Devin Spady, rapper and son to Gillie da King, was laid to rest in Philadelphia

Devin Spady’s pine coffin, draped in an ornate green cloth, lay at the base of the stage of the Met Philadelphia Monday morning, the former opera house filled with hundreds of mourners who prayed for Spady’s soul and for the city that claimed his life.

One by one, family, friends, and prominent community members stepped up to view the 25-year-old’s body, wrapped in a white shroud. The voice of a man reciting the Quran carried delicately through the theater, a comforting soundtrack for final goodbyes to the young musician.

Spady — known musically as YNG Cheese, and the son of former hip-hop artist and entertainment mogul Gillie da King — was fatally shot last week in the Olney section of Philadelphia. He was standing with a group near the 5800 block of North Mascher Street around 8:30 p.m. Thursday when at least 10 shots were fired. Spady was shot in the back and died at the hospital a short time later. Two other men were also injured.

Police on Monday said they still know little of what happened that night, though investigators do believe the shots were fired by someone up the block toward the group Spady was with, said Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore. No arrests have been made, no suspects have been identified, and a motive for the shooting remains unknown, Vanore said.

Spady’s killing drew an outpouring of grief from those in the music and entertainment communities who watched him grow up alongside his father, Gillie, who hosts one of the most popular podcasts in the nation. And it also reignited community members’ frustrations with Philadelphia’s gun violence crisis, an epidemic that, in just three and a half years, has claimed more than 1,700 lives — mostly of young Black men.

Imam Shaykh Tahir Wyatt laid bare the issue on Monday.

“We have to step up as a community,” Wyatt said. “All of us know somebody, all of us know people who are this far away from revenge, from an endless cycle. We have to be the ones to step up and be courageous.”

He also sought to remind the crowd that “none of us is guaranteed tomorrow.”

“We are all on borrowed time,” he said. “The angel of death does not discriminate.”

Devin L. Spady Jr. was born in Philadelphia on April 6, 1998 to his mother Tara “Toy” Fears and father Far’d “Gil” Nasir, who rose to fame in the early ‘90s as “Gillie da Kid,” a member of the rap group Major Figgas.

Following in his father’s footsteps, Spady took to music at a young age, challenging family and strangers alike to rap battles, the family wrote in an obituary. After he graduated from Ben Franklin High School, he took his music career more seriously and became known to fans as “YNG Cheese.” He recently performed at The Roots Picnic and other tours and events.

He was the father to a 2-year-old son, Chase, whom the family called “his pride and joy.” He was engaged to be married, and was a brother to 12 siblings across his blended family.

Spady was the “life of the party and center of attention no matter the occasion,” the family wrote. “He was comfortable in the spotlight.”

On Monday, a set of spotlights shone down on his coffin as the family gathered around it for a final time. Gillie laid his head on his son Talib’s shoulder, one arm draped across his chest. Loved ones took turns kissing and caressing Spady’s young face. They shared parting words before returning to their seats.

But Talib, who also goes by Macc, stayed. The pair had been nearly inseparable, so much so that they formed a rap duo called “MACC & Chee$e.” Now, he was his brother’s keeper and would not leave his side.

Finally, the recitations overhead stopped and the hall fell silent. Talib helped pulled the shroud over his brother’s face, then closed the coffin.

Gillie, the cohost of top weekly podcast Million Dollaz Worth of Game, has shared little publicly in the aftermath. But inside an obituary booklet were small insights into his pain.

“The overwhelming emotions of grief and anger that have consumed me are indescribable,” Gillie wrote to his son. “No words can adequately convey the depth of what I am experiencing. But please know that I love you.”

After the Janazah finished, Gillie and others slowly carried the coffin outside and laid it inside a white, horse-drawn carriage, which would carry Spady’s body to Westminster Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd.

As the pair of horses strode north on Broad Street, many Philadelphians passing by gathered on the sidewalk. They watched quietly, some filming with their phones, as another young resident of their city killed by a gun was carried away to be buried.