On November 6, 2022, news broke of the untimely death of Gloria “Hurricane G” Rodriguez. The cause of death was unknown until her daughter, Lexus Sermon, shared a tribute to her mother on Facebook, revealing that the rapper succumbed to her battle with stage 4 lung cancer at the age of 52. The underrated hip-hop figure is best known for her lyricism and ability to bilingually spit daggers as one of the first Afro-latina rappers in the genre during her rise in the early ‘90s. She freestyled alongside other female up-and-comers who were equally recognized for their battle raps at the time like Rah Digga and Bahmadia, and eventually found her own lane in the New York City music scene.

G first gained attention as the first female member of the rap group Def Squad (originally Hit Squad, which disbanded later on due to internal conflict) that included Redman, Keith Murray, K-Solo, and Erick Sermon. The group often featured each other on tracks and mixtapes, with G popping up on some of them, most notably Redman’s 1992 hit “Tonight’s Da Night.” In typical New York fashion, G instigates Redman to “get the fuck off that punk smooth shit, man. Get with the rough shit man, you know how we do.” G’s split-second cameo is a testament to how distinct her voice was, her sticky Nuyorican accent stealing the intro to the beloved Redman track.

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