Beloved Brooklyn rapper Hurricane G dies at 52
The pioneering Nuyorican emcee was the first and only female member of the Hit Squad.
Gloria Rodríguez (Hurricane G) has died. Erick Sermon, her fellow Hit Squad member and the father of her only daughter, announced her passing on Instagram Sunday night (November 6). Rap Radar first reported the news of her death, and multiple outlets later confirmed it. Though her cause of death has yet to been release, Rodríguez’ daughter shared in May that her mother was suffering from stage four lung cancer. Rodríguez was 52 years old.
“My heart is hardened today,” Sermon wrote. “One of my good friends…. my oldest daughter mother passed away today. #HURRICANE GLORIA was also a legend in her own right in the Hiphop community. One of the first puertorican female rappers.”
The post continues, mentioning some of her high profile collaborators (Redman, Keith Murray, Diddy) before sharing just a few of her many other accomplishments: “She was in all the Hiphop magazines with all the top females at the time. #stretchandbobito loved a song that she did called ‘MILKY.’ She will be missed all around the world. I can’t believe this. Pray for us. Beautiful blessings. She was a beautiful person a wonderful mother as real as they come. We love u G.”
Born in Brooklyn in 1970, Rodríguez turned heads with her fearsome Spanglish flow in the early ’90s, joining Sermon and Parish Smith’s supergroup Hit Squad, which also featured Redman, K-Solo, Das EFX, Top Quality, and Knucklehedz. Her other early collaborators — along with the ones listed by Sermon — included Xzibit, Delinquent Habits, Tony Touch, and Cocoa Brovas (aka Smiff-N-Wessun). She released her first and only solo album, All Woman, in 1997 and went on to drop a joint LP, Mami & Papi, with fellow Brooklyn emcee Thirstin Howl III, in 2013.
In the wake of her passing, those inspired by her music have posted tributes to Rodriguez, many of them also honoring Tame One, another east coast rap legend who died at 52 over the weekend. Read some of those posts and listen to a few of Hurricane G’s most memorable songs below.