January 3, 2020 – The First Lady of Cash Money Records, Renetta (Magnolia Shorty) Lowe was killed by New Orleans’ notorious 3NG Gang in 2010, collateral damage from a longstanding feud dating back to the murder of former best-selling No Limit Records artist, James (Soulja Slim) Tapp, years earlier. 3NG lieutenant Chris (C-Boogie) McCann was apparently slain on New Year’s Day after a high-speed chase with assailants that ended with McCann slamming his pick-up truck into a utility pole near the corner of South Claiborne and Louisiana Avenues. Soulja Slim mentored Magnolia Shorty in the rap game, coining her stage name. Before he was Soulja Slim, James Tapp was known as Magnolia Slim. They were both raised in New Orleans’ Magnolia Projects. The 26-year old Tapp was shot to death on the front lawn of his mother’s house in the Gentilly district of the Crescent City on November 26, 2003 in a contract hit. Legendary NOLA hit man, Garelle (Jigga) Smith, was suspected of carrying out the murder to collect a $10,000 bounty, according to police records. Smith himself was killed gangland-style years later. Magnolia Shorty, 28, was the iconic Cash Money Records’ inaugural femme fatale on the mic, collaborating with seminal Southern Rap stars Lil’ Wayne and Juvenile on a series of classic tracks in the 1990s and 2000s. She was gunned down in a hail of bullets in New Orleans’ Edgelake neighborhood on December 20, 2010 behind the wheel of her Chevy Malibu as she idled in the parking lot of her apartment complex in a gangland hit aimed at the man in her passenger’s seat that night, Jerome (Man-Man) Hampton. In 2014, 3NG Gang members, McCoy (Ratty) Walker, Terrioues (T-Red) Owney, Gregory (Rabbit) Stewart, Rico (Freaky) Jackson and Tyrone (T-Bone) Knockum were indicted for the double homicide and would all go on to be convicted of the charges. Man-Man Hampton, 25, had ties to a group of drug dealers allegedly involved in a series of fallout murders from the Soulja Slim slaying. Knockum was the star witness at the 2016 racketeering trial of 3NG boss Kentrell (Slick Black) Hickerson, which ended in Hickerson being found guilty and sent to prison for life. He drove the getaway car in the Magnolia Shorty and Man-Man Hampton murders. Rabbit Stewart and Freaky Jackson admitted to being triggermen in the double homicide. Hampton is alleged to have threatened to kill Jackson in the weeks prior. Soulja Slim was featured on Juvenile’s No. 1 smash Slow Motion, released in the months after his death. He had left No Limit in the months preceding his slaying and started his own label called Cut Throat Comitty Records. Magnolia Shorty was viewed as the queen of the “Bounce” music scene and her 1997 release Monkey On That Dick via the Williams brothers at Cash Money Records is considered a bounce hip-hop classic and the embodiment of the Big Easy bounce sound of that era. At the time of her death, she was recording on Lil’ Wayne’s Cash Money/Young Money label. Ronald (Slim) Williams and Brian (Baby) Williams founded Cash Money Records in the early 1990s and along with Master P’s No Limit empire – also out of New Orleans –, put Southern-flavored hip hop on the mainstream music scene. The Williams brothers and their Cash Money kingdom had links to the Hankton Boys Gang, another infamous Big Easy dope crew. Master P was closely aligned to slain Uptown New Orleans drug kingpin Ricardo (Calliope Slim) Watts. The 3NG Gang sprang up around the intersection of 3rd Street and Galvez Avenue in Center City in the early 2000s. Slick Black Hickerson, 38, rocketed to prominence in 2002 with the murder of Calliope projects shot-caller Alexis (Slam) Williams, per court testimony.
