OG Maco, the influential Atlanta rapper whose debut single, “U Guessed It,” was a landmark in mid-2010s trap, died yesterday (December 26) in a Los Angeles hospital, TMZ reports. He was admitted on December 12 after sustaining a gunshot wound to the head that appeared to be self-inflicted, according to TMZ. After two weeks in a coma, he went into critical condition and could not be revived. OG Maco was 32 years old.

In a statement shared on the rapper’s social media pages, OG Maco’s family wrote, “His life was a testament to resilience, creativity, and boundless love. Through his music, passion, and unwavering spirit, he touched so many lives and left a lasting impact.”

“While we grieve this immense loss, we also celebrate the extraordinary life he lived,” the family continued, “one that will continue to inspire and uplift others. Maco’s influence, both as an artist and as a person, will remain forever etched in our hearts.”

Raised on the south side of Atlanta, OG Maco casually made music in high school but became more invested a few years later, when a friend in the Atlanta music scene was killed in a shooting. Soon after, he co-founded the label and collective OGG (Originality Gains Greatness), making waves locally with early single “Road Running” and his raucous live shows.

In 2014, OG Maco teamed up with another Atlanta rapper, Key!, for the Give Em Hell EP. Its breakout single was “U Guessed It,” a freeform trap screed delivered in a tone of punk minimalism, foreshadowing the insurgency of rock aesthetics into trap later as the decade continued. “U Guessed It” became one of the first defining rap songs of the social media era, frequently excerpted and set to homemade sketches on Vine, sometimes held up by rap’s old guard as a symbol of the style-over-substance new sound. After it sailed into the Billboard 100, Maco released the Live Life 2 mixtape and a self-titled EP, signing with Quality Control Music for a steady stream of short-form releases, as well as featuring on Diplo’s “Doctor Pepper.”

As his status grew, Maco spoke in interviews of the toll of managing fame while friends and family members died around him. “I’ve got, like, show, show, funeral, show,” he told Vice in 2014. “It’s always something that’s happened that can make me angry. So I pull from it. But because I can rap, it’s not just pure yelling. It’s formatted, but it’s really just my pure emotion.”

In 2016, Maco was involved in a car crash that left him with multiple skull fractures, a broken eye socket, cracked vertebrae, and heart palpitations, as well as visual impairment that doctors were eventually able to treat. In the days after, he joked, “My plastic surgeon says I can’t get any uglier so fixing my face should be easy.” Despite his injuries, he released two more projects that year for Quality Control and continued to self-release music the following year, including his long-delayed debut album, Children of the Rage.

Maco survived another health crisis in 2019, when routine skin treatment went awry, leaving him with a flesh-eating bacterial disease. As he received extensive treatment, his output dramatically slowed, before his return, in 2022, with one of his final singles, “Ops.”

If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts or know someone who is, we recommend these resources:

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
https://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org
1-800-273-TALK (8255)
UK Samaritans: 116 123
Denmark: 70 201 201