A$AP Mob founder A$AP Yams dead at 26
Music
November 13 marked what should have been Steven Rodriguez’s 28th birthday.
Since his passing, A$AP Yams has become an even greater source of inspiration and motivation for the A$AP Mob than ever before. Equally, the A$AP Mob founder serves as a sombre reminder that mixing incompatible drugs can be fatal.
There’s no way to measure the loss of a life. As the executive producer behind albums like Ferg’s Trap Lord and Rocky’s AT.LONG.LAST A$AP, there’s no saying where his career could have gone. Yet tossing around ‘what ifs’ doesn’t help anyone move forward. Instead, what is needed is a shift in drug education that could save lives. By this, we mean getting on board with his mother’s message and talking about the risk of mixing drugs, rather than blasting the classic “don’t do drugs, kids” and pretending it’s an effective deterrent. As his birthday passed by this year, Yams’ mother Tatianna Paulino penned a letter that not only detailed the night of his passing but the change she is working for in its wake.
“Even if it makes us uncomfortable, I wish public health messages about drugs were more clear and simple in emphasising real concerns as oppose to hyping less likely outcomes,” Paulino wrote. “I wish such messages simply stated, “Don’t combine opioids with other sedatives!” If they did, perhaps my son would be alive today.”
Realness must be genetic, as Yam’s mother talks facts on facts. “To be clear, I recognize that parents, including me, should discourage drug use. But, you should also know that my son wanted to get high, not die. And because this is the case for many young people, whether we like it or not, we should do all we can do to keep them safe and alive. It’s the humane thing to do.”
You can read her letter in its entirety here. Additionally, The A$AP Foundation seeks to provide effective drug abuse awareness, and you also can check them out here for more information.
R.I.P A$AP YAMS.
