Rapper Houdini gunned down in downtown Toronto shootout, succumbs to injuries at age 21
Canadian rapper Houdini has passed away at the age of 21 after he was shot in broad daylight in Toronto. The rapper was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, and gained recognition following his songs 'Late Nights', 'Myself' and 'Backseats' going viral online. He also found acclaim from his collaborations with rappers Pressa, Robin Bands and NorthSideBenji. Houdini dropped his debut mixtape 'Hou I Am' early last year. His sophomore mixtape, 'Hou Woulda Thought', followed in August 2019.
The rapper had just returned to his home city from LA to film what would turn out to be his last music video ever. The rapper was with two others when the downtown shooting occurred. Officers who arrived at the scene first found one male victim suffering from gunshot wounds, before soon locating another male and one female victim at the scene. All three sustained injuries, and while the first male victim was reported to have succumbed to his injuries not long after, the other two victims will reportedly recover.
The incident was captured by onlookers who soon began sharing videos and images of the three victims being attended to by first responders. Dr Joseph J Smith, who knew the rapper as a child, shared, "Dada aka Houdini my heart breaks knowing that we lost you. My condolences to the family. I knew you as a child and would have never thought that we would loose you so soon. I’m broken."
Tiffany Ford, founder of Black Capital and CEO of The Ford Global Group, stated, "RIP Houdini. Our community won’t forget you. You were just trying to make it out of this city. You did well. My condolences to all his friends and fam... especially @pressapressa stay focused."
Fellow Canadian rapper Tory Lanez was inconsolable in his Instagram post which read, "He wrote in the caption, "I'm trying, and I can't fight the tears from falling... I can't even find the words for a speech right now... ALL HE WANTED TO DO WAS LIVE !!!!!! #RIP Houdini 4 Ever!" American rapper Meek Mill also expressed his grief at the news, stating, "Rocked WIT YOUNGBULL VIBE AS A PERSON RIP! PRAYERS TO HIS SIDE!"
Fans of the rapper expressed shock at the news. "No way Houdini died bro WHAT," tweeted one fan, while another shared, "Rip Houdini .... my homegirl and I found out the bad news when we were driving ... gone too soon at 21 / rest easy." "2 wastemans really hunted down Houdini smh rip," stated one fan, and another said, "The music scene just be getting destroyed Senseless killings Rip houdini."
Some mourned the loss Houdini's death would be to the city of Toronto, tweeting, "Rip houdini, city ain gone be the same fr." Others, however, came down hard on the city for failing to protect its young talents and instead, seemingly working towards silencing them out of jealousy. "R.I.P Houdini...Toronto is a f**ked up city," stated one angry fan, another said, "Toronto is a jealous city. rip Houdini," and one fan shared, "Smoke dawg.. now Houdini?? Man Toronto is full of envious people who off mans that are doing good for themselves. U can be using that as motivation but y'all too prideful to accept another man is doing better than you. Grown ass men thinking like 15 yr olds our here."
Another fan tweeted, "Mans can’t even win in peace no more.. it’s that crazy. Rip Houdini." This year has definitely not been a good one for music. Not only has the ongoing coronavirus pandemic brought the industry to a standstill, but many great industry-defining artistes have also lost their lives this year, some to Covid-19, some to various other illnesses and ailments. Additionally, the issue of young rappers being lost to street violence is seemingly on the rise with many young artistes being gunned down.
"RIP KOBE RIP POP SMOKE RIP HOUDINI F**K 2020," tweeted one distraught fan, while another said, "R.I.P. Houdini..... Mane 2020 is not it..." In his short time, Houdini managed to put out some highly-acclaimed music and achieved monumental fame, reaching heights unheard of for a young Toronto rapper such as himself.
Fans are hoping the last of his unreleased music will drop soon. "Yo @torylanez i need u to finish off the Houdini album young goat in the making RIP," asked one fan. Others are predicting that despite being limited, his excellent discography is about to bring him worldwide fame following his untimely passing, tweeting, "Watch though, Houdini boutta blow now the way he should’ve beeeen blown."