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POPULAR young rapper Luci4 has died, according to his grandparents.

The young musician – best known for his viral hit “BodyPartz” – was just 23 years old.

His grandparents revealed to TMZ that he had died; however, his cause of death remains unknown.

Police have since launched a probe into his sudden death.

The rising star – whose real name was James Dear – passed away at a friend’s home in Los Angeles on February 22.

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner has since confirmed his death.

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His grandparents told TMZ they felt suspicious about their grandson’s death.

They have alleged his wallet was completely emptied, saying they had recently warned him about the people he was surrounding himself with as his fame grew.

The circumstances around his death remain unclear.

The rapper’s grandparents said they are now waiting for the results of the police investigation.

In a statement, the Los Angeles fire department said it had responded to a medical call at the house around 11.40am.

Sadly, he was already dead when help arrived, so the police were called.

It remains unclear if investigators suspect foul play.

Previously known by other stage names including Axxturel, 4jay, and Plasdu, Luci4 showed an interest in music and digital production at a young age.

His career began with music production, where he created beats and tracks that became popular online.

More recently, he had achieved viral fame through social media platforms including TikTok.

Pioneering the microgenre known online as sigilkore, he shot to fame with hit song “BodyPartz” in 2021.

The song was later recognised as a Gold hit by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

He also penned other popular tracks including All Eyez on Me and Kurxxed Emeraldz.

His success led to him signing with Atlantic Records.

His signing was considered a significant milestone for emerging internet-based artists.

It demonstrated the increasing influence of social media in discovering and promoting new talent.

Luci4 founded the collective Jewelxxet – a primary hub for sigilkore.

The genre is defined by dark, lo-fi atmospheres and bitcrushed vocals coupled with occult imagery.

He was popular largely among the underground music community; however, the new wave of experimental rappers including OsamaSon and Che have credited him as one of their influences.

The young rapper still frequently engaged with his fans and the online music community, staying connected with his roots as an online artist.

His death has sent shock waves through the music community, as fans share their grief online in an outpouring of tributes to social media.

“His 2020/21 run will never b forgotten he changed tiktok,” one person said.

Another posted, “That’s insane wtf.”

“Damn. I’ve been actively listening to him since 2021 casually. Was never a super fan but I have six solid songs that get played weekly. It’s always who u least expect. It makes me so sad listening to songs frm dead artists, never thought I would ever get that sentiment w his,” posted a third.

Another mourner said: “RIP TO A KING.”

“He was definitely one of my favorite artists to listen to during covid era,” said another.

Others have said he “really influenced a whole wave of music”, with some even listening to his songs as early as today.

“I was bumping his music so loud earlier today lil did I know he was gon die the same day,” a fan posted.

GRAMMY-nominated salsa legend Willie Colón has died aged 75.

Heartbreaking tributes have poured in for the musical pioneer – with Bad Bunny calling the star “one of the legends who contributed to this beautiful and legendary genre”.

The iconic artist passed away on Saturday surrounded by loved ones, his manager confirmed.

Colón was a trombonist, composer, arranger, singer and social activist.

Over his decades-long career, he produced more than 40 albums that sold more than 30 million copies worldwide.

His manager Pietro Carlos said: “Today, we’ve lost an architect of the New York sound, a trombonist who made metal his banner and wrote eternal chapters in our musical history.

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“Willie didn’t just change salsa; he expanded it, politicized it, clothed it in urban chronicles, and took it to stages where it hadn’t been heard before.

“His trombone was the voice of the people, an echo of the Caribbean in New York, a bridge between cultures.”

He added: “Today we say goodbye to a master, but his legacy lives on.”

Meanwhile, Grammy-winner Bad Bunny said on Instagram: “Today, one of the legends who contributed to this beautiful and legendary genre passed away.”

The star continued: “So, on behalf of myself and Los Sobrinos, we wish Willie Colón peace.

