WorldStarHipHop founder Lee “Q” O’Denat has reportedly died.

According to TMZ, Q died in his sleep Monday night (Jan. 23). Though the cause of death is unknown at this time, fans have already begun to react to the news of his passing.

In 2005, Q founded the premiere Hip-Hop website when he started posting mixtapes, which gradually progressed into a mash-up of Hip-Hop videos, fight clips, and other outrageous camera footage.  The site transformed popular culture and became a go-to place for the hip-hop youth to gravitate to and not only discover new music, but stay up to date on news and whatever else. Whether you hated or loved it, WSHH was the pioneer for the culture we are currently seeing online. The WorldStar culture had become so popular, that if any outrageous act happened in public, someone would undoubtedly yell out, “Worldstar,” and begin to film as it happened.

Living with the ideology that “image is everything,” WorldStarHipHop changed the way we view videos online, with videos featured on the infamous site going viral daily.

Our condolences to the O’Denat family, he was 43-years-old.

This story is developing and we will continue to update it as information becomes available.

January 24, 2017