The New York Post has learned that the 21-year-old rapper, Braxton “Brax” Baker, has died. The outlet says Braxton, who was born in Richmond, Virginia, became famous for her 2017 mixtape, VERSE(atility). On Thursday, Letricia Loftin Russell, her mother, took to her IG to share the sad news.
Russell released a heartfelt Instagram post in which she reflected on her daughter’s death and said she was now in heaven with God. She claimed her “internal and external being” was pure and clean. According to the late rapper’s mother, she spent her last remaining months on earth writing books and creating albums with themes of “humanity” and “healing.”
Russell says Brax was working on expanding her brand and meshing her love of fashion with her love for “black queer revolutionary womxn.” Brax had many friends in the entertainment industry who commemorated her following her death, including Scott Osbourne Junior, who claimed her work would live on forever.
Back in 2018, Brax did an interview with SVGE Magazine in which she talked about her brand; her religious convictions; taking pride in her creativity, and her love for affirmations. Affirmations are when a person makes positive statements to oneself in order to feel good and believe in oneself.
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Brax said to the outlet at the time that she embraced her love of art and her “creativity,” and she didn’t think the world was “ready” for it yet. As most know, this wouldn’t be the first time an up and coming rapper passed away early.
Back in December of 2019, Juice WRLD died from a drug overdose in Chicago’s International Airport after the police searched his plane and found drugs. It was later reported that the rapper took a “mysterious pill” and collapsed while walking out of the airport.
Since then, Juice WRLD has been hailed as a legend in the hip-hop scene, and his posthumous record, Legends Never Die, went to the top of the billboard charts.
Another star to pass away prematurely in the rap world is Mac Miller, who died shortly after breaking up with Ariana Grande in 2018.