Edai 600 the latest casualty in the war in Chiraq
What up gang.
Back with the real you know what’s the deal. It’s another sad day in Chicago. Seems they’re losing all the ones that started the drill movement that paved the road for many artists having a way to get out the struggle. This one is hard to swallow, the life of one of, if not the originator and pioneer of Chicago drill, Edai 600 was gunned down and joins his opp FBG Duck in the afterlife.
He lived a life of the street, and lost it within the same streets.
July 31st, Cordai Ealy, better known as the Chiraq rapper Edai of 600 was caught lacking at the intersection of 72nd Street and South Bennett Avenue. https://youtu.be/98l5V7m6EoM (0:00-0:17)
Reports would surface of a shooting on a police scanner that left one person down.
Before the outside world knew the weight of the loss that occurred, the streets already started buzzing about the victim losing his life. Soon after, we’d all learn the truth, that Edai 600 was no longer with us with a post from SayCheese breaking the news
While the initial statements began circulating of Edai being hit twice in his back causing critical damage, it would later be confirmed that he was instead hit multiple times in the chest and stomach. With his life hanging in the balance, he was rushed to the University of Chicago Hospital where unfortunately he succumbed to his injuries.
https://hiphopdx.com/news/id.63595/title.og-chicago-drill-rapper-edai-shot-killed
https://www.the-sun.com/news/3396844/chicago-rapper-edai-600-dead-lil-durk-cdai/
Condolences would begin pouring. His homie and 600 affiliate 600Mthang left a message on his IG after having a recent phone convo with the OG drill pioneer.
600Mthang isn’t to be confused with Lil Durk’s brother OTF DThang that recently lost his life to gun violence as well.
The Chiraq legend himself, the Grim Reaper Lil Reese also paid his respects being one that has survived multiple failed attempts on his life by his opps.
Past collaborator and 600 affiliate 600Breezy shared similar sentiments when getting the news of Edai’s passing. The two seemed to be really close homies through the years. They did a song together in 2014 named “Gang Shit” https://youtu.be/lz897dLGtV8 and 600Breezy has in the past come to the rapper’s defense when his opps were clowning him for having a 9-5 as a truck driver https://youtu.be/14r9Rzcp_L8 (0:00-0:36)
The taunts of his job status started in the height of his back and forth with Fly Boy Gang aka FBG in his highly publicized beef with their head honcho FBG Duck. Edai might not have blown up like many of the drill rappers that came after him, but at the beginning of the Chicago rap scene, Edai is often credited in the streets as the one that started the wave even if hip hop recognizes Chief Keef as the originator. Cheef Kief was more the one that made it popular. Even weeks before losing his life, he reminisced on the lack of recognition and respect given to his gang 600 for being the beginning of the Drill wave.
In an interview with Vlad TV Edai takes credit for pioneering the now famous Chiraq sound https://youtu.be/T-l03Kf0WUk (3:52-4:17) He was one of the first ones actually living the life in his raps, not just for clout or pretending to be gang gang, but telling the stories through hip hop to make it out the harsh reality of the streets.
In an interview with ZackTv in 2013 when Edai was gaining buzz as an artist, the world got a glimpse into his lifestyle. During the interview shots would ring off in the distance and Edai continued as if nothing happened. Unphased and not even concerned for his life. It was a normal day for a dude like him who has been behind and in front the barrel of the gun https://youtu.be/rsjAYu46bt0 (6:47-7:12) In fact, him and Chief Keef go way back, even before the music, having shootouts together with the opps https://youtu.be/T-l03Kf0WUk (2:26-2:53) Sosa also confirm their hood coonery against the opps on twitter while thinking back on the street life he once loved being involved in
The life rappers are now copying for clout, Edai was in the field living. But that lifestyle and drill mentality came with a cost, one that started with deadly beefs from years back to now where he fell to the same life that built him. 600 and FBG was at war with each other and Edai was the man going at the notorious Big Clout, FBG Duck.