“Much strength to his family.

“The inspiration of so many of these great musicians who left their mark on this earth will never die as long as there are talented young people like those here, keeping the music, salsa and all Caribbean rhythms alive.”

Colón’s cause of death has not been confirmed, but Saturday’s tragic news follows reports from last week claiming that the star had been hospitalised for respiratory problems, according to TMZ.

A pivotal architect of urban salsa music, Colón collaborated with a long list of fellow icons, including the Fania All Stars, David Byrne and Celia Cruz.

His critically acclaimed collaboration with Rubén Blades, Siembra, which touched on social issues in salsa, became one of the bestselling albums in the genre of all time.

The musician, born to Puerto Rican parents, was nominated for 10 Grammys and one Latin Grammy.

Colón was born in the Bronx, New York, before being raised by his grandmother and aunt, who from a young age nurtured him with traditional Puerto Rican music.

When he was 11 years old he ventured into the world of music, first playing the flute, then bugle, trumpet and finally trombone.

His interest in trombone was sparked after experiencing Barry Rogers playing it on Dolores, Mon Rivera’s song with Joe Cotto.

He recalled in 2011: “It sounded like an elephant, a lion … an animal.

“Something so different that, as soon as I heard it, I said to myself: ‘I want to play that instrument.’”

Colón’s main musical traits included the fusion of rhythms.

The genius harmonized jazz, rock, funk, soul and R&B with the old Latin school of Cuban son, cha-cha-cha, mambo and guaracha.

His style also encompassed traditional Puerto Rican sound including jíbara, bomba and plena music.

A passionate advocate for civil rights, he fought mostly in the US for the Latino community among others.

In 1991 he was awarded the Chubb fellowship from Yale University, a public service recognition also awarded to John F. Kennedy, Moshe Dayan, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Ronald Reagan.

And he even served in politics – working as a special assistant to David Dinkins, New York’s first Black mayor, and an adviser to Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Colón had his own stints running for public office too – but had little luck challenging the then-US Rep. Eliot Engel in the 1994 Democratic primary.

In 2001 he also came in third in the Democratic primary for New York’s public advocate.

The late star also appeared in films such – taking roles in Vigilante, The Last Fight, and It Could Happen to You.

On TV, he featured in Miami Vice and Demasiado Corazón.

The icon also appeared in Bad Bunny’s music video for NuevaYol.

Colón is survived by his wife and four sons.

Police say the ex-Purdue University star died of a suspected self-inflicted gunshot wound in his hometown in Indiana.

Rondale Moore, the National Football League (NFL) receiver who suffered season-ending training camp knee injuries in each of the last two years after a standout college career at Purdue and a promising start with the Arizona Cardinals, was found dead on Saturday, authorities say.

Police said Moore, aged 25, died of a suspected self-inflicted gunshot wound. Moore was found dead in the garage of a property in his hometown of New Albany, police chief Todd Bailey said. The death remains under investigation.

Floyd County Coroner Matthew Tomlin confirmed Moore’s death. He said an autopsy would be conducted on Sunday.

After being traded to the Atlanta Falcons in 2024, Moore dislocated his right knee during training camp and never played for them. He signed with the Minnesota Vikings in 2025, but he injured his left knee while returning a punt in their first exhibition game and spent another full season on injured reserve. Moore was so distraught after immediately realising the seriousness of that injury that he slammed his hand down on a cart so hard the sound was audible throughout the stadium.

The Vikings said they had spoken with Moore’s family to offer condolences and support.

“I am devastated by the news of Rondale’s death. While Rondale had been a member of the Vikings for a short time, he was someone we came to know well and care about deeply,” coach Kevin O’Connell said in a statement distributed by the team.

“He was a humble, soft-spoken, and respectful young man who was proud of his Indiana roots. As a player, he was disciplined, dedicated and resilient despite facing adversity multiple times as injuries sidelined him throughout his career. We are all heartbroken by the fact he won’t continue to live out his NFL dream, and we won’t all have a chance to watch him flourish.”

