MoneySign Suede, an up-and-coming Los Angeles rapper, was stabbed to death on Tuesday night (April 25) inside a California prison.
Born Jaime Brugada Valdez, 22, the rapper was found unresponsive at the Correctional Training Facility (CTF) in Soledad, Calif., authorities said.
His death is being investigated as a homicide, according to a news release from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
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Prison staff began looking for the “Back to the Bag” artist around 9:55 p.m., because he was not in his cell during a regular head count, authorities said. During a search of the facility, Valdez was found unconscious in another part of the prison with injuries consistent with a homicide.
Correctional officers began life-saving measures, but were unsuccessful. Valdez was transported to an on-site medical facility for treatment, where he was pronounced deceased at 10:00 p.m.
His attorney, Nicholas Rosenberg, told the Los Angeles Times it wasn’t the first time his client was assaulted in prison.
Tuesday night’s attack happened in the shower, according to the attorney. “They said it was a stabbing to the neck,” Rosenberg said.
Valdez was sent to the prison after being sentenced in Riverside County to two years and eight months in December 2022, for possession of a firearm by a felon or addict. He was a second-striker after a previous firearms conviction, the corrections department said.
It’s unclear when he was scheduled to be released.
The Correctional Training Facility is located in Monterey County, south of San Jose. The prison houses more than 4,000 minimum- and medium-security male inmates, according to its website.
MoneySign Suede was often compared to Kodak Black and his star was on the rise.
The Mexican-American rapper hailed from Huntington Park, near downtown Los Angeles.
In 2020, he was signed to Atlantic Records. At the time, the label uploaded a video to Twitter of the rapper performing “Back to the Bag.” The caption for the post read, “Welcome to the Atlantic Records family @moneysignsuede!”
Welcome to the Atlantic Records family @moneysignsuede! This heater #BackToTheBag is out now ?
LSTN: https://t.co/qlehsepYJN
Watch: https://t.co/ZkdRsIWntU pic.twitter.com/5IgjwocXtE— Atlantic Records (@AtlanticRecords) September 18, 2020
More recently he was affiliated with Parkside Records in Las Vegas. The label did not respond to Urban Hollywood 411‘s request for comment about the rapper’s death.
He released his most recent album Parkside Baby in September 2022.
As news of MoneySign Suede’s death spread, tributes poured in across social media.
Rapper Biz Markie tweeted a picture of Suede and included the caption: “A genuinely inspirational story turned tragic. $uede was a HS dropout raised in poverty in Huntington Park, a grassroots phenomenon & hero to West Coast Latino kids – who couldn’t escape the carceral traps.”
Fans remembered MoneySign Suede on his Instagram page.
“Rest in Peace Suede. You were taken way too soon. Can’t believe this is real,” one person wrote.
“Long live Suede,” another person shared.
“RIP. You never know when it’s your time so live life everyday,” someone else shared.
“Thx for showing me that a Mexican could make it big in the music industry,” another person wrote.
The image above is from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
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