Rapper’s Death At Berkeley Hospital Probed: Report

BERKELEY, CA — Police are investing the death of a Bay Area rapper at a Berkeley hospital Friday morning, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Stephen Gaines, who founded the hip-hop band Zion I and went by the stage name Baba Zumbi, died at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center on Ashby Avenue after a physical altercation according to the report.

Gaines, 49, was asthmatic and was recovering from the coronavirus according to the report. He was among 30 people who contracted COVID-19 at his July 24 performance in Nevada City (Nevada County).

He produced a 2016 video “Tech $” on gentrification he created while he was being evicted from his Oakland home, KQED reports.

Read more in The San Francisco Chronicle