Model turned rapper Chynna Rogers, known as Chynna, died Wednesday at the age of 25.
“Chynna was deeply loved and will be sorely missed,” her family wrote in a statement obtained by Pitchfork. The cause of death has not been confirmed.
Pitchfork further reports:
Chynna Rogers began her career as a model, signing with Ford Models when she was 14. She found a mentor in A$AP Yams as a teenager, and her affiliation with the A$AP Mob ignited her efforts to build a career as a rapper. She released her first singles in the early ’10s, finding online success quickly with 2013’s “Selfie” and 2014’s “Glen Coco.” She followed those with a few EPs, including 2015’s I’m Not Here, This Isn’t Happening and 2016’s Music 2 Die 2. She later said her music was “for angry people with too much pride to show how angry they are.”
Born in West Philadelphia on August 19, 1994, Chynna was very transparent about her opiate addiction and opened up about it in her art, such as in her 2016 mixtape, Ninety. In a 2018 interview with Pitchfork, the young rapper pinpointed the moment she realized she had a problem.
“I realized I didn’t have control of the situation anymore the day that I didn’t even feel like getting high, and my body was like, ‘Bitch, you better get high before you start throwing up and acting like a fool.’ It was really frustrating. It got to the point where I had to do something just to be able to get onstage and do my job. I didn’t like that. That was taking it too far, because it stops being fun and starts being because you have to, and that’s when you need to chill,” she said at the time.
Upon hearing the news, several fans and friends alike took to social media to pay tribute to the young artist.
Writer, producer, comedian and actress Quinta Brunson wrote, “I will love you forever, and we are going to change this world for you.”
“Just lost another friend to drugs,” Brunson tweeted upon hearing the tragic news. “I’m not going to be quiet about it. I’m tired of drug culture. Everything about it. Everything attached to it. I know there’s a bigger picture. But I don’t care right now. I’m so tired. And sad.”
Rest in power, young Chynna.