Young Noble, the rapper who was part of Tupac Shakur‘s hip-hop group Outlawz, has died. He was 47.
The rapper (born Rufus Lee Cooper III) reportedly died by suicide, from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot on Friday morning in Atlanta, TMZ reported.
Fellow Outlawz alum E.D.I. Mean also shared the news on Instagram. “Today I got some of the worst and unexpected news imaginable. My brother and partner for over 30 years took his life this morning,” he wrote in the post.
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“Rest in power Rufus Young Noble Cooper,” added Mean. “I obviously am in no shape to talk about this right now so PLEASE give his family and I some time to process this. Mental illness is a real battle being fought by so many. CHECK ON YOUR FOLKS!”
Born March 21, 1978 in Sierra Madre, California, Cooper moved to New Jersey as a kid, where he met fellow Outlawz members Hussein Fatal and Yaki Kadafi, making his debut on Shakur’s 1996 album The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, recorded under Pac’s pseudonym Makaveli.
Noble made his solo album debut with Noble Justice in 2002, followed by Son of God (2012), Powerful (2016) and 3rd Eye View (2019).