Rich Homie Quan, the Atlanta rapper known for his hit songs “Type of Way” and “Flex (Ooh, Ooh, Ooh)” and his collaborations with Young Thug, has died, according to the Fulton County medical examiner’s office. A cause of death was not announced. Rich Homie Quan was 34 years old.
Rich Homie Quan was born Dequantes Devontay Lamar in Atlanta, Georgia. Growing up, Quan excelled at baseball, eventually starring at DeKalb County’s Ronald E. McNair High School, where he also learned to write creatively. In a 2018 essay for Talkhouse, he specifically credited his teacher Miss Butch for inspiring him. “She’d be like, ‘I just want you to write. Close your eyes and just think about what you’re writing about,’” he wrote.“ And every time I would close my eyes, they would turn to poems.”
Quan ended up in jail after high school and, while incarcerated, he focused on reading, writing, and making himself into a legitimate rapper. “When I got locked up, I started to think about everything I was good at,” he told XXL, in 2014, after being named to the publication’s vaunted Freshman Class. “When I was a kid I loved to read. Literature was my favorite subject. I loved creative writing classes. So when I got locked up, I read my first book in jail. I have been reading for years, but I read my first book in jail with understanding. When I learned how to really read a book, it took my mind to another place. So after that, then I started writing poems, and after that my poems didn’t sound like poems, they sounded like rhymes. I was like, ‘Let me see if I can put it on a beat.’”
Rich Homie Quan released his first mixtape, I Go In on Every Song, in 2012, and he quickly followed it with Still Goin In and Still Goin In – Reloaded. The latter project housed his breakout hit, “Type of Way,” an irresistible slice of melodic Atlanta trap that reached No. 50 on the Billboard Hot 100.
“Type of Way” showcased the richness and texture of Rich Homie Quan’s voice, at once triumphal and dripping with pathos. And, in just a few words, he captured the oft-indefinable feelings at the heart of many great songs: “Some type of way, make you feel some type of way.”
“Type of Way,” which got re-released by Def Jam Recordings, also made Quan a sought-after collaborator who soon featured on YG’s My Krazy Life standout “My N—a,” Yo Gotti’s “I Know,” and more.
Ultimately, Rich Homie Quan found his greatest musical success with Young Thug. Cash Money Records co-founder Birdman recognized the Atlantans’ undeniable chemistry and put them together in Rich Gang. The first taste of their greatness came on 2014’s “Lifestyle.” Reflecting on the song, in 2019, Sheldon Pearce wrote, “On ‘Lifestyle,’ their Auto-Tuned warbles sounded as lush as the manners of living they envisioned in song: Thug bursting at the seams, puffing on clouds from the top of a mountain, Quan reclining with commas in every bank.”
After “Lifestyle” came Rich Gang: Tha Tour Pt. 1, a mixtape that would become foundational for the sound of Atlanta and 2010s rap music as a whole. The promised tour, unfortunately, never materialized, and Quan and Young Thug eventually drifted apart.
Quan still had another hit in him after Rich Gang, and that was 2015’s “Flex (Ooh, Ooh, Ooh).” The track reached No. 26 on the singles chart and also featured on the mixtape If You Ever Think I Will Stop Goin’ In Ask RR (Royal Rich).
More mixtapes followed, and Rich Homie Quan released his lone studio album, Rich as in Spirit, in March 2018 via Motown Records. After a bit of a hiatus, he shared the Family & Mula EP, and its deluxe companion, in 2022. And, earlier this summer, he reunited with 2 Chainz for the single “Ah’chi.”
Several artists have paid tribute to Rich Homie Quan on social media, including Jacquees, 9th Wonder, and 2 Chainz, the latter of whom wrote, “Dam lil brother ,we just spoke about shooting a video 💙, special prayer for you and your family , and pray for any and everybody that’s dealing with something 🙏🏿 my condolences bru 🕊️.”