R.I.P. OG Maco, "U Guessed It" rapper

OG Maco—the rapper best known for his 2014 song “U Guessed It”—died this week in an apparent suicide. He was 32.

Last week, OG Maco’s (born Benedict Chiajulam Ihesiba Jr.) family shared that he was in the hospital in “critical but stable condition” on his Instagram page. Today, they shared the news of his death along with a tribute. “His life was a testament to resilience, creativity, and boundless love. Through his music, passion, and unwavering spirit, he touched so many lives and left a lasting impact,” they wrote.

OG Maco was born in 1992 in College Park, Georgia. In an interview with The Fader, he shared that he was in a hardcore band called Dr. Doctor with his friends growing up, in which he was the lead vocalist and a backup guitarist. “It was fucking awesome,” he said. 

In 2014, he released his debut single, “U Guessed It,” which became a hit. The song currently has over 32 million streams on Spotify, and its remix, feat. 2 Chainz, peaked at 90 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. 

He went on to found the hip-hop collective OGG and sign with Quality Control Music, an imprint of Motown and Capitol Records. He released several other records and mixtapes over the years, including “Count Up,” his last single, earlier this month.

OG Maco also struggled with his health over the years. He was in a near-fatal car crash in 2016 that left him with multiple injuries, and in 2019, he shared that he had been diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis, a flesh-eating disease, after he was improperly treated for a rash. “This is the best it’s looked. I hope it gives someone hope,” he wrote in a since-deleted Instagram post, per Variety. “I’ve been going through this alone 90% of the time, without the support of the person I love, without most of my ‘friends,’ without anything but my own strength and God.”