Jacksonville Rapper Lil Poppa Dies at 25 Amid Rising Fame

Lil Poppa—real name Janarious Mykel Wheeler—just passed away at 25. The news dropped yesterday, February 18, 2026.The rising star was pronounced dead around 11:23 a.m. ET in Fulton County, Georgia, according to the medical examiner’s office there. They confirmed it to outlets like TMZ, and an autopsy was set for the next day, but as of right now, no official cause has come out. It’s still under investigation, so people are throwing around all kinds of guesses online—suicide rumors, health stuff like his sickle cell anemia he talked about before—but nothing’s confirmed.

Lil Poppa was straight out of Jacksonville, Florida, that same scene that’s given us some real raw talent. He blew up with his melodic, pain-filled trap style—tracks like “Purple Hearts,” “Love & War,” and that whole Under Investigation mixtape series. He signed with Yo Gotti’s CMG label back in 2022, dropped projects like Heavy Is the Head and Almost Normal Again last year. Just five days before he passed, he put out a new single called “Out of Town Bae.” Crazy timing.

Fans are hurting bad. On X and everywhere else, people are posting his lyrics, saying stuff like “If it get better don’t even matter I died not giving a fuck” with broken hearts. Peers like NoCap, Rylo Rodriguez, DeJ Loaf, and others have been shouting him out. In Jacksonville, folks are calling him a star who kept it real about the struggles. He had a young son too—PJ—who’s gonna grow up without him.

Rest easy, Lil Poppa. Your voice touched a lot of people, and it’ll keep playing. (If more details drop on the cause, it’ll probably come from official sources soon. For now, it’s just heavy.)