His debut single \u201cLMK,\u201d<\/a> produced by Sumyunghai, accumulated 100,000 streams on SoundCloud and announced his arrival as an artist to watch. He followed it with \u201c10 Toes Down Freestyle,\u201d riding a wave of remixes popularized nationally by Kodak Black.<\/p>\n That same year, Gibbs shared a stage with Philadelphia rapper PNB Rock at Deja Vu Lounge in Allentown<\/a>\u2014 a connection that now carries a grim weight.<\/p>\n PNB Rock, born Rakim Allen in Philadelphia\u2019s Germantown neighborhood, was fatally shot on Sept. 12, 2022, during a robbery at Roscoe\u2019s Chicken & Waffles in Los Angeles. He was 30. A man was later convicted and sentenced to 31 years to life in prison for ordering his teenage son to carry out the killing.<\/p>\n Gibbs worked with The Blackroom<\/a>, an Allentown-based production company and label founded in 2015 by Sumyunghai and J Dinero. The label has served as a launchpad for Lehigh Valley talent and collaborated with artists including Justin Rarri and Love & Hip Hop Miami\u2019s Chinese Kitty.<\/p>\n The Blackroom gained national attention in 2017 when it produced the music video for Chicago rapper 600 Breezy\u2019s \u201cLou Rawls,\u201d<\/a> which accumulated more than 4 million views and coincided with his appearance on Drake\u2019s More Life project.<\/p>\n Gibbs was among the label\u2019s early signees, part of a wave of local artists trying to build careers from a region often overshadowed by nearby Philadelphia.<\/p>\n His most recent track, \u201cRealest,\u201d was uploaded to SoundCloud three years ago. His last music video was uploaded to YouTube four years ago. <\/p>\n A pattern of loss<\/p>\n Hip-hop arrived in the Lehigh Valley in the mid-1980s, part of a cultural migration from New York City through Philadelphia and into smaller Pennsylvania cities. For four decades, local artists have built a scene in clubs, studios and on street corners, nurturing talent while navigating the same violence that has claimed lives in hip-hop communities nationwide.<\/p>\n A National Institute of Health report<\/a> found that homicide is the most commonly reported cause of death for hip-hop and rap recording artists in the United States. Between 1987 and 2014, at least 92 artists were killed. That number has since grown to exceed 100, with the median age of death at 29. Black males account for more than 90% of the casualties.<\/p>\n The losses have only accelerated since then. Since 2018, at least one prominent rapper has been fatally shot every year: XXXTentacion in Florida (2018), Nipsey Hussle in Los Angeles (2019), Pop Smoke and King Von (2020), Young Dolph in Memphis (2021), PnB Rock and Migos\u2019 Takeoff (2022). An XXL investigation<\/a> found that of 77 rapper deaths examined, more than 40 cases remain unsolved.<\/p>\n Gibbs\u2019 death echoes the losses the Lehigh Valley has absorbed before. In October 2011, 19-year-old Devon Robinson, who performed as Daze Dysh, was shot and killed<\/a> during a fight at a gas station at 12th and Hamilton streets in Allentown \u2014 just blocks from his home.<\/p>\n![\"pnb](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/pnb-david.jpg\")
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