Chinx

A pivotal member of French Montana’s crew and the man behind the Cocaine Riot series of mixtapes, Queens rapper Chinx was about to make his official debut in 2015 when he was killed in a drive-by shooting. Born Lionel Pickens and formerly known as Chinx Drugz, Chinx came up with a friend, the late Stack Bundles, both spending time in the Rockaway Riot Squad before they joined Jim Jones’ group Byrd Gang. He moved on to French Montana and Max B’s Coke Boyz in 2009, then that same year he began releasing mixtapes. His solo career caught fire in 2011 when the first Cocaine Riot dropped, and reached a fever pitch in 2013 with the release of Cocaine Riot 3. His I’ll Take It from Here EP followed that same year, then Cocaine Riot 4 arrived in 2014. On May 17, 2015, as they were working on the rapper’s debut album, Chinx and producer Antar Alziadi were victims of a drive-by shooting. Chinx was pronounced dead later that evening at the Jamaica Medical Center in Jamaica, Queens. The posthumous Welcome to JFK appeared in August of that year. A second posthumous album, Legends Never Die, was released a year later. ~ David Jeffries