Yesterday evening around 7 p.m. after finishing playing in a charity basketball game titled Touch The People: Pray For Peace in These Streets at Morgan State University, 23-year-old Tyriece Watson a.k.a well-known Baltimore rapper, Lor Scoota, was fatally shot in the intersection of Harford and Moravia Roads— a three minute drive from the school campus. Scoota was best known for his 2014 catchy drug-dealing anthem “Bird Flu” from his Still In The Trenches mixtape series. The song permeated through Baltimore like club music of the 90’s and 2000’s, being blasted out of cars on any given day, even in 2016. With its accompanying dance of the same name being acted out at family cookouts, block parties and impromptu dance competitions on the street, it arguably became the modern-day Electric Slide in the city.A photo posted by Young Ballers Shinning ✨ (@scootaupnext) on Aug 12, 2015 at 2:43pm PDT
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In late 2014, I booked Scoota for a party I was hosting with a friend in downtown Baltimore. Knowing my crowd— people who grew up in East or West Baltimore and migrated to the city’s small creative hub, mixed with art students— I knew we had a unique chance to not only bring “the real Baltimore” we grew up in to the arts district but to also show Scoota that his music was touching way more people than he even knew. It was a beautiful event. The night before, he dropped his third tape, Still In The Trenches 2.5, and performed about half of it, getting the crowd especially hype when he performed “My 40”. From his YBS crew on stage to the crowd, everybody jumped up and down frantically, appropriately surrendering their composure. Witnessing his energy and confidence, I knew Scoota was a bonafide star that night. About four police cars and a wagon showed up in paranoia of Scoota inciting a riot but, much to their disapproval, all he did after his performance was continuously thank the crowd and wish that everyone got home safe.A video posted by Young Ballers Shinning ✨ (@scootaupnext) on May 6, 2016 at 11:31am PDT
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