An up-and-coming musician who was five months into his prison sentence was killed at a California jail on Tuesday, officials said.
Rapper MoneySign Suede, best known for his hit track “Back to the Bag,” was fatally stabbed in the neck in a shower at the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad, south of San Jose.
The 22-year-old’s injuries were “consistent with a homicide,” the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) said.
He was ruled missing after a headcount was done just before 10 p.m. Tuesday.
Moments later, he was found on the floor of a shower with stab wounds. Officials fought to save his life at the prison’s on-site medical facility.
Despite their best efforts, the rapper, whose real name was Jaime Brugada Valdez, died in prison.
His death is being investigated as a homicide, the CDCR announced.
“They said it was a stabbing to the neck,” Valdez’s attorney Nicholas Rosenberg told the Los Angeles Times, confirming that the attack occurred in the facility’s shower.
Since his death, the CDCR announced that the prison has been restricting the movement of other inmates.
The prison, which opened in 1947, houses over 4,000 minimum- and medium-security inmates.
Valdez was serving his 32-month sentence for two gun-related convictions at the time of his death.
He was sentenced in December 2022 on two charges of being a convicted felon in possession of a gun in Riverside County, according to officials.
Rosenberg said he has since spoken to the rapper’s family, who were briefed on his death and the details surrounding it by the corrections department.
“There’s an investigation, but at this point the motive remains unknown,” Rosenberg added. “Suede was a very popular guy, very mild-mannered. Everybody loved him.”
The rapper’s family took to his Instagram account, which boasts 230,000 followers, writing, “We appreciate the condolences, our family has not set a GoFundMe, don’t fall for any scams, thank you.”
MoneySign Suede was an up-and-coming rapper originally from Huntington Park, a city near LA.
The musician, known for hits “Whole Time” and “Too Late,” signed to Atlantic Records in 2021.
He released his most recent album, titled “Parkside Baby,” in September 2022.
Valdez racked up over 7 million views on YouTube and boasted over 87,000 subscribers at the time of his death.
With Post wires