SpotemGottem is expected to make a full recovery after being shot five times last Friday in what police describe as a road-rage incident.
The 19-year-old rapper, whose real name is Nehemiah Lamar Harden, remains hospitalized after being wounded in his legs early Friday as he was riding in a Dodge Charger on Interstate 95 in Miami, according to the Miami Herald, which cited the Florida Highway Patrol.
His condition had been upgraded from critical to stable after emergency surgery the same day.
“He is in stable condition,” said the rapper’s attorney Raven Liberty, according to the Herald.
After news of the shooting fanned out over social media Friday, rumors began to circulate that the rapper had been killed. But Harden’s lawyer has since put to rest any speculation about his survival.
“He is alive, most importantly,” Liberty told the Herald, emphasizing that Harden did nothing to provoke the attack. “This was not a shootout. He was a victim of a drive-by shooting,” she said.
The shooting remains under investigation.
TMZ was the first to report that the incident was the result of an apparent road-rage attack after the rapper left his recording studio in Miami.
Gunfire erupted about 3 a.m. Friday on the southbound stretch of Interstate 95, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
At least 22 shots were fired from an automatic weapon at the driver’s side of Harden’s vehicle, reportedly being driven by an associate who was also hit in the hip, TMZ reported. The wounded men pulled over and called police, and both were taken to a nearby hospital.
As of Monday, the shooter has not been identified and remains at large, Lt. Alejandro Camacho told the Herald, adding that investigators had no information about the suspect’s vehicle.
Camacho urged anyone with information about the shooting to contact the Florida Highway Patrol.
SpotemGottem became an instant sensation last year with the release of his hit single “Beat Box,” which peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart after first going viral on TikTok.
The artist will be 20 years old on Oct. 19.
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