In the early hours of a Monday morning, a traumatic childhood experience came full circle in the most tragic way for Rashi L. Gant. When he was just 10 years old, Rashi had a gun held to his head by a Chicago police officer during a wrongful raid on his family's home, an event for which the city later settled. More than two decades later, the 33-year-old man’s life was taken by gun violence on a quiet residential street in his native Chicago.
In the city’s hip-hop community, Rashi
was known as an emerging rapper who went by the names "Bossed Up Illy" and "Juju." He was reportedly gaining momentum online, with several songs on YouTube and a collaboration with fellow artist PGF Nook that was creating a buzz. His music and online presence connected him with a community that was shocked and saddened by his sudden death.
The end came for Rashi just after midnight on October 12, 2026. In the Roseland neighborhood on the city’s Far South Side, neighbors on the 11300 block of South Edbrooke Avenue heard several gunshots. Around 12:35 a.m., a passerby noticed a man unresponsive inside a parked car and called for help. First responders arrived to find Rashi slumped inside the vehicle, suffering from a single, devastating gunshot wound to his neck.
Paramedics rushed him to Advocate Christ Medical Center in the nearby suburb of Oak Lawn. Despite the efforts of medical staff, Rashi L. Gant was pronounced dead at 1:13 a.m. The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office later officially ruled his death a homicide. The initial news reports of the shooting went out without a name, but within a day, the victim was identified, and news of the rapper's killing began to spread through the community.
Chicago Police Department’s Area 2 detectives were assigned to lead the homicide investigation. Crime scene investigators processed the vehicle and the surrounding area on South Edbrooke Avenue, searching for evidence and any clues that might point to a motive or a suspect. Authorities have not released any information about what may have led to the shooting or whether Rashi was targeted. In the days and weeks following the incident, no arrests were announced, and no description of a suspect or persons of interest was made public.
Family and friends gathered to mourn Rashi and celebrate his life on Saturday, October 24, 2026. A funeral service was held at the Pentecostal Cogic Church in Matteson, Illinois, under the care of Leak & Sons Funeral Homes. While a public obituary with personal remembrances and details about his life and family was not made available, his death was noted by online memorials dedicated to victims of gun violence.
As of late October 2026, the investigation into the murder of Rashi Gant remains open and active. No arrests have been made, and the case has grown cold, leaving his loved ones without answers and his killer still at large. His death adds to a tragically long list of Chicago artists lost to the very violence some document in their music, cutting short a life that had already overcome a harrowing encounter with it as a boy.
