Soulja Slim Dies – Today in Hip-Hop
2003: James Tapp, Jr. better known to his fans as Soulja Slim died 16 years ago, today.
Hailing from the Magnolia Projects in New Orleans, Slim was best known for his time on seminal hip-hop label No Limit Records in the late 1990s and his posthumous collaboration with Juvenile, "Slow Motion," that landed at No. 1 on the Billboard charts.
On Nov. 26, 2003, Slim was tragically gunned down by an unknown gunman in front of his mother's house on the 4600 Lafaye St. in the Gentilly neighborhood on Thanksgiving Eve. Slim was shot three times in the face, and once in the chest before succumbing to his wounds.
On New Year's Eve of that year, Garrelle Smith, 22, was arrested in connection with Slim's murder when police discovered a stolen pistol found in Smith's possession matched ballistics for the gun that shot and killed Soulja Slim a month earlier. Unfortunately, murder charges were eventually dropped against Smith in the case after no witnesses would testify against him. Smith would later be killed by gunfire himself in 2011. Soulja Slim's case is still considered unsolved to this day.
Despite the status of the case, Soulja Slim remains beloved by fans of southern hip-hop and his 1998 album, Give It 2 'Em Raw, which is among XXL's list of Hip-Hop albums turning 20-years-old this year, is considered to be a cult classic of New Orleans rap music.
R.I.P Soulja Slim!
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