So this guy died. His name is Shakir Stewart and he took over for Jay-Z after he stepped down as label head. Apparently, he shot himself in the head, but it remains to be see if there was any wrong doing in the case. I don’t know, a self-inflicted gun shot wound is a fucking violent way to go out!

According to the MTV article, this guy was pretty much responsible for signing some of the biggest hip hop acts we have today. Young Jeezy, Ciara, Beyonce even the cop Rick Ross were people that he was involved in signing.

One quote struck me from the article:

He told Billboard at the time that his goal [as head of Def Jam] was to help develop “new, young executives … the hot executive who’s 21, 22 years old and has a serious passion for music and the desire to work 27 hours a day. That’s where I was at that time in my life. And that’s who I’m looking to mentor. I don’t see many people like that. Instead, I see a lot of kids who want to live the lifestyle but don’t want to put in the work and do what it takes.”

That’s really inspiring right there, but who’s to say that the complete exhaustion with working that much led to him making the decision to take his life (if he did at all? We will probably never know. He seemed like a very intelligent man, and based on his credentials, the hip hop world will miss him… R.I.P.