Chinx

Queens rapper Chinx, a key figure in French Montana’s circle and the architect of the Cocaine Riot mixtape series, stood on the verge of releasing his first official album in 2015 when a drive-by shooting ended his life. Born Lionel Pickens and previously known as Chinx Drugz, he rose alongside his late friend Stack Bundles, with both spending time in the Rockaway Riot Squad before they became part of Jim Jones’ Byrd Gang. In 2009 he aligned with French Montana and Max B’s Coke Boyz and that same year launched his own string of mixtapes. Momentum built sharply once Cocaine Riot appeared in 2011, then intensified further with Cocaine Riot 3 in 2013. Later that year he issued the EP I’ll Take It from Here, and Cocaine Riot 4 followed in 2014. On May 17, 2015, while he and producer Antar Alziadi were preparing his debut album, both men were struck in a drive-by shooting. Chinx died that evening at Jamaica Medical Center in Jamaica, Queens. The posthumous album Welcome to JFK surfaced that August, and a second posthumous release, Legends Never Die, arrived one year later.