Atlanta based rapper Rich Homie Quan, born Dequantes Devontay Lamar, has passed away at the age of 34 according to multiple online reports. Quan and his music was a staple in hip hop and sports culture in the early and mid 2010s with songs like Type of Way, Flex and Lifestyle. But before his rap career started, Quan was an exceptional baseball player with a scholarship offer to Fort Valley State University, an HBCU in Fort Valley, Georgia.
Quan talked about cutting his baseball career short in a 2022 interview on the VladTV YouTube Channel.
“I graduated from high school with a 3.2 GPA and I had a scholarship to go to Fort Valley to play baseball. My scholarship was for baseball but with my academics being that I didn’t have to pay for school at all. My mind was on rapping though. Baseball was cool but in the back of my mind I want to rap. As I started to getting older I started realizing that the percentage of black men in MLB was very small. So I’m like I’m good but I ain’t that good,” Quan said.
He chose not to attend Fort Valley State and followed his true passion of music. In the following years as his music career developed he would release one studio album, 23 singles and nine mixtapes. His single “Flex” is RIAA certified 3x platinum.
Quan was also no stranger to HBCU campuses as a performer. Some of his stops include earlier in 2024 where he performed at Edward Waters’ alumni week and in 2017 when he was part of the concert lineup at the Jackson State homecoming that included Lil Wayne, Yo Gotti, Cardi B and Moneybagg Yo.
No official cause of death has been reported but several of his friends within the industry including Boosie Badazz are acknowledging a drug overdose. TMZ is reporting that Quan was found in his Atlanta home on Thursday, with the outlet confirming the death with a representative from the Fulton County, GA morgue.
A promising career in baseball and academics never materialized for Rich Homie Quan at Fort Valley State, but his impact through music touched the entire world.