21-year-old Trevon McKoy was found shot to death near Seattle Center early Sunday morning.
McKoy was an up-and-coming rapper known as JUICETHEGOD that had just performed at a party nearby, reports radio station KEXP.
Around 2 a.m. Sunday, nearby residents called 911 to report gunshots in the area. Officers responded and found a male with a gunshot wound to his head at 1st Avenue N. and Republican Street. Medics with the Seattle Fire Department pronounced him dead at the scene.
Anyone with information is urged to call the Homicide/Assault Tip Line at (206) 233-5000.
McKoy rose to prominence in Seattle’s hip hop community last year, in part because of a music video for his song “Make ‘Em Say,” KEXP writes, a remix of Master P’s hit “Make ‘Em say Uhh!” released in 1997.
McKoy was enrolled at Bellevue College and played basketball there. In interviews, he expressed his hopes of becoming a mentor for young artists like his mentor Mackned, had done for him. KEXP quoted a conversation he had with The Blow Up last year:
"Younger kids, if you have a dream, aspiration, hobby, whatever you do, go hard and put your all into that,” McKoy said in the interview. “Don't let anybody tell you that you can't do something or tell you what you can do. You gotta be patient and give it time, that's how it is with everything that's just life in general. Just keep grinding with whatever you do, just keep going.”
On Twitter, condolences and memorials have been seen in across Seattle’s rap community.
