LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles-area rapper known as MoneySign Suede was murdered in a California prison Tuesday, his attorney and the state corrections department said.
The 22-year-old rapper, whose real name was Jaime Brugada Valdez, was found at the Correctional Training Center in Soledad around 10 p.m. «with injuries consistent with homicide,» the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said.
The «Back to the Bag» rapper was stabbed in the neck while taking a shower, his attorney Nicholas Rosenberg said.
Rosenberg said he spoke with Valdez’s family, who were told the details of his death by the corrections department.
“There is an investigation, but at this time the motive is unknown,” Rosenberg said. “Suede was a very popular guy, very affable. They all loved him.»
The corrections department did not say how Valdez died or where he was found.
He said he was not in his cell during the 9:55 pm count. He was found unconscious in another area of the housing unit. Rescue measures were started, but he was pronounced dead at 10 pm, he said.
He Los Angeles Times and TMZ celebrity website previously reported the news of Valdez’s death.
Rosenberg said MoneySign Suede was an up-and-coming rapper from Huntington Park, a city within the Los Angeles area. The «Back to the Bag» video on his official YouTube page has over 7 million views and the account has over 87,000 subscribers.
He was serving what amounted to a 32-month sentence for two weapons-related convictions. He was sentenced in December and the sentences in the two cases were running concurrently, according to the corrections department.
The Correctional Training Center is a prison that houses about 4,000 minimum- and medium-security inmates, the department said.