Johnny Taylor has become the latest rapper to get killed in Chicago. The 23-year-old was on the brink of getting a record deal according to his manager, before he was gunned down just before midnight, Wednesday (Jan. 9).
Taylor, who rhymed under the name Johnny Boy Da Prince, may have lost his life over a case of “mistaken identity.” Police say he was shot several times in the neighborhood known as Garfield Park, and left for dead in an alley.
He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital where he underwent surgery. “The doctors first said he was going to be OK,” said his manager, Dillard Florence. “Then the surgical doctors came out and said he didn’t make it. Word is it was mistaken identity. He didn’t deserve [for] this to happen.”
Although he had a criminal record dating back to 2008, the incidents were mostly drug related. Last May he was released after receiving drug treatment in Cook County, and was said to be a devoted father to a 4-year-old son. “I got Johnny out of jail in May and I took him in and took him to the studio to work,” Florence recalled. “I told him he couldn’t be involved in the streets if he wanted to be in the music business. He hasn’t been on the streets since May, I don’t understand it…He came up with more than 150 songs, real-life songs, unbelievable. He was blessed.”
Prior to his death, Taylor finished a song called “Just Like You,” about “people killing without any reason.” Florence said he was also prepping for a meeting with executives at Atlantic Records.
Taylor’s passing is the latest in a string of shootings of rappers in Chicago and elsewhere. As previously reported, fellow Windy City dweller, Chief Keef’s stepbrother was shot and killed on the city’s South Side. He aspired to follow in the footsteps of the teen rap star.
Click below to see photos of Taylor.
—
Photos: Facebook
