Update, Friday April 10th: NBC News has reported that Chynna’s cause of death has been determined as an accidental drug overdose, citing the Philadelphia Department of Public Health.
Chynna, an on-the-rise rapper from Philadelphia, died April 8 at 25, her family confirmed through management to Pitchfork. Her cause of death is unknown. “Chynna was deeply loved and will be sorely missed,†her family said in a statement. Born Chynna Rogers, she asked rapper A$AP Yams over Twitter if she could intern for him at age 15, sparking the mentorship that began her rap career. A year before, she had also been discovered by Ford Models at a New Jersey Six Flags. She would model for the agency for three years. In 2013, she found an online hit in “Selfieâ€; she followed it with “Glen Coco†the following year. Her mentor A$AP Yams died by drug intoxication in January 2015, but she still joined A$AP Mob at South by Southwest that year, further raising her profile. She released her first EP, I’m Not Here. This Isn’t Happening., in July 2015, and followed with others, most recently In Case I Die First this past January. Death was a theme throughout Chynna’s music, and she openly spoke of struggling with opiate addiction. Her last Instagram post, a series of videos of herself and others posted April 7, begins with a video of the rapper saying, “I think there’s too many soundtracks to our lives. I need music to die to†(Music 2 Die 2 also being the name of her 2017 EP). A$AP Mob tweeted a simple tribute: “REST EASY CHYNNA. WE GON MISS U SIS.â€