Fans, friends mourning slaying of Brampton rapper in Punjab
International star Sidhu 'Moose' Wala, 28, was killed in a hail of bullets in his SUV
Article content
The slaying of Brampton-based Punjabi-language singer and rapper Sidhu Moose Wala, 28, who was gunned down in a hail of bullets while driving his SUV in India, is having reverberations in Canada as fans and musical collaborators mourn his passing.
“This was your home bruh, we were all waiting for you to come. Every day we were on the phone figuring out our next move. Everything is incomplete without you now,” wrote longtime friend and rapper Sunny Malton on Instagram.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
Fans, friends mourning slaying of Brampton rapper in Punjab Back to video
tap here to see other videos from our team.
The two had just released new tracks.
“I wish I could sit here and tell the world about the conversations me and you had and everything we had planned of the tour and your trip back to your homeland Brampton,” Malton said.
Their tour was just weeks from starting.
But Sunday, Wala — whose birthname name is Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu — was in a vehicle with two other men attacked by gunfire in Jawarke, not far from his hometown of Moosa — about 300 km northwest of New Delhi.
The two other men were injured.
Indian media reports said Wala was apparently hit by at least 25 bullets.
The international star had a huge following — 11.1 million YouTube followers.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
He recently jumped into politics in local elections in Punjab in December, but lost to a rival.
Drake was among the stars paying tribute, writing “RIP Moose” on Instagram under a picture of Wala and his mother.
Before he exploded as a Punjabi rap star, he moved to Brampton in 2016 as a foreign student at Humber College.
His music and videos have faced criticism for glorifying violence.
“He had security protection and was provided security protection because he had received numerous threats from many different gang affiliates because he spoke against gang violence,” said Ruby Dhalla, former MP for Brampton-Springdale who had met Wala.
The protection provided to Wala was removed a day before his killing.
The Indian National Congress, which he ran for, tweeted : “When a public figure is murdered in broad daylight on the streets of Punjab, is anybody really safe?”
“I’m sorry that your mother and father are going through this bruh. Nobody deserves this. Nobody,” his friend Malton wrote on Instagram.
“I always told the world how great you were. The hardest part of all this is, I not only lost my brother but I also lost my favourite artist.”
Moose Wala was expected at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver July 23, but ticket sales were delayed because of police concerns about security.
He was scheduled to perform at Mississauga’s Paramount Fine Foods Centre on July 30.
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.