River North mass shooting: What we’ve learned about rapper Mello Buckzz

CHICAGO (WGN) — At least four people were killed and more than a dozen others injured in a Wednesday night mass shooting outside a nightclub in Chicago’s River North neighborhood.

The gunfire erupted from a dark-colored vehicle as a crowd exited Artis Restaurant and Lounge, where an album release party was held for Chicago rapper Mello Buckzz’s latest project, HollyHOOD The Mixtape.

An aunt of one of the women killed, Taylor Walker, said many of the people who attended the event grew up with the rapper, making it a bit of a family reunion.

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Indeed, posts on Mello Buckzz’ Instagram indicate she knew some of the victims.

“My heart hurt so bad,” the rapper wrote on an Instagram Story, part of a series that mourned both Walker and a man she referenced as her her ‘handsomeeee mannn.’

“We was having so much fun in our private little life couldn’t leave each other alone glued to my hip everyday,” she wrote. “I held yo’ hand until I couldn’t.”

The rapper, whose real name is Melanie Doyle, was labeled as one to watch by Pitchfork in 2023 following the release of the track “Pretty Opp.”

“Mello Buckzz is ripping apart any beat that comes her way,” the online music magazine wrote at the time.

She has millions of streams on her music and videos. Her track “Boom Pt. 2 (feat. Latto) has more than 3.5 million streams on Spotify. Its music video on YouTube has amassed nearly 9.5 million views.

In March, she was in Atlanta and performed her track Hula Hoop for YouTube music channel BlockWorkTV.

Aside from posts on social media, Mello Buckzz has not issued a public statement about the shooting nor the victims as of early Thursday afternoon.