Lexii Alijai Dead: Rising Rap Star Dies At 21 From Accidental Overdose
Rest in peace, Lexii Alijaii.
Getty Images How did Lexii Alijai die?
As a rising star in the rap world, Alexis Alijai Lynch — known by her stage name of Lexii Alijai — was quickly becoming a hot commodity. She was talented enough to drop out of "traditional" school to ultimately pursue her career full-time, and even went so far as to release her first full-length album back in 2017.
Her popularity was driven in part by her "remixes" of "Redbone" by Childish Gambino and "Me, Myself, and I" by Beyonce.
Unfortunately, she passed away on January 1st of this year, and her death has stunned the entire hip hop community. Let's look at what we know about Lexii Alijai and her cause of death.
1. Lexii Alijai passed away on New Year's Day.
When it was revealed Lexii Alijai had passed away at the age of 21 on January 1, 2020, fans wondered what, precisely, happened to the young superstar. Although her loved ones confirmed the sad news through social media, her cause of death was not released for awhile.
2. She came from a talented musical family.
It's common for many people who have relatives "in the industry" to go into the industry themselves, and Lexi Alijai was no different. She was the granddaughter of singer-songwriter Roger Troutman, best known by his first name Roger, who was known for his groundbreaking funk sound that was considered 'the sound' of West Coast hip hop.
Roger, who also played on Parliament Funkadelic's last Warner Brothers album The Electric Spanking of War Babies, died in 1999 after being shot to death by his brother, Larry, who subsequently killed himself.
3. Lexii Alijai's best-known work was being featured on Kehlani's song.
Alijai was featured on Kehlani's recent song, "Jealous," which peaked at No. 36 on the Billboard charts. When word of Alijai's death hit the blog-osphere, Kehlani was one of the first to take to her social media to pay tribute to the fallen star.
4. But she released her first mixtape when she was 16 years old.
Alijai got her career jump-started when she released her first mixtape called Super Sweet 16s back in 2014, on the eve of her 16th birthday. That mixtape got her so much attention that she was invited to play the Soundset Music Festival in 2016.
She played alongside such superstar artists as Lizzo and A$AP Rocky, and this performance was considered her "breakthrough" performance that catapulted her into the hip hop mainstream.
5. Alijai's follow-up works earned her critical acclaim.
Even though Alijai released a lot of "remixes" and other one-off songs throughout her career — in addition to the aforementioned mixtape she released on her 16th birthday — she was known for two major releases: Joseph's Coat and Growing Pains.
Both projects were acclaimed for tackling "tough issues," especially for someone of her young age, such as feminism and the complicated nature of family.
6. Tributes poured in from all over social media.
As soon as word of her death hit the blog-osphere, tributes to her poured in from far and wide.
7. How did Lexii Alijai die? Her cause of death was revealed to be an accidental and toxic mix of fentanyl and alcohol.
The cause of the young rapper's death was just recently revealed to be a result of mixed fentanyl and ethanol toxicity. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's office confirmed the news and also revealed that the death was accidental.
In addition, a spokesperson from the Minneapolis Police Department said that an adult female was already dead when authorities had responded to a medical situation at a local hotel.
Our thoughts are with Lexi Alijai and her family during what is, undoubtedly, a difficult time.
Bernadette Giacomazzo is an editor, writer, publicist, and photographer whose work has appeared in Teen Vogue, People, Us Weekly, The Source, XXL, HipHopDX, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, BET.com, and more.