Soulja Slim
After dropping out of high school, James Tapp Jr. — first known as Magnolia Slim for the housing projects he hailed from — found his way into the rap game, dropping his debut album Soulja fa Lyfe in 1994 and a follow-up album on Master P's label in 1998. After a prison stint beginning that same year, he sought to reinvent himself under the name Soulja Slim. He soon released Streets Made Me, two other albums on his own label, Cutt Throat Committy, and released a chart-topping hit with Juvenile called "Slow Motion." But just a few months after the release of his second album on his independent label, he was killed in front of his mother's home. Police arrested Garelle Smith, 22, in connection with the murder but released him within months. (Smith was found murdered in August 2011.)