, whose real name is Lawrence Franks Jr., was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at a hospital with at least one gunshot wound. The St. Louis County Police Department confirmed his death was the result of a homicide, according to a report by Newsweek.
Police have not yet named a suspect in the shooting.
Another man wounded in the shooting first went to the police and was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Authorities said the shooting just before 11 p.m. may have been in retaliation for an earlier incident at a house in the 8100 block of Martin Luther King Boulevard in Kinloch, outside St. Louis.
Huey was expected to make a video Saturday, according to Jevon M. Tompkins of St. Louis-based Blanco Tarantino TV.
He reportedly had a 13-year-old daughter.
Huey was one of a slew of new rappers who came along after St. Louis native Nelly put the Midwest hip-hop scene on the map with his 2000 album “Country Grammar.”
Huey’s St. Louis contemporaries include Chingy, Jibbs, J-Kwon, Ebony Eyez and Pretty Willie.
Huey was originally signed to Jive Records.
Huey was 17 years old when “Pop, Lock & Drop It” was released in 2006. The track debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 98 in 2007, before peaking at No. 6.
St. Louis-based producer and songwriter Jaylien Wesley posted a photo of Huey to Twitter.
Franks was born on New Year's Day in 1989.
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