Milwaukee rapper Funny $Money has died. He was one of two killed in a shooting in the city’s Old North neighborhood on August 17, WISN 12 News reports. His nephew told the station, “The last thing I said to my uncle was, ‘I love you and be safe.’ He said, ‘I’m always safe.’ That was it.” Funny $Money was 33.

One of the linchpins of the recent Milwaukee hip-hop boom, Funny $Money, born Quentene Williams, was a slick-talking punchline rapper with an ear for R&B samples and groovy slap beats. He felt like connective tissue among a new generation of local talent, popping up on songs with nearly every key figure: Sme Taxfree, Chicken P, Superthrowed Fay Fay.

When the scene experienced lows, mostly due to legal circumstances, you could always count on a steady stream of Funny $Money tapes to hold things down. Standouts include 2022’s Don’t Talk 2 Much, which features the breezy and vivid single “Rocky Balboa,” and 2024’s I Got the Hook Up Vol. 1: Big Bucks No Whammies, a loose No Limit homage that felt like a nod to Funny $Money’s role as one of the workhorses of Milwaukee rap.

In a December 2025 interview with the Kid L Podcast, Funny $Money discussed how watching rappers like Larry Bird and Gwapo Chapo come up while he was in prison inspired him to seriously pursue a career. “I love rap…but I was too focused on the street life,” he explained. “Once I realized, like, I can do this, and I don’t care for the image they got for the city? I know I’m a real one, authentic, I can do it and I know they’re gonna fuck with it…. Why not give it a shot?”