Carlos Walker, better known as Atlanta-based rapper Shawty Lo, died early Wednesday morning in a fiery car crash in Atlanta.
Initially reported as a hit-and-run accident, it was later confirmed by Fulton County police spokeswoman Cpl. Maureen Smith to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that it was a single-car accident.
The 40-year-old rapper had been visiting a strip club earlier in the evening, according to pictures he posted on social media.
Lo's 2016 Audi crashed into a tree on the side of the road at about 2:20 a.m., overturning and ejecting Lo as the vehicle caught fire. The rapper was killed on impact, and two women also in the car were hospitalized with nonlife-threatening injuries, police told the AJC.
In a sad tribute, Lo’s CD “Put Some Respek On It” was found laying next to the car at the roadside.
Shawty Lo was a founding member of the hip-hop collective D4L, which had a hit “Laffy Taffy” in 2006. Lo released several solo projects as well, most notably the song “Dey Know.”
According to his videographer and chef Milton Swift, Lo had just buried his father and was working on a video dedication to him.
Lo leaves behind 11 children from 10 different mothers. In 2013 Oxygen made a reality show about Lo’s family titled “All My Babies’ Mamas,” but backlash over the content of the show led Oxygen to drop the program without airing it.
“This guy was loved by his city,” Swift told the AJC. “He loved life. He loved people. He loved his family. He loved all his kids.” Swift also called Lo his brother and said that Lo gave him his first shot in the music industry.
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