The fatal shooting of rapper Slim 400 is being investigated as “gang-related retaliation,” with the Inglewood Police Department bracing for a turf war as “things have really ramped up between the Bloods and the Crips, so tensions are already high.”
The 33-year-old rising West Coast hip-hop artist — real name Vincent Cohran — was gunned down Wednesday just before 8 p.m. in Inglewood city.
Although they don’t believe the Compton-raised rapper’s death was a targeted hit, law enforcement officials told TMZ they still think the shooting was gang-related — which almost always means revenge.
Sources told outlet “they believe Slim happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and his alleged ties to the Bloods didn’t help.”
Disturbing video of the deadly encounter, authenticated by authorities, captures a suspect walking up a driveway — gun in hand — to approach the driver’s side of the rapper’s vehicle. A flash is seen and the sound of a gun popping is heard.
Shots continued to ring out as Slim 400 exited the vehicle and moved into the street before collapsing.
Paramedics treated him on site before the LA County Fire Department transported him for “emergency traumatic care” at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center — where he was pronounced dead, the Los Angeles Times confirmed.
Popular hip-hop podcast “No Jumper” was the first to report Slim 400’s passing via a cryptic Twitter post, and disturbing fan-shot videos of the taped-off crime scene are already making the rounds on YouTube.
The Inglewood PD told TMZ it intends to beef up its presence in the streets to discourage a rash of copycat gang crimes.
Meanwhile, admirers continue to pay online respects — with some hailing Slim 400 as a trailblazer in his community.
“RIP Slim 400,” the Twitter account for the hip-hop blog Passion of the Weiss posted in one homage. “A Compton gangsta rap prototype, an ambassador for a tradition, lineage, and history — who made a whole lot of hard-as-hell rap songs full of sober gravity and blunt force.”
Slim 400 had previously narrowly escaped death when he was “ambushed” and shot nine times while visiting his family in Compton in the summer of 2019, Vlad TV reported. Slim revealed that one of his family members risked their own life to save him by dragging him indoors to safety amid a hail of drive-by bullets.
“I just feel like when you meant to be here and God have a plan for you, it ain’t no stoppin’ it,” the rapper revealed during an LA radio interview at the time. “I hit the ground thinking it was over. My family came out, kept me alive, talking to me, dragging me in the house while they still shooting … My family, love her to death for just saving me. I just feel like I’m blessed just to be here ’cause I could have just died then and there.”
Born Vincent Cohran to military parents on June 21, 1988, in Frankfurt, Germany, Slim moved back to the States as a young child. He was discovered and signed by the now-defunct Pu$haz Ink music label once popularized by YG (Young Gangsta) and DJ Mustard, which also collaborated with the likes of top hip-hop star Travis Scott back in 2016.
The rapper was said to be private about his personal life, but Slim 400 reportedly has a daughter named Parris,born on March 17, 2009.