In a statement, the Cardinals said they were “devastated and heartbroken”.

“Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with his family, friends, teammates, and everyone who loved him and had the privilege of knowing such a special person,” the team said in a social media post.

Moore grew up in New Albany, just across the Indiana border from Louisville, Kentucky, and was a first-team All-American as a freshman at Purdue in 2018.

Drafted in the second round by the Cardinals in 2021, Moore had 1,201 receiving yards and three touchdowns, plus 249 rushing yards and one score over three seasons. He served as their primary returner for kickoffs and punts as a rookie before injuries pushed him away from that role.

“Can’t even begin to fathom or process this,” former Cardinals teammate JJ Watt said on social media. “There’s just no way. Way too soon. Way too special. So much left to give. Rest in peace Rondale.”

A YOUNG rapper signed has died days after releasing a new single, at just 25 years old.

Janarious Mykel Wheeler, known by fans as Lil Poppa, died at 11:23am on Wednesday, according to the medical examiner.

According to his Spotify profile Poppa began releasing music in 2017, when he was just a teenager.

When rumours of his death first circulated, fans flooded his social media begging for answers, however the young rapper’s cause of death is currently unknown.

At the time of his death Lil Poppa had more than 600,000 monthly listeners on Spotify and over 960 thousand followers on Instagram.

In a now-tragic final post shared on his Instagram story Tuesday night, Poppa appeared to be riding in a car as he listened to Letting it go by Rod Wave.

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Who was Lil Poppa?

Lil Poppa, was born in Jacksonville, Florida, where he first started rapping at church with a group of friends and his older brother.

And at just 12 years old Poppa built a makeshift studio in the closet of his bedroom and started recording his music using just a laptop and a Radio Shack mic.

His big break came in 2018, when his independently released single Purple Hearts hit 2.3 million views on YouTube.

Since then he has released several albums with his label Collective Music Group, which has signed other industry heavyweights like GloRilla.

What was Lil Poppa’s cause of death?

The Fulton County Medical Examiner in Atlanta, Georgia, announced the tragedy, but didn’t give a cause of death, TMZ reported.

According the a medical examiner, the young rapper’s time of death was 11.23am, but his cause of death is currently unknown.

Fans began expressing their concerns about rumours of his death online when the news first started spreading.

A distraught fan wrote: “poppa please say something this can’t be happening.”

What song made Lil Poppa famous?

Lil Poppa wrote songs about relationships, mental health, and love.

The artist was best known for his tracks including “Love & War,” “Mind Over Matter,” and “HAPPY TEARS”.

Just days before his death Poppa released a new single called “Out of Town Bae”.

“And I can’t change how I’m living, I ain’t got no feelings, I pour drank in my kidney, And it’s only for the healing” he sings in his most played song on Spotify, “Eternal Living”.

The legendary US actor was nominated for seven Oscars and won for his role as a washed-up country singer in Tender Mercies.

Oscar-winning actor Robert Duvall, best known for his work in The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, has died aged 95, his wife has announced in a Facebook post.

“For each of his many roles, Bob gave everything to his characters and to the truth of the human spirit they represented,” Luciana Duvall said in a statement on Monday.

Duvall was best known for playing forceful roles such as his depiction of Tom Hagen, consigliere to the Corleone Mafia family in The Godfather.

He also played Lieutenant Colonel Bull Meechum in The Great Santini and the title character in Stalin, as well as broken-down and fallen characters in Tender Mercies and The Apostle.

Duvall, the son of a US Navy admiral and an amateur actress, grew up in Annapolis, Maryland in the United States. After graduating from Principia College in Illinois and serving in the US Army, he moved to New York City, where he roomed with Dustin Hoffman and befriended Gene Hackman when the three were struggling acting students.

