MACCIN™

VALLEJO -- A renowned Bay Area rapper signed to slain hip-hop star Mac Dre's record label succumbed to his gunshot wounds after a shooting at a Vallejo apartment complex, officials said Friday.

Johnny Castaneda Jr., 25, of Richmond, a rapper who went by the stage names "Johnny Ca$h" and "Tha Fast Gunna," died Thursday from a gunshot wound to the head at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek after being on life support, a Contra Costa coroner's official said Friday. Castaneda rapped on late Vallejo legend Andre "Mac Dre" Hicks' record label - Thizz Entertainment.

Vallejo police said that Castaneda was shot multiple times in the parking lot of Sereno Village Apartments, 750 Sereno Drive. He was the second shooting victim found this year in the apartments, both with loose ties to Mac Dre's name. Police were not disclosing details of Thursday's shooting, citing the ongoing investigation.

Castaneda's death set the Bay Area rap scene abuzz, with hundreds of fans paying their online respects to Ca$h on his MySpace page (www.myspace.com/cashthafastgunna).

One MySpace comment read: "T.I.P. Homie U Wit Dre now " referring to Mac Dre, who was shot and killed in a still unsolved murder in Kansas City, Mo., in 2004.

Others wrote "T.I.P."

or "Thizz in Peace." Thizz started as a term for taking the party drug ecstasy, and has since taken on a broader musical meaning, aligned with the Bay Area's hyphy movement and synonymous with Mac Dre.

A message on his MySpace page read: "Johnny Ca$h of Money Gang passed away today. Our deepest condolences go out to his family and friends. Thizz In Peace, cutt. - Thizz Nation"

Castaneda was signed to Mac Dre's label after Dre, 34, had already passed away, said Black Dog Bone, the editor of Murder Dog magazine, a popular rap magazine based in Vallejo.

"He knew Mac Dre but not much. They had a pretty big difference in age," Bone said.

The rap editor said he interviewed Johnny Ca$h on Tuesday as part of a larger article on Thizz Entertainment for the magazine's next issue. The slain rapper had previously joined dozens of other members of Thizz Entertainment for a photo shoot along Mare Island Strait, Bone said.

"He just talked about music," Bone said of the interview.

Johnny Ca$h stayed away from the popular hyphy movement, Bone said.

Anyone with information on the shooting is requested to contact Vallejo police detective Raul Munoz or detective Sharon Fong at 648-4541.

"He's like more into street or gangsta, more mob music," Bone said. "The old Bay sound."

The editor, who has worked with many in the Bay Area rap scene, said his sources aren't talking about possible motives or who did it.

"Even if they knew, they don't talk," Bone said.

A Thizz Entertainment representative did not return a call for comment Friday.

Christiane Ambrose, 21, a Sereno apartment resident, was sleeping Thursday morning during the shooting, but heard the ruckus after.

"I was getting my mail and there was screaming and people yelling, 'Someone just got shot!' " Ambrose said.

Ambrose said Castaneda lived in the apartment complex with his wife. A Vallejo police official said Castaneda lived in Richmond, but had been staying of late in Vallejo.

"I've known him, but only by saying hi or bye," Ambrose said.

On Jan. 3, Eli Isaac Griffin, 29, was shot and killed and left in the same parking lot. Two men are facing murder charges in that case.

In court Thursday, testimony revealed that a witness told police that murder suspect Mario Espinosa Matthews, a 21-year-old rapper, wore a Mac Dre mask while dancing around with a gun shortly before Griffin's shooting. Police said Thursday the two cases are not linked.

The recent violence led to an increase in security presence at the complex, and also frazzled some tenants' nerves.

"I feel like I can't leave the house no more," said Ambrose, who plans to move to Texas to avoid the violence.

Thursday's homicide marks the city's sixth slaying of the year, one more than all of 2006. The city saw 16 in 2005 and nine in 2004.

As for the rap connection to the recent violence, Black Dog Bone attributes it to inner-city problems.

"A lot of kids who do rap are forced to be in a gang because they're in their hood," Bone said. "You have to be on this side or that side. That's just the reality. You have to survive."

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i thought he been dead

TUNES

yeah this is old... is it the 1 year anniversary....
el pueblo is the real deal man... they talking like this a freak occurance for this area... sad tho.... NOT THIZZ in PEACE...

Rest In PEACE...

THIZZ ENT... More than just a rap label... they could give a fuck about their artist... they just profit off this loss... then the get their rappers to smuggle 6000+ E-PILLS....

......FUCK THIZZ ENT...

R.I.P. Ca$h

SᵀᵁᴺᵀᴬϟᵀᴵC

Dam, its really already been a year...

RIP Johnny Ca$h

MACCIN™

thizz ent been pissin me off lately alsoo...fuck em...

$

i heard him rap before on youtube.. but i never seen a cd of his, did he have any?

RobertGST

Cash had hella potential, and he most likely got killed over some bullshit. :csmh:

RobertGST

Yeah he had a few of them, a thizzz nation, and the money gang cd's. If you want them I can up them, i figured everyone had them though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfSxMK44nZ4

TUNES

money gang cd is with him and klyde best cd of ca$h IMO

...yeah robert up that money gang cd....that shit is straight dope... nice YT vid

$

yea id rep u...

dont up that thizz nation tho.. hate all em

SᵀᵁᴺᵀᴬϟᵀᴵC

Even 1, 2, & 3?

$

yea, couldnt stand em..

MACCIN™

anything after 7 WAS EXTREMELY HOMO

yOGi420™

actually the thizz nation starring ca$h is pretty good...
RIP Johnny "tha Fast Gunna" Ca$h