Photo: SqueakPIVOT/Twitter
SqueakPIVOT, a music producer and member of the Chicago-basedPivot Gang, has died, PEOPLE confirms. He was 26.
The DJ, born Javunte Wheeler, was shot and killed on Monday in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner. His uncle, 27-year-old Derion S. Hood, was also fatally shot.
Both men sustained gunshot wounds to the head from “an unknown offender” and were transported to a local hospital, where they died of their injuries, the Chicago Police Department said.
Squeak was a producer for Pivot Gang, a hip hop artist collective based out the west side of Chicago. The group also includes brothers Saba and Joseph Chilliams, their high school friend MFnMelo, and Squeak’s older brother Frsh Waters.
Squeak previously told local Chicago outletThe Triibethat he was a self-taught DJ who didn’t think about making music professionally until his brother asked him to join Pivot Gang.
“I make beats and I DJ. I made beats because I needed something to do while I was on house arrest,” he explained. “I got into DJ-ing because my homies ain’t have no DJ.”
He added, “I DJ’d for all of them. They ain’t have DJs, so I said f— it. I’ll just teach myself how to DJ and then I started getting booked.”
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Squeak produced his first solo EP with bandmate MFnMelo earlier this year, titledEn Route. The tracks were released in June. He previously worked on Pivot Gang’s 2019 albumYou Can’t Sit With Usand Saba’s breakthrough albumBucket List Project,Rolling Stonereports.
“God bless squeak and every one that loves him Great man,” Chance the Rapper wrote on Twitter.
Music producer Thelonious Martin also tweeted about Squeak’s death, writing: “Rest in power Squeak. Love to all of Pivot Gang.”
source: people.com
