By Oliver Thomas, Guest Writer 

I have been told my whole life that I need to expand my music taste. When I tell people I listen to mostly rap, they think of mindless mumbling to a catchy beat with no true meaning. But I never saw it that way. For me, rap was more than just music. 

I first began to fall in love with the genre when my parents gave me my first iPod in third grade, which only had access to local radio stations. Every time I had my headphones in, I was guaranteed to hear the name Rich Homie Quan. His tracks “Type of Way” and “Lifestyle” with Young Thug were massive. Quan would then drop his commercially successful mixtape “Rich Gang” alongside Young Thug as the two soared to the top of the rap mountain. I became hooked on rap, specifically Quan and Thug, from constantly hearing their unique vocal inflections and delivery.

Quan’s success continued as he racked up seven Billboard Hot 100 hits between 2013 and 2015. However, after a dispute with a record label over unpaid royalties and a falling out between him and Young Thug, Quan’s relevance began to slowly fade away. Quan said that he fell into a spiral of depression and heavy drug use as he was unable to make music during his legal battle. From this point on Quan lost all the momentum he had. He became forgotten by nearly everyone, including myself.

I never realized what Rich Homie Quan’s music did for me until I opened Instagram on September 3 and saw a post that the 34-year-old had died of an apparent overdose. The news left me shocked. I had received news of other rappers I love passing before, but this one hit me harder than any other.

When I saw the news, I was flooded with memories. My mind took me back to the younger me, the innocent and naive child who was being introduced to the genre he still loves to this day. It was at this moment that I realized Quan’s music had an impact on my taste. If it weren’t for Quan, I would not love music the way I do today.

Though Quan’s run was far too short, he introduced me to a style of music that I have listened to every day for almost a decade. Through the hardest days and lowest points in my life, I could always put my headphones in and be taken away from my personal issues. Rap became a crutch for me, and it is all thanks to Rich Homie Quan. Through my best days and worst days, there was always a song to capture how I felt, no matter what I was feeling.

I think of losing my grandfather in 2017. As a grieving and confused 11-year-old, the only way I knew how to cope was through music, which pushed me through one of the hardest times of my life. Even on my darkest days, when I felt burnt out, I leaned on music. Music would motivate me and push me through these hard times regardless of how I felt.

The death of Quan signifies an end to a chapter of one of rap’s great eras. With Young Thug looking at the possibility of life in prison, the rap of my childhood has died. Quan’s death is also the end of a chapter in my own life. It has reminded me that the younger version of myself, listening to Quan on my iPod, is no longer here today.