Shawty Lo Dies In Tragic Car Accident – Tha Wire

Today in Tha Wire, breaking news came out of Atlanta this morning that Carlos Walker, better known as Shawty Lo, was killed in a tragic car accident last night. According to reports, the 40-year-old rapper died at the scene due to injuries sustained from being ejected from his vehicle.

Fulton County Police and WSB-TV Atlanta News say the accident occurred around 2:20 a.m., when Shawty’s 2016 Audi hit a guardrail several trees and caught fire. The accident is still under investigation, and it's being reported that the rapper was not by himself. Two women were also in the vehicle, and though they were taken to a nearby hospital, it's being reported that they did not have life threatening injuries.

Originally, the accident was being reported as a hit-and-run, however there have been no further reports of another vehicle being involved. The shocking news of the Bankhead rapper's death has been confirmed by his brother, who took to Shawty Lo's official Twitter page and wrote:

@THATSSHAWTYLO #longlivecheddarchase pic.twitter.com/qNPYtqcGx8

— Jay (@reigning_champ) September 21, 2016

Shawty Lo was a member of the group D4L, which rose to fame with their massive hit 2005 track, "Laffy Laffy". Riding high off that success, the rapper branched off to start a solo career. In 2008, he released the album, Units in the City, and scored another monster hit with "Dey Know". That single won Shawty the Rookie Of The Year award the following year at the 2008 BET Hip Hop Awards.

A few years later, Shawty tried the reality show thing with All My Babies' Mamas, but the show was met with heavy criticism. After a trailer of the season premiere aired, the show never saw the light of day. Outrage was sparked over the show glamorizing the rapper's lifestyle of having 11 children by 10 different women.

Some in the black community didn't see anything entertaining about the series, and a petition was started to pressure the Oxygen Network to drop the show. After gaining 40,000 signatures, the network pulled the plug. Shawty started a petition of his own, but it wasn't enough to keep the show on the air. The rapper was feeling some type of way about the criticism, and stated that he wanted to show people that, despite having a hard life, he made it.

Shawty said he had his children early in life and wasn't glamorizing having unprotected sex; rather, he said he was showing that he was owning up to his responsibilities by raising his children. During an interview defending his show, he told MTV News:

“You can hate all you want to, I didn’t ask for it. It just happened. Now that it happened, I’m supposed to turn my back against it? If I wasn’t taking care of my kids then you would really dog me out, but I’m taking care of my kids, providing for my family. I don’t know what else to say.”

 

The fact is, Shawty leaves behind 11 kids, a host of family, friends and fans who all loved him. To them, we offer our thoughts, condolences and prayers at this difficult time. R.I.P. Shawty.

If more is learned about the tragic accident that took his life, I will bring those details to you. Stayed tuned to stay in the know with Tha Wire. It airs every weekday at 12:50 p.m. and 3:50 p.m., only on The Peoples Station 107 Jamz.