Young L, the Berkeley Rapper and Producer Who Helped Define The Pack, Dies at 39

Young L, the Berkeley rapper, producer and fashion designer who helped put the East Bay group The Pack on the map, has died at 39, Berkeleyside and Billboard reported. He was born Lloyd Omadhebo. A cause of death has not been publicly disclosed.

Berkeleyside, citing a social media post by his stepmother, said he died on Nov. 11. The news spread after Oakland rapper Too Short posted on Instagram on Thursday, Nov. 12. "Rest in peace Nephew. You & The Pack influenced so many artists it's impossible to measure the impact that you had on the culture," Too Short wrote, in a tribute also quoted by The Mercury News. "R.I.P. Young Lloyd. I never heard a Young L beat that didn't SLAP."

Young L was a founding member of The Pack, which formed in Berkeley in 2005 with Lil B, Stunnaman and Lil Uno, the Mercury News reported. Berkeleyside said Young L met Lil B around 2004 when both were attending Albany High. The group recorded in a closet studio at his mother's house in El Cerrito and found an audience for upbeat, party-minded tracks at a moment when West Coast rap was still widely associated with harder street themes.

Their breakthrough was "Vans," the 2006 skate-culture single from "Wolfpack Muzik, Vol. 2." Berkeleyside said Rolling Stone named it one of the 10 best songs of the year, and that it reached the Billboard Hot 100. Billboard said it peaked at No. 58 and was the group's only Hot 100 entry. Berkeleyside reported the official video has more than 8 million YouTube views and that the song has more than 10 million Spotify streams. Too Short later signed The Pack to his Up All Nite imprint after hearing the track, Berkeleyside and Billboard reported. The group released the EP "Skateboards 2 Scrapers," with a "Vans" remix featuring Too Short and Mistah F.A.B., then the albums "Based Boys" in 2007 and "Wolfpack Party" in 2010, with Young L as a primary producer.

He also produced for Too Short, Mistah F.A.B., Mac Miller, Prodigy and Kool A.D., and co-founded the streetwear line Pink Dolphin, which announced his death on Instagram. "We are sad to announce that the founder and creator of Pink Dolphin has passed," the company said, according to Billboard. Mistah F.A.B., in a tribute quoted by Berkeleyside, called him "the master mind, the Architect, the creator," and recalled him drawing Pink Dolphin ideas at his mom's house in El Cerrito. Billboard said G-Eazy, Ty Dolla Sign, LaRussell and others also responded to Too Short's post.

Young L grew up in a musical family. Berkeleyside said his mother was an early guitarist in Baba Ken Okulolo's Afrobeat band Kotoja, and his father, Nigerian percussionist Geoffrey Omadhebo, became a leading figure in the Bay Area Afrobeat scene after arriving in the mid-1990s. Young L had receded from the local scene in recent years, Berkeleyside reported, but the tributes that followed his death made clear how widely his influence was still felt.