On November 12, 2019, the West Coast rapper and Death Row Records Alum was pronounced dead in his cell at Riverside County Jail in Blythe, California. He was awaiting arraignment for a Domestic Violence incident at the time of the announcement.
Born Jamarr Stamps on November 27, 1975, in Hawaiian Gardens, California he shot into the hip hop scene by rapping at house parties growing up. Through doing this he came to the attention of the LBC crew, an act that was executive produced by LBC legend Snoop Dogg himself. He garnered critical attention in 1996 as a guest feature on 2pac Shakur’s song, “Krazy” off of his Makaveli album. He was briefly signed to Doggystyle Records where he made numerous guest appearances before officially signing to Priority Records and dropping his debut, “Word on tha Streets” in 1998.
Bad Azz followed it up in 2001 by releasing the album “Personal Business” which featured Snoop Dogg and Kokane along with lil 1/2 Dead on the lead single “Wrong Idea.” He continuously worked throughout the 2000s, even returning to some Death Row projects in mid 2011-2013. Throughout his consistent work schedule, he was no stranger to controversy, in March of 2013, it was being reported that Bad Azz had allegedly gotten into a physical altercation with singer Ray J. When questioned Bad Azz said the fight was in retaliation for getting jumped by the notoriously known Suge Knight a decade earlier, Ray J was involved because this was around the time he had aligned himself with the infamous mogul.
In 2009 he had linked up with Bizzy Bone of the legendary Bone Thugs N. Harmony for the project “Thug Pound.” The title a mix between both artist roots (Bone Thugs and Tha Dogg Pound), the album garnered critical success but was overlooked ultimately when it was put up alongside albums of younger artists who had much better promotion behind them. Still, his single “As Long as I Can” is one of my personal favorites, there’s something that rappers from the boom bap era possess that can’t be taught. It’s that certain something that is consistency missing from the current sound at the moment.
With a few new projects announced the sudden passing of Bad Azz has caught many fans and fellow artists off guard. According to reports, Jamarr “Bad Azz” Stamps died of natural causes after jail officials attempted to resuscitate him to no avail. It is still unclear on the actual cause of death until the LA Medical examiner take a look and release their findings sometime in the near future.
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