After working on a variety of television shows, Duvall made a strong impression in his first forays onto the big screen, such as his first movie part as the mysterious recluse Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird.

Duvall got the part at the suggestion of the film’s screenwriter, Horton Foote, who had liked Duvall’s work in one of his plays. Foote later wrote Tender Mercies, a 1983 film for which Duvall won the Academy Award for best actor as a washed-up country singer.

Duvall was nominated for another six Oscars, including for his work in Frances Ford Coppola’s 1979 Vietnam epic Apocalypse Now. Duvall played the off-kilter, surfing-obsessed Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore.

The character’s famous line, “I love the smell of napalm in the morning”, became legendary.

In all, Duvall appeared in almost 100 movies. And when he grew weary of Hollywood, he made his own films. He wrote, directed and won an Oscar acting nomination for The Apostle, the story of a conflicted preacher.

Duvall did the same with Assassination Tango, a movie that allowed him to exhibit his passion for the tango and Argentina, where he met his fourth wife, Luciana Pedraza.

In later life, Duvall split his time between Los Angeles, Argentina and a farm in Virginia, where he converted the barn into a tango dance hall.

BUD Cort, best known for his role in the 1971 cult classic Harold and Maude, has died aged 77.

Writer and producer Dorian Hannaway, a close friend, said he died after “a long illness”.

A veteran of stage and screen, Cort appeared in more than 80 films and TV series across a career spanning five decades.

He became indelibly linked with his performance in Harold and Maude, Hal Ashby’s offbeat romance about a young man obsessed with death who falls in love with a free-spirited 79-year-old Holocaust survivor, played by Ruth Gordon.

Released in 1971, the film was initially a commercial and critical flop.

It later found a devoted following in repertory cinemas during the 1970s, cementing its status as a cult classic thanks to its dark humour and unlikely love story.

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“A young man obsessed with death falls in love with an old woman obsessed with life. She dies and teaches the kid how to live,” Cameron Crowe described it for AFI in 2011.

“And it’s done with music [by Cat Stevens] that scratches at your soul… that movie holds up – to this minute.”

Director Edgar Wright paid tribute to Cort’s work, calling him a “welcome and magnetic presence in every film lucky enough to have him”.

On his performance in Harold and Maude, Wright said: “Not only is this beloved film a pitch perfect black comedy-cum-love story for the ages, but Bud Cort delivers one of the greatest looks to camera in film.”

The role earned Cort nominations for a Golden Globe and a Bafta.

Born Walter Edward Cox in Rye, New York, in 1948, he later changed his name to avoid confusion with character actor Wally Cox.

He went to school in New Rochelle and developed an early passion for performance, appearing in school productions and frequently travelling into Manhattan to see Broadway shows.

Hannaway remembered him as a “passionate theatregoer” who would sneak off to Manhattan to see Broadway shows and wait at the backstage door hoping to catch a glimpse of Barbara Streisand after watching Funny Girl.

Roslyn Kind recalled meeting him as a teenager. “I was only fourteen when I met Bud at the backstage door at my sister’s play,” she said in a statement.

“He was majoring in art at the time in high school. We became close friends who shared our interest in entertainment.

“When I got married, Bud and our songwriter friend, Bruce Roberts, wrote a special song that was performed at the ceremony. His unique spirit will always be with me.”

Cort moved to Los Angeles in the 1960s to pursue film work.

He had a small role in MASH before being cast by Robert Altman in the title role of Brewster McCloud.

His co-star Sally Kellerman later recalled: “We were in the line for lunch when I spotted him.

“Although I didn’t know who he was, I said ‘Oh, boy. We’re going to be best friends.’”

He continued to work steadily, with supporting roles in films including Heat, Dogma, Coyote Ugly and Pollock, as well as The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.

On television, he appeared in series such as Arrested Development, Ugly Betty and Criminal Minds.

He also voiced Toyman in animated series including Superman: The Animated Series.

