Thursday, July 12, 2007

Son of rapper KRS-One found dead in Atlanta home

The son of rap pioneer KRS-One was found dead in his Atlanta home in an apparent suicide.

Details were sketchy Tuesday but the Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed that 23-year-old Randy Hubbard Parker died of a gunshot wound to the head.

No note was found, but the medical examiner listed the death as a suicide from a pistol and found nothing suspicious about the case. The office spoke with his mother, Simone G. Parker, Tuesday who said the family was out of the country.

She released a statement that said her son had suffered a long battle with depression. His body was found Friday in a house he rented on Carey Drive in southeast Atlanta; he had been dead for several days.

Parker was a graphic designer and fashion entrepreneur who was seeking employment in Atlanta, according to WSB-TV.

His family said a private memorial service will be held on July 18, which would have been his 24th birthday. Another service is scheduled to take place in New York in August, where Parker was born.

KRS-One, whose real name is Lawrence Parker, was a rap pioneer who began his career in the 1980s as one half of the hip-hop crew Boogie Down Productions. He went on to a solo career in the 1990s and his hits include "Criminal Minded," "Black Cop," and "The Bridge is Over." Critics credited him with being a significant force in the hip-hop culture both for his political rap and for being a forerunner of the gangsta rap genre.

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