An Atlanta rapper credited with helping to push the city's "trap hip-hop sound" to mainstream popularity died Thursday at age 33. No details about Rich Homie Quan's death have been released other than he died at a hospital; an autopsy will be performed Friday. Quan worked with Young Thug, Meek Mill, Gucci Mane, 2Chainz, and other rappers, and was known for what CNN refers to as a "melodic approach" to rap. His hits included 2013's "Type of Way" and then, the following year, "Lifestyle." In 2015, dance moves from the video for his hit "Flex (Ooh, Ooh, Ooh)" went viral on the Vine social network, inspiring the phrase, "Hit the Quan."
Poignantly, Quan had told Revolt in an interview published in July how he wanted to be remembered. "Remember me as an original. As [an] artist who did it his way. Remember me as a hard kid from Atlanta with a dream, who believed in himself and bettered himself—and won." Boosie Badazz, who said he was working on a collaboration with Quan, was among the many rappers mourning the community's loss, NBC News reports. But it wasn't just members of the rap community remembering Quan; Mark Dantonio, the former head football coach at Michigan State University, recalled "Type of Way" becoming the team's anthem after it won the Rose Bowl in 2014. (More celebrity death stories.)