Nuyorican rapper Hurricane G dies aged 52

New York-based rapper Hurricane G (real name Gloria Rodríguez) has died aged 52 after a battle with lung cancer.

Rodriguez was of Puerto Rican descent which allowed her to alternate between Spanish, and English in her raps. She was the first female member of the Hit Squad, and the rapper also made performances alongside elite hip-hop artists such as Redman, and Xzibit.

In 1997, she launched her debut album, All Women, which was severely delayed. Rodriguez took a backstep from the music industry following the record, and her next release came in 2013 with Mami & Papi in collaboration with Thirstin Howl III.

Tributes have already poured in from the hip-hop world, including from rapper Erick Sermon, who shares a daughter with G. “My heart is hardened today,” Sermon wrote on Instagram. “One of my good friends…. my oldest daughters mother passed away today #HURRICANEGLORIA was also a legend in her own right in the Hiphop community. One of the first puertorican female rappers She rapped with me. …”

He added: “She paved the way … she was in all the Hiphop magazines with all the top females at the time … She will be missed all around the world. I can’t believe this. Pray for us. Beautiful blessings. She was a beautiful person a wonderful mother as real as they come. We love u G.”

In May, their daughter, Lexus revealed her mother’s cancer diagnosis on Facebook and wrote: “I dont know how many of you understand what that means but even after 30 years of life Im still trying to process it myself,” she wrote. “I have never cried so much in my life I have never felt so disconnected from reality in my life. Yet my mom still manages to be the one to hold it together and say ‘dont worry baby everythings gonna be alright.’”