{"id":182362,"date":"2026-03-07T19:25:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T19:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/182362\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T19:25:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T19:25:14","slug":"jacksonville-mourns-rapper-lil-poppa-at-funeral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/182362\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville mourns rapper Lil Poppa at funeral"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Hundreds of people gathered in Jacksonville on Saturday to say a final goodbye to hometown <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/entertainment\/music\/articles\/jacksonville-rapper-lil-poppas-funeral-152829106.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:rapper Lil Poppa.;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">rapper Lil Poppa.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Family, friends, and fans lined the streets outside Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church, with some traveling from across the country to pay their respects.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Jacksonville chef John Cartel says his connection to the rapper goes back years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cHe served his purpose,\u201d said Cartel. \u201cHe touched a lot of people through his music, especially me, like I said I\u2019ve been around him since he was 11 years old.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Cartel told First Coast News he has known Lil Poppa since he was a child and watched his journey from a young artist to a nationally recognized rapper.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cI watched him prosper and become what he wanted to be,\u201d Cartel said. \u201cIn Jacksonville, he\u2019s a legend. He\u2019s a legend to us and he\u2019s a legend around the United States of America.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Lil Poppa, born Janarious Wheeler, died in Georgia on Feb. 18. He was 25 years old.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">According to the Fulton County Medical Examiner&#8217;s Office, the rapper died from a gunshot wound to the head. His death was ruled a suicide.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Cartel said he cooked for the rapper for years, preparing some of his favorite meals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cIt would be fried chicken, baked beans, and Caesar salad,\u201d Cartel said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Over the years, Lil Poppa built a loyal fanbase with music that many listeners say helped them through difficult moments. Cartel said the rapper was deeply dedicated to both his craft and his city.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cI think ain\u2019t nobody could outwork him,\u201d said Cartel. \u201cEvery time you saw him, he was in the booth, writing, making music, as I said, he put his heartfelt words in his songs, and all made sense. His words helped a lot of people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">RELATED: <a class=\"link  yahoo-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/entertainment\/music\/articles\/star-jacksonville-rapper-lil-poppa-034301039.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:&#039;He was a star&#039;: Jacksonville rapper Lil Poppa dies at 25; fans and friends honor his legacy;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">&#8216;He was a star&#8217;: Jacksonville rapper Lil Poppa dies at 25; fans and friends honor his legacy<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hundreds of people gathered in Jacksonville on Saturday to say a final goodbye to hometown rapper Lil Poppa.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":182363,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117,86034,76838],"class_list":{"0":"post-182362","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-jacksonville","9":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","10":"tag-jacksonville-news","11":"tag-john-cartel","12":"tag-lil-poppa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}