Three Aspiring Michigan Rappers Vanish After Detroit Performance Canceled

The mind-boggling disappearance of three aspiring Michigan rappers has many on edge and desperate for answers. 

This mystery began on the morning of January 21st. On this day, at around 11:00 a.m., upcoming artist, Armani Kelly, left his home in Oscoda and headed to Detroit, where he was slated to perform with associates Montoya Givens and Dante Wicker at Lounge 31 that night. Kelly would phone home at 5:00 p.m. to inform his family that the venue canceled the gig due to equipment issues. He told his loved ones he was planning to see friends and find another location willing to let him perform. His mother, Lorrie Kemp, became worried when she hadn’t heard from her son the following day, and his phone was shut off. She was able to track his Gray Chevrolet Equinox in Warren, just 15 miles away north of downtown Detroit. On January 23rd, police collected the abandoned vehicle, which was found covered in mud and missing its license plate.

Kelly reportedly picked up Givens and Wicker on the way to the show before learning that it was canceled. Wicker hails from Melvindale, while Givens is a resident of Detroit. Their phones were powered off around the same time as Kelly’s, and neither man has been accounted for. 

Detroit Police Commander Michael McGinnis says it is “very alarming” for three men to go missing simultaneously. Family members of the friends are also suspecting the worse. Kelly’s mother believes that her son has met with foul play.

“As much as I love him, and I want him to be okay, I just want to take him home so we can lay him down to rest,” she shared in a statement to Fox2 Detroit.  His fiance, Taylor Perrin, shared similar sentiments but maintained that she’d never stop searching. 

The case of the missing artists is eerily similar to that of Atlanta rapper Bambino Gold and his cousin/promoter, Skooly Kee Da Tooly. The men were reported missing on November 7th, 2017, while traveling to Montgomery, Alabama, for a club-hosting gig. Their bodies were found a week later in a wooded area of Macon County riddled with bullet wounds. No one has ever been charged with their murders.