Young L made a Bay Area anthem about skate shoes before he was 20. The Pack’s producer has died at 39

Young L, the producer whose bright, electronic-leaning beats gave The Pack its sound and turned a song about skate shoes into a national hit, has died at the age of 39.

His stepmother, who helped raise him, announced his death on social media, saying he died on Wednesday 11 November. Too Short, the Oakland rapper who signed The Pack to his Up All Nite label, shared the news on Instagram on Thursday US time, calling him “Nephew”. Pink Dolphin, the clothing company he co-founded, also posted about his death. No cause has been made public.

Too Short wrote that he had never heard a Young L beat that did not hit hard, and said the producer and The Pack had influenced a long list of artists.

Who was Young L?

Born Lloyd Omadhebo, he grew up in a musical family in the Bay Area. His father, the Nigerian percussionist Geoffrey Omadhebo, was a leading figure in the region’s Afrobeat scene, and his mother played guitar in the early line-up of the Afrobeat band Kotoja.

He met Stunnaman in sixth grade through skateboarding, and The Pack came together in Berkeley in 2005 with Lil B and Lil Uno, recording at his house. He met Lil B around 2004 at Albany High.

How did “Vans” happen?

“Vans”, from the group’s mixtape Wolfpack Muzik Vol. 2, began as a local favourite. When Too Short heard it on the radio he signed the group to Up All Nite through Jive Records. The song went on to the Billboard Hot 100 in 2006, and a remix featuring Too Short and Mistah F.A.B. appeared on the Skateboards 2 Scrapers EP that December.

It arrived at the height of hyphy, and its producer’s mix of hyphy bounce and electronic sounds helped set the look and feel of that era. Twenty years on, it has passed 10 million streams on Spotify.

Young L was the primary producer on The Pack’s 2007 debut album Based Boys and produced its 2010 follow-up Wolfpack Party. After Lil B went solo and became one of the internet’s first rap cult figures, the rapper still often turned to Young L in the studio. He also produced for Too Short, Mistah F.A.B., Mac Miller, Prodigy and Kool A.D., and released mixtapes of his own.

What was Pink Dolphin?

Pink Dolphin was the streetwear label he co-founded, and around 2012 its loud, colourful designs were everywhere in Bay Area hip-hop. Mistah F.A.B. remembered him sketching designs at his mother’s house in El Cerrito, and called him the mastermind behind both The Pack and the brand. Young L had stepped away from the company by the mid-2010s.

Who has paid tribute?

Alongside Too Short, Mistah F.A.B. said he had hoped the news was a hoax and called him a “Berkeley GOAT”. The Bay Area DJ Ill Will and the Chicago rap writer Andrew Barber also paid tribute, remembering a talented artist and producer.

Why it still matters

The Pack’s run was short, but it put Berkeley skate kids on the national charts, launched Lil B and left a style of Bay Area rap and fashion that people still borrow from. Young L made the music and drew the clothes.