BloodHound Q50

Mikquale T. Cooper, known professionally as BloodHound Q50, a Chicago drill rapper, singer and songwriter who rose quickly from online freestyles to a Columbia-linked label deal and Rolling Loud stage, was shot and killed on September 13, 2026, while sitting in a white Tesla at a BP gas station in Chicago's Fuller Park neighborhood. He was 22. According to Chicago police, two vehicles pulled alongside his car shortly before 4:00 a.m. CDT and gunmen opened fire, discharging more than fifty rounds. Cooper was struck multiple times and was pronounced dead at the scene. The Cook County medical examiner identified him; a manager at AMF Music Group confirmed he was BloodHound Q50. As of mid-September 2026 no arrests had been announced.

Cooper was born on August 6, 2004, and raised in Chicago, with part of his childhood also spent in Northwest Indiana. He began releasing music in 2023, first without professional ambitions, then more seriously after tracks such as Big 3 and Coffin found online audiences. In July 2024, a month after the killing of fellow Chicago rapper Bloodhound Lil Jeff, he released his first commercial single Splash Bros, followed by Triple 3, Go and BH4L, which featured collaborators including Lil Scoom89 and Rell Vert as well as posthumous verses from Lil Jeff. He signed to Signal Records, an imprint linked to Columbia Records and Grade A Productions, and closed 2024 with Long Live My Bruddas and Don't Blink or Stare.

In April 2025 he released the album Long Live My Brudda He Prolly Kilt Yo Brudda, collecting earlier singles with new material. That June he performed at Summerfest in Milwaukee. In a VladTV interview he explained that BloodHound was a rap name rather than a crew name, and that Q50 referred to the Infiniti Q50. False reports that he had been killed in St. Louis circulated in August 2025; he publicly denied them and later referenced the episode in lyrics. On August 6, 2026, his 22nd birthday, he released the short second album Get Back or Die Trying, including Hall of Fame, Bloody Storm and Lemon Lime. He had performed at Rolling Loud in Orlando earlier in 2026 and appeared as a guest on Mozzy and EST Gee's collaborative album Not a Chance in Hell.

Rolling Loud and DJ Vlad were among those who posted tributes. His mother, Machetta Dudley, publicly criticized people who mocked her son online after his death. In a brief career of roughly three years, Cooper became one of the most visible young voices in Chicago drill after Lil Jeff's death, tying memorial themes to the city's street narrative while moving onto national festival stages.