Drakeo the Ruler didn’t just rap; he slithered over a beat. The Los Angeles rapper had a quiet cadence, stalking his prey with assonance and lingo that only he and a select few understood, making it all the more impressionable and menacing when you heard him. He coined his craft as “nervous music” for his herky jerky flow and how uncomfortable he sounded while rapping. He was minimal, but intricate and primal, with a flow that ran counterclockwise to the beat. He delivered his lyrics with a mumble, almost as if he was rapping to himself, but the whole world heard him — he amassed a following that started in Los Angeles and ballooned to millions of streams worldwide, and other rappers began to copy his style as well.
Saturday night in Los Angeles at the Once Upon a Time in LA' festival, Drakeo the Ruler (born Darrell Caldwell) was fatally stabbed in the neck shortly before going on stage for his performance. He was a devoted father, a loving son, and a protective brother — and hailed by critics as the “most original West Coast stylist in decades,” But aside from the rap world’s major loss of such a one-of-a-kind talent, the violent end feels even more tragic when you consider what Drakeo had to overcome to become a free man.
