Drakeo the Ruler is stabbed and killed backstage at the Once Upon a Time in LA festival

Why it matters

Darrell Caldwell, who recorded as Drakeo the Ruler, was stabbed to death backstage at the Once Upon a Time in LA festival at Banc of California Stadium on December 18, 2021. He was 28. The killing happened during a backstage altercation between competing performers' crews. The case has never been formally resolved with a conviction. Drakeo was the central figure of the late-2010s Los Angeles "nervous music" sub-genre, a particular West Coast style of off-time, sparsely produced, deliberately quiet rap that he had been developing across mixtapes since the mid-2010s. He had spent a substantial stretch of 2018-2020 in California state custody on murder charges that were ultimately dismissed (the case had relied heavily on his lyrics as evidence). He had been released and had been releasing new music at a high rate in the months before his death. He was 28. The Once Upon a Time in LA festival cancelled the rest of its programming. The festival was never re-staged. You should hear his catalog. The voice is not replicable.