Female rapper of Three 6 Mafia, ‘Gangsta Boo’ has passed away at the age of 43.
As each New Year begins, some come with us while some are left behind by mere months, days, hours, even seconds. Lola Chantrelle Mitchell, professionally known as female rap pioneer of the rap group Three 6 Mafia, “Gangsta Boo”, was one who came with us, but not for long.
On the first day of 2023, Lola Mitchell was found dead in a friend’s home in Memphis, according to The Commercial Appeal news partner WMC Action News 5, who spoke with Delmar H. Lawrence, she was 43 years old. Delmar H. Lawrence, also known as Mr. Del. Lawrence was a collaborator with the rap group Three 6 Mafia — the iconic Memphis group that propelled Gangsta Boo and others to fame.
FINAL DAYS of GANGSTA BOO:
“She was just very happy. She was supposed to go back to LA, she extended her trip. She just ended seeing so many of her friends.”- Mr. Del.
Just spoke to Gangsta Boo’s friend of over 30 years.@WMCActionNews5 pic.twitter.com/xmvCQI1pb0
— Kelli Cook (@TVKelliC) January 2, 2023
The cause of Gangsta Boo’s death is unknown; her passing comes just one year after Memphis grieved the killing of Castilia Heights-born Adolph Thornton Jr., best known as Young Dolph.
By early Sunday evening, Memphis police had not confirmed Gangsta Boo’s death, citing an official identification and next-of-kin notifications. Still, tributes from artists she’d worked with directly or influenced began to circulate around social media.
Rip memphis hiphop legend @GangstaBooQOM Love you @mrdel https://t.co/EN9UMclEcT
— Yung Titan (@YungTitan901) January 2, 2023
Alphonzo Bailey, a renowned Memphis rapper known as Al Kapone, was a friend and collaborator of Gangsta Boo. He described Mitchell’s passing as a deep, significant loss for Memphis as a community. Gangsta Boo, he told The Commercial Appeal, let him know early on what his own style and influence meant to her.
“This is a big loss for the Memphis rap community,” Bailey said. “Boo is one of the first to represent female rappers in a major way and still is respected by the new female rappers today like GloRilla and Gloss. Gangsta Boo is one of the reasons Memphis rap is global today. We will miss her and will always represent her legacy. I’m sending my condolences to her family.”
DJ Paul, one of the founding members of Three 6 Mafia and early collaborators with Gangsta Boo, used Instagram to pay tribute to her Sunday, by posting a photo of her at a turntable mixer.
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And while her initial success is largely associated with Three 6 Mafia, her solo work held its own. In 1998, she released Enquiring Minds, which included the hit, “Where Dem Dollars At?!”
All three of her solo albums ranked on R&B charts. A steady stream of mix tapes and collaborations kept her name in play over the span of a career nearly three decades long.
Last week, Gangsta Boo filmed an unreleased video with fellow Memphian and award-winning producer Drumma Boy, according to a written statement from Echo Hattix of Echoing Soundz.
Hattix also shared a statement from Veronica Mitchell, Gangsta Boo’s mother, and other members of the family:
“The Mitchell family would like to thank everyone for their condolences regarding the untimely death of Lola ‘Gangsta Boo’ Mitchell. The family is asking for your continued prayers and privacy as we process the loss of our loved one,” they said.
The statement from Hattix also said the cause of death had not been released due to an ongoing investigation. Memphis police had not provided any updates on the case as of Monday afternoon.
Mitchell’s relevance as one of the first major female rappers representing the South has endured, and she placed a spotlight on other female rappers who followed, including Gloria Woods, better known as GloRilla, the latest Memphis rapper to nab the national spotlight with hits like “F.N.F.”
On Sunday evening, GloRilla shared screenshots, reportedly of conversations between her and Gangsta Boo with the caption: I normally don’t post screenshots but the fact that she reached out to me before anybody else had a clue who I was😢she always supported me & the girls way back before we blew up 💯A REAL LEGEND there will never be another Gangsta Boo 🙏🏼
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In November of 2022, Gangsta Boo made an appearance on the popular cultural podcast ‘Drink Champs’ and spoke of the rising stars of Memphis such as rappers GloRilla and Gloss Up; supporting women in rap, Gangsta Boo said, was important.
“It just made me feel good, ’cause they went whack and they represented Memphis right,” Gangsta Boo said.
Gangsta Boo was also on a season of WEtv’s Marriage Bootcamp Hip-Hop Edition with longtime boyfriend Emmet Flores, who is best known as the host of the Kush and Chemtrails podcast.
Some of Gangsta Boo’s fans believe that she and Emmett had recently broken up, as she’s stopped uploading pictures that feature them together onto her social media accounts, however, Gangsta Boo did not address these rumors. She seemed to be in a relationship with Emmett as of September 2022, they were not married and do not have children.
We send our deepest condolences to the family, friends and fans of yet another hip-hop legend and icon gone too soon. RIP Gangsta Boo!
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