Members of the community are hurting from the loss of someone who they say used his life experiences to send a message of hope.
In one of his lyrics, he rapped, "Everything murder. They make the killing the norm, but that ain't normal to me."
The goal of 30-year-old Qidere Johnson was music that presented a different message.
Known as LGP QUA, the up-and-coming rapper out of Philadelphia fell victim to the violence he spoke out against.
What we know so far from police is that three men approached QUA and a friend in Juniata Park around 4:45 p.m. on Sunday.
Philadelphia police describe the scene as a robbery and say one of the offenders shot QUA in the chest.
He died a short time later at the hospital.
"His life will never be in vain with me," said QUA's publicist, Nikki Bagby. "I am heartbroken because people knew QUA as a rapper but people didn't know him as a community advocate. Literally, he was the voice of the youth."
Bagby said he landed a major brand deal to promote the slogan "Voice of the Youth."
She spoke with Action News and showed a photo where city and state leaders acknowledged QUA for donating $10,000 to the elementary school he attended in Philadelphia's Nicetown section.
Those who are mourning his death say he was focused on turning his life around after spending time in prison.
Popular media host, Minna "SayWhat" Llona, says she first met QUA when he was 18.
"That's really the sad part about this that you could be doing the right thing, you could be positive and trying to put something good out into the world and the devastating part is that bad will come and that's really where the anger comes," Llona said. "What are we going to do, what can we do? How can we stop this? What's the solution?"
Right now, there remains a $20,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction.