A dark day in hip hop as famed Los Angeles rapper, Gonzoe was shot dead in Seattle. According to Metro, the shooting took place last week, and while the rapper was taken to a local hospital, he could not be saved.
Gonzoe was taken to Harborview Medical Centre, where he received treatment for life-threatening injuries. A spokesperson for the King County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that he died overnight, aged 45.
Real name Ronald Moore, Gonzoe was known for being a founding member of rap group Kausion during hip hop’s golden age in the 1990s, with his fellow group members Cel and Kaydo.
Kausion signed to Ice Cube’s famed label Lench Mob with the former N.W.A. man providing the vehicle for the group to release their debut album South Central Los Skanless back in 1995, even jumping on a track, ‘What You Wanna Do’ with the group.
Gonzoe left the group and pursued a solo rap career, where he signed on to Death Row Records. It was there that he became close friends with Tupac Shakur. Gonzoe and 2Pac became close personally and professionally, with the rapper working on some of the legendary hip hop man’s final tracks, including ‘This Life I Lead’ and ‘Die’.
Another Tupac collaborator, C-bo, paid tribute to Gonzoe: “I hate to see the repeated cycle of killing those that finally have made a change in their life for the better smh fuck the shooter!!!!”.
Gonzoe’s last solo record was in 2017 when he released Tha Code but last year, he had reunited with Kausion for their Masters Massacre EP.