In 1979, Cort narrowly survived a devastating car accident that required multiple surgeries and affected his career.

He is survived by his brother Joseph Cox and sister-in-law Vickie, along with their daughters Meave, Brytnn, and Jesse.

He also leaves behind his sisters Kerry Cox, Tracy Cox Berkman, and Shelly Cox Dufour, and his many nieces and nephews.

A memorial will be held at a future date in Los Angeles.

Snooker legend and BBC commentator John Virgo has died aged 79. Virgo enjoyed an 18-year professional career, but is perhaps best known for presenting popular snooker TV show Big Break alongside comedian Jim Davidson from 1991 to 2002.

READ MORE: Snooker legend Virgo dies aged 79

Snooker legend and BBC commentator John Virgo has died aged 79.

Virgo enjoyed an 18-year professional career, winning the 1979 UK Championship among four non-ranking titles.

He is perhaps best known for his post-playing career, co-presenting snooker TV programme Big Break from 1991 to 2002.

Following his retirement in 1994, Virgo took up a full-time commentary position with the BBC.

He was part of its coverage for last month’s Masters.

REGGAE legend Sly Dunbar, who performed with the likes of Bob Marley, Madonna and the Rolling Stones, has died aged 73.

The iconic Jamaican drummer, who also co-founded production duo Sly and Robbie, was found dead on Monday according to his wife.

The star played on tracks such as Bob Marley’s Punky Reggae Party and Dave and Ansell Collins’ classic hit Double Barrel.

But he was better known for his work as one half of iconic production team Sly & Robbie.

The duo produced popular tracks for industry giants including Bob Dylan, Grace Jones and Ian Dury, and reggae stars like Peter Tosh and Black Uhuru.

His wife Thelma told local media she found him unresponsive on Monday, before his death was also confirmed by his team.

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Sly, whose real name was Lowell Fillmore Dunbar, was born in Kingston, Jamaica.

He started out playing on tin cans – getting inspiration from Lloyd Knibbs and the Skatalites on television.

The star previously said in a 1997 interview: “I saw [Knibbs] playing and I thought, ‘I want to be a drummer’ because he’s the hardest worker in the band.

“He’s my idol! In some ways, I’m self-taught but I got a lot of help from other drummers by watching them play.”

When he was a teenager, he founded the rhythm section of the band the Revolutionaries alongside bassist Robbie Shakespeare, who died in 2021.

They became one of the most renowned backing bands in Jamaican reggae in the 1970s.

Sly became known for his shuffling “rockers” drum pattern, which put more emphasis on syncopation and energy.

Throughout the decade they also worked with major reggae acts like Gregory Isaacs, Dennis Brown and Barrington Levy.

The rhythm section also toured in the US with Peter Tosh.

In the hopes of saving enough cash to found their own production team, the pair lived on bread and water during this period, according to legend.

They founded Taxi Records in 1980, before helping a whole new generation of Jamaican artists such as Shaggy, Shabba Ranks, Skip Marley, Beenie Man and Red Dragon refine their art.

The pair also provided beats on Grace Jones’s hit 1981 album Nightclubbing.

This paved the way for them to work with some of rock and pop’s biggest stars – from Bob Dylan and Joe Cocker, to singers like Marianne Faithfull, Madonna and Sinead O’Connor.

Sly’s heartbroken wife told local media: “I went to wake him up and he wasn’t responding, I called the doctor and that was the news.

His exact cause of death is unknown, but he is understood to have been ill for an extended period of time.

“Yesterday was such a good day for him,” Thelma told Jamaica’s Gleaner newspaper.

“He had friends come over to visit him and we all had such a good time. He ate well yesterday… sometimes he’s not into food.”

She added: “I knew he was sick… but I didn’t know that he was this sick.”

Tributes poured in for the late musician, with British DJ David Rodigan, calling him a “true icon” and “one of the greatest drummers of all time”.