L.A. rapper MoneySign Suede stabbed to death in shower at California prison, attorney says

MoneySign Suede, a young and popular Los Angeles rapper, was stabbed to death Tuesday night in a shower at a California prison, according to his attorney.

Officials with the Monterey County coroner’s office and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation confirmed Suede’s death at the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad, but they did not immediately comment on how the 22-year-old died.

Suede’s real name was Jaime Brugada Valdez. He was from Huntington Park.

“People are very shocked,” said Valdez’s attorney, Nicholas Rosenberg. “He was a very popular guy, very mild-mannered. People loved him.”

The rapper had been attacked in prison before Tuesday’s incident, according to Rosenberg. Around midnight on Tuesday, officials called Rosenberg with word of his death.

“They said it was a stabbing to the neck,” Rosenberg said. “They said they’re investigating.”

Prison officials did not immediately provided details of how Suede died. Angela Diaz, a secretary with the coroner’s division of the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, confirmed that he died around 10:20 p.m. at the state prison.

Fans and other artists paid tribute to the Mexican American rapper on social media as word about his death began to spread Wednesday. On Suede’s official Instagram profile, someone acknowledged the messages of condolences being sent out to the rapper’s family were being received.

Fans and other artists had for weeks posted pictures of Suede, asking for him to be released from prison.

Valdez was serving a 32-month sentence for a pair of gun charges in Riverside County, according to Rosenberg. He was also facing a gun charge in Los Angeles County, though he had already pleaded and was expecting to receive a two-year sentence that would run concurrent with his Riverside convictions.

He surrendered in December, and was eventually sent to state prison in Soledad.

On Wednesday, the social media posts from fans and fellow artists were replaced by messages marking the rapper’s death.

“LONGLIVESUEDE,” posted Los Angeles rapper Peysoh on his Instagram account.

Suede began catching a buzz for his music soon after turning 18. In 2020, he turned heads with his song “Back to the Bag,” reflecting on his personal traumas over chilled piano chords and a West Coast tempo.

“I didn’t really know how to feel because I was in jail,” Suede told Passion of the Weiss in 2021 of the song’s video, which reached 1 million views while he was behind bars. “It’s hard to focus on that … and feel hopeful. You can’t really force yourself to be happy. I didn’t really feel it like that, you know?”

Suede signed to Atlantic Records in 2021, and released his most recent album “Parkside Baby” last September.