Young Greatness. Photo by Lou Dorsey/ @lou.d0llaz

Rapper Young Greatness has lost his life to gun violence

Much of the New Orleans rap community awoke today to the news that 7th Ward rapper Young Greatness, born Theodore Jones, lost his life in a shooting in the early morning hours today (October 29).

The “Moolah” rapper was shot and killed outside of a Waffle House on Elysian Fields Avenue at approximately 1:35 a.m. according to The Advocate. According to a report from WDSU’s Christina Watkins, Jones’ car was stolen from the murder scene. NOPD has since located the car and is reportedly searching for two suspects.

Young Greatness, who was a Best of the Beat nominee for Best Hip-Hop Artist in 2017, released a string of projects beginning with 2012’s Rich & Famous. In October of 2017, he released Bloody Summer.

As news of his death broke, members of the New Orleans music community took to social media to express their grief. Mr. Meana of Partners-N-Crime took to Instagram to say “RIP TEDDY Man damn I thought you had escaped this madness. Damn bro we gotta stop the violence we all we got. Damn.”

OffBeat’s November 2018 cover artist, PJ Morton, also shared a message of condolence and despair. “RIP to @younggreatness7…New Orleans we gotta do better man. Sending love to his family,” he wrote.


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RIP to @younggreatness7 .. New Orleans we gotta do better man .. 🙏🏾🙏🏾⚜️ .. Sending love to his family.

A post shared by PJ Morton (@pjmorton) on

Theodore “Young Greatness” Jones was 34 years old. Below, revisit his performance of his gold single from  I Tried To Tell ‘Em 2, “Moolah,” on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.