Swagg Huncho: A Rising Star Silenced

James Johnson Jr., known as Swagg Huncho, was a member of the promising rap trio 3 Problems, alongside cousins Lil Tay and Relly Rell. The group gained local fame in the mid-2010s with their gritty, streetwise sound, drawing comparisons to Chicago’s drill scene.

At just 18 years old, Swagg Huncho was poised for greater success when tragedy struck. On December 13, 2015, he was found dead in a yard in St. Louis’s JeffVanderLou neighborhood, shot in the head. His death marked the 186th homicide in the city that year and came just months after another local rapper, City Stylez (Lavell Boyd), was gunned down.

The loss devastated 3 Problems, already reeling from Relly Rell’s 10-year prison sentence for second-degree murder earlier that year. Swagg Huncho’s memorial was a tense affair, overshadowed by threats of further violence, underscoring the perilous environment many St. Louis rappers navigate.