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On July 29, American rapper and actor Chino XL, whose real name is Derek Emmanuel Barbosa, reportedly passed away at the age of 50. The cause of his apparent demise remains undisclosed. While there was no official announcement, fellow rapper and longtime friend A-F-R-O took to X on July 30 and shared two images with Barbosa and wrote in the caption:
“RIP to CHINO XL... I’m gonna miss you, big bro.”
Later, Rap Booklets also shared a tribute on Instagram:
“We at Rap Booklets send our heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Chino XL, who passed away today at the age of 50. Turn his albums up one time, especially our favorite pictured here, his debut “Here to Save You All,” it read.
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Several other celebrities sent their tributes to Barbosa on social media in the wake of his alleged death, including Joe Budden, Page Kennedy, Skyzoo, and Kxng Crooked, among others.
For those uninitiated, Chino XL and Tupac Shakur had an alleged beef after the former name-dropped the latter in 1996.
Exploring the history between Tupac Shakur and Chino XL
In April 1996, five months before Tupac Shakur’s untimely demise, he was seemingly dissed by fellow rapper Chino XL in the opening verse of the latter’s single Riiiot! (featuring rapper Ras Kass) from the first LP, Here to Save You All.
“By this industry, I’m trying not to get f**ked like 2Pac in jail,” Barbosa rapped.
In June 1996, Tupac dropped his diss track Hit ‘Em Up featuring Outlawz, where he threw shots at several East Coast rappers, including Diddy, The Notorious B.I.G., and Chino-XL, among others.
“Chino XL, f**k you too, n**ga,” 2Pac wrote towards the end of the track.
In the wake of this, Barbosa even dropped a freestyle 2Pac diss.
Later, during a 2001 interview with AllHipHop.com, Chino cleared the air that he had no intention to feud with Tupac and that it was nothing personal but rather for entertainment.
“I’ve got a chance to see him on Venice Beach one time right before he passed and I let him know that if I would have known [my lyrics] would have [upset] him like that, I would never have said it. I mean I was a fan of his like everyone else was. Everything was straight though and the Outlawz are my peeps from Jersey so it was all peace,” Barbosa told the publication.
However, during a June 2019 interview with the Underground Society, record producer Rick Rock shared his experience of meeting Tupac Shakur for the first time at the Murder Master Music Show and being part of the studio session when 2Pac recorded Hit ‘Em Up.
“I was there when he recorded, Hit ‘Em Up, where he was like, ‘I’ll make sure all your kids don’t grow!’ I [have] seen the Outlawz come in and tell them about whoever was saying something – Chino XL or somebody else like, Xzibit saying something. So, they were talking about that so he went in there and recorded it,” Rock recalled.
Rick Rock also mentioned how hip-hop artists, including E-40, B-Legit, C-Bo, Richie Rich, D-Shot, and Mike Moseley, were also part of the same session. He added that it was right after 2Pac had his altercation with The Notorious B.I.G. at the 1996 Soul Train Awards.
A few days before his alleged death, Derek Emmanuel Barbosa had a special guest feature on Rakim’s latest single, Pendulum Swing, from his debut solo album G.O.D.’S NETWORK – REB7RTH.
