Denzel Curry Comes Home to Miami for His Zeltron Word Wide Rap Battle

Does death stalk the life of Denzel Curry? It's a lurid thought to attach to an energetic 24-year-old who has come up from the South Florida SoundCloud rap underworld and can now reasonably be described as a hip-hop leading man. But as Curry's career has continued its unbroken upward trajectory, he has been forced to watch others fall.

The Carol City native is part of a rising generation of rappers that has already suffered heavy losses. Drug abuse claimed the lives of Lil Peep and Mac Miller. The death of the problematic XXXTentacion — fatally shot in 2018 in Deerfield Beach — inspired Curry's song "Speedboat" and a promise to himself: "My dawg didn't make it to 21, so I gotta make it past 24."

The most recent addition to the list is Juice Wrld, who died this past December after suffering a seizure likely induced by substance intoxication. Onstage the day after Juice died, Curry called for a moment of silence in memory of his fallen comrade and then concluded the tribute with the assertion: "On a real note, if somebody is going through something, man, make sure you check on them."