Philadelphia rapper PnB Rock was shot dead today (September 12) in a robbery attempt at a restaurant in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times and TMZ report. Police told the Times the artist suffered multiple gunshot wounds when the unknown assailants robbed him of his jewelry at the Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles location on Main Street and Manchester Avenue and was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead. He was 30 years old.
Born Rakim Hasheem Allen on December 9, 1991, he grew up in Philadelphia’s Germantown neighborhood. His stage name PnB Rock is derived from the corner of Patorius and Baynton streets in his hometown. Allen’s father was murdered when he was three years old; his uncle, a father-figure, when he was 15. At 19 years old he was sentenced to 33 months in prison.
In 2014 he the song “My City Needs Something,” a lament for the violence he experienced as a youth; the video features a child shot while playing basketball. “People were dying, people were getting killed by cops,” he told the FADER in 2016. “If I listen to that song, I’ll cry.”
PnB Rock dropped his debut RnB in 2014, catching the attention of Atlantic Records, which quickly released “Jealous,” his breakthrough 2015 single with Fetty Wap. A member of XXL’s 2017 “Freshman Class,” he would go on to release two solo albums: Catch These Vibes in 2017 and GTTM: Goin Thru the Motions in 2019. In 2020 he shared a “Ordinary,” a collaboration with Pop Smoke, and in 2021, “Rose Gold” with King Von. Other major collaborations from across his career include songs with Ed Sheeran, Chance the Rapper, Young Thug, 2 Chainz, Wiz Khalifa, Kodak Black, and A Boogie wit da Hoodie.
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