In a 2011 diss track titled “Fuck Da Otha Side” Edai was explicit in his mention of Duck with lyrics like “Lil Duck better duck ‘fore I dump and leave you slumped in a trunk is you drunk, dissing me you must be dumb.” https://youtu.be/XgToXBwn1kE (1:59-2:11) Duck would respond with the diss featuring Billionaire Black titled “Edai Is U Serious”
Duck came back firing with the same energy, spitting the gruesome bars “My niggaz told me don’t show no sympathy for Edai, I will chop his fucking body up and throw it on the E-way. I will murder this lil nigga like Cassidy did Freeway.” https://youtu.be/SRCJ86Ci63Y (2:32-2:45) Edai would continue fanning flames to the fire, doubling back with another diss titled “War” and the lyrics were even more disrespectful. Edai even dragged the famous death of FBG affiliate and close friend, Tooka into his diss rebuttal “I’m like fuck FBG them lil niggas so funny to me. Put C-Dai or Rondo up on you, who you want it to be. That “Edai is you serious” diss that shit ain’t nothing to me. You on that bus stop like Tooka we put you under the seat” https://youtu.be/iitXtk1TqO8 (1:04-1:18)
Their beef would continue right up to 2020 when FBG Duck was gunned down in the Gold Coast area, a luxury and boutique shopping district near the city’s downtown.
The two had a burning hatred for each other, but the 600 set was feeling the heat from internal battles within their camp that were caused by snitching allegations when RondoNumbaNine and Edai’s little brother Cdai https://youtu.be/T-l03Kf0WUk (1:02-1:12) were arrested for the murder of a jitney cab driver in 2014 https://youtu.be/12Jn-4UedhI (0:00-0:08)
https://www.xxlmag.com/rondonumbanine-sentenced-39-years-murder/
Rondo would receive 39 years while Cdai would receive 38 https://youtu.be/vKeIJ_XzocI 13:09-13:14) In the midst of their case, 600 member Tay600 was the one accused of snitching https://youtu.be/vKeIJ_XzocI (5:59-6:39)
It would later be proven to be wrong, but too little too late, 600 was already falling apart. Tay600 was actually the one with Edai back then in the interview with Zacktv when shots rang off https://youtu.be/rsjAYu46bt0 (7:12-7:18)
With 600 losing their footing in the street and the rap game, Edai turned to other ways to build a life for himself and those around him. This was when his life as a truck driver became the target for his opps like Duck and his affiliates https://youtu.be/5dnDNzRlF-4 (0:25-0:38)
It’s crazy that a man gets clowned for trying to live and secure his bag legally, but that’s the life you sign up for in the streets. If you ain’t banging then you get looked at as a beta male. But real dudes know Edai stepping up and getting a job to make sure him and his peoples eat was a boss move. Got to do what you got to do to provide even if you a gangster and trucking is a money business. Even Lil Durk knows the benefits and invested in his own business while building his career https://youtu.be/M0htTjngmow (5:36-6:00).
It’s sad that Edai’s his street ties couldn’t leave him be and caught him when he least expected it and took his life. Mother of his sworn opp FBG Duck, would dedicate a post to the rapper than now joined her son in the grave
While she tried to use the occasion to talk some sense into those still alive in the streets, Edai’s opps wasn’t so caring and disrespected the rapper’s death https://youtu.be/Y4TX6ttGPUQ (0:15-0:31) https://youtu.be/Y4TX6ttGPUQ (3:12-3:23)
Another one gone, another one dissed, and his homies will be pissed and want to swing for a hit. That’s how it goes. At some point these dudes got to sit and realize that everyone that started living lyrics in this drill music either dead, jailed, or getting shot at even if they made it big. It’s a lose lose lose future when trying to hold on to the street life. It ain’t worth it but that’s the life some of these kids grow up in and sadly drawn into. RIP to another one of the OG’s in Chiraq gone way too soon. Edai joins a long and extending list of fallen men and women that lived by the gun and died by the gun. RIP to em all. We can only hope somewhere along the line, their deaths weren’t in vain and brings some sort of positive change.
Chad is a professional journalist specializing in Hip-Hop culture and writing music reviews.
