Lil Poppa

Janarious Mykel Wheeler was born in Jacksonville, Florida, on March 18, 2000. He spent his childhood moving between his mother's house on the city's Eastside and the Westside home of his grandmother and aunt. His mother called him Poppa, and he added "Lil" because he was always hanging around older kids. He later described being raised in part by his grandmother as "the biggest blessing" of his life, and she became a recurring presence in his lyrics.

He lived with a chronic blood disease that sometimes left him bedridden as a child. Music was the constant. His oldest brother, Chi Chi, was already rapping, and Poppa followed him, writing songs for his church from the age of seven and performing raps there by ten. At twelve he set up a makeshift studio in his closet and recorded with a laptop and a Radio Shack microphone. Growing up in Jacksonville he survived a shooting in which close friends were killed, an experience that would shape his breakthrough song.

After his death, Arielle Jibson, one of his former teachers at Andrew Jackson High School in Jacksonville, publicly recalled his big dreams of becoming famous, as reported by XXL. Whether he graduated was not made public in the sources used for this page. His real education in music came at church and in his closet studio, learning from his older brother and from records by Boosie Badazz, Webbie, Lil Wayne and Meek Mill.

Beginnings (2014 to 2018). As a teenager Lil Poppa was a member of the popular Jacksonville rap group Cutt Circle and was featured on their best-known song, "Lions, Tigers, and Bears" (2014). He uploaded music to SoundCloud and MyMixtapez under the name That Boy Poppa and caught the ear of DJ Bigga Rankin, who sponsored and promoted his early mixtapes, including Est. 2000 (2016) and Life After Desi (2017), followed by the EP Evergreen Wildchild (April 2018). His October 2018 mixtape Under Investigation carried "Nightmare on Elm St" and "Purple Hearts", the song about surviving the shooting that killed his friends. Its video took off and major labels came calling.

Interscope years (2019 to 2021). Signed to Rule #1 and Interscope Records in 2019 by executive Joie Manda, he released Under Investigation 2 (March 2019), featuring Mozzy, NoCap and Polo G on "Eternal Living", which became his biggest hit and was certified gold by the RIAA. Almost Normal followed in December 2019 and Evergreen Wildchild 2, with Stunna 4 Vegas, in May 2020. He also appeared on Mozzy's "Pricetag" with Polo G (2020). His debut studio album, Blessed, I Guess (May 2021), entered the Billboard 200 at No. 160 and was praised by Pitchfork and AllMusic. "Love & War" from the album later went gold.

CMG years (2022 to 2026). In April 2022 he signed with Yo Gotti's Collective Music Group, an Interscope imprint, celebrating with the single and video "H Spot". Under Investigation 3 (April 2022) peaked at No. 194 on the Billboard 200, and he performed on "Big League" with Yo Gotti, Moneybagg Yo and Mozzy, the official theme of the 2022 NBA Finals. That summer he co-headlined the Wicked Wildchild United Summer Bash at the Florida Theatre with Nardo Wick. Heavy Is the Head (November 2022) reached No. 4 on the Heatseekers Albums chart. Later releases included Half Man, Half Vamp (2023), Enjoy the Show with Jdot Breezy (2023), the EP It's Me, I'm The Problem (2023), Wee Are Who We Are (2024) and Almost Normal Again (August 2025), which launched his first headlining tour, a national run that started in Washington, DC and finished in Jacksonville. His last single in his lifetime, "Out of Town Bae", came out on February 13, 2026.

Lil Poppa described himself as a private person who liked to keep to himself and avoid crowds. He was in a relationship with Toie Roberts, the eldest daughter of rapper Rick Ross, and the couple had a son, Kofi J'nar, known as PJ, who was three years old when his father died. His sister Orieon Wheeler announced the livestream of his funeral for fans. He stayed rooted in Jacksonville throughout his career and often spoke about his grandmother's influence on how he treated people.

Faith ran through his story, from writing raps for his church as a child to his reminder on X to "stay prayed up". He saw his music as a record of survival in a hard city, telling HotNewHipHop in 2022: "You just gotta stay sharp, keep your head on a swivel, stay out of the way. It's about survival." He believed his songs should follow his real mood, and he was skeptical of the music industry, telling aspiring artists to always have a plan B. He also valued patience over forcing success: "It's going to come in time. And when it comes, I know that's my time."

Lil Poppa is widely regarded as one of the defining voices of Jacksonville's rap scene and of Southern pain rap. HotNewHipHop called him "one of rap's most introspective storytellers", and Pitchfork featured him in an essay on why the best Southern pain rap is more than just sad. Lil Duval wrote that most people in Jacksonville had known him since he was a kid and all wanted him to win. His death prompted an outpouring of tributes across hip-hop, including a concert tribute by YFN Lucci in Houston. His music kept reaching new listeners after his death, with "Love & War" certified gold in 2026 and the posthumous single "Scotty Beam Me Up" featuring Scotty OTH released on May 30, 2026.

RIAA gold certification for "Eternal Living" featuring Polo G. RIAA gold certification for "Love & War" (2026). Blessed, I Guess charted at No. 160 on the Billboard 200 (2021), Under Investigation 3 at No. 194 (2022), and Heavy Is the Head at No. 4 on Billboard's Heatseekers Albums chart (2022). His featured single "Big League" served as the official theme song of the 2022 NBA Finals. He was named a SiriusXM Hip-Hop Nation First Alert artist in 2021.

Selected albums and mixtapes: Under Investigation (2018); Under Investigation 2 (2019); Almost Normal (2019); Evergreen Wildchild 2 (2020); Blessed, I Guess (2021); Under Investigation 3 (2022); Heavy Is the Head (2022); Half Man, Half Vamp (2023); Enjoy the Show, with Jdot Breezy (2023); It's Me, I'm The Problem, EP (2023); Wee Are Who We Are (2024); Almost Normal Again (2025).

Key songs: "Purple Hearts", "Nightmare on Elm St", "Eternal Living" (feat. Polo G), "Been Thru" (feat. Quando Rondo), "Love & War" and its remix with Queen Naija, "To The Point", "H Spot" (with Yo Gotti), "Big League", "Out of Town Bae". He released a Blessed, I Guess documentary on YouTube and gave interviews to XXL's The Break (2020), Audiomack World (2021) and HotNewHipHop's On The Come Up (2022).

Grief after his death was marked by conflict. On February 22, 2026, four people were reportedly shot during a celebration of his life on Jacksonville's East Side, according to Action News Jax as reported by XXL. In the months that followed, his manager and Toie Roberts, the mother of his son, traded public accusations about his final years and his access to his son, as reported by XXL. None of these claims were resolved in the sources used for this page.

On the morning of February 18, 2026, Lil Poppa was involved in a single-car crash on Interstate 85 near Hapeville, Georgia, according to Hapeville police. He called his manager, and the two met in a nearby hotel parking lot, where they spoke through his car window. He was then taken to hospital and pronounced dead. The Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed his death that day, carried out an autopsy on February 19 and ruled it a suicide by a self-inflicted gunshot wound. No suicide note was reported found. He was 25.

CMG said it was "stunned and devastated by the loss of our beloved family member." His public funeral took place on March 7, 2026, at Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church on West Beaver Street in Jacksonville, with hundreds attending and a livestream on his official YouTube channel. Yo Gotti attended, and his manager spoke at the service. He was laid to rest in a gold casket; the burial site was not made public.

If you or someone you know is struggling, in the United States you can call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.