This article is about the death of Hurricane G from cancer. She was an influential Nuyorican rapper that passed away at 52.
Gloria “Hurricane G” Rodriguez, who was a rapper from Brooklyn, died at the age of 52. EPMD’s Erick Sermon, who had a daughter with Rodriguez, confirmed that she had died. Rodriguez was best known for her 1997 No. 10 hot rap singles hit “Somebody Else” and her bilingual songs like “Underground Lockdown” and “El Barrio.”
“Today, my heart has grown cold. One of my good friends, the mother of my oldest daughter, died today. Her name was #HURRICANEGLORIA, and she was a hip-hop legend in her own right,” Sermon wrote in an Instagram tribute on Sunday (Nov. 6). “One of the first female rappers from Puerto Rico.” We rapped together. @redmangilla she paved the way @keithmurray @diddy she was in all the hip-hop magazines with the top females at the time.”
Rodriguez first got known when she sang on Redman’s “Tonight’s da Night” in 1992. Two years later, she worked with him again on “We Run N.Y.” from his Dare Iz a Darkside album. All Woman, her first full-length album in Spanish, came out in 1997 on the New York-based H.O.L.A. Recordings label.
Before that, she had appeared on songs by Xzibit, Funkdoobiest, Keith Murray, and Puff Daddy. She also joined the Def Squad, an East Coast hip-hop group with Sermon, Redman, Murray, and Jamal. She was the first woman to join the group.
Even though she didn’t make many songs, Sermon said in his tribute that legendary underground hip-hop radio duo Stretch and Bobbito “loved a song she did call ‘MILKY,'” adding, “She will be missed all over the world. I just don’t believe it. Please pray for us. I the best of luck. She was a lovely person, a great mother, and as real as it gets.”
At the time of press, no one knew what caused Rodriguez’s death, but her daughter Lexus wrote on May 20 that her mother had advanced lung cancer. She wrote at the time, “My mom has stage 4 lung cancer.” “I don’t know how many of you understand what that means, but I’m still trying to figure it out after 30 years.
I’ve never cried so much in my life, and I’ve never felt so out of touch with reality. Still, my mom is the one who can keep it together and tell me, “Don’t worry, baby, everything will be okay.” Right now I’m crying, but today is a blessing.”
Hurricane G’s last album was Mami & Papi, which came out in 2013 and was a collaboration with Thirstin Howl III. Listen to “Somebody Else” and read Sermon’s tribute to him below.
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