Capital Steez: How a Teenager Impacted Hip-Hop

Capital Steez is one of the toughest rappers of the last decade, if not any decade, to assess.

How do you analyze and contextualize the career of a man who never released a full-length album, barely had the chance to rap over original production or record in a studio, and passed away before he had even turned 20 years old?

In most cases, an artist like that wouldn’t even have enough relevance for these questions to be asked or debated. But Steez is a unique case.

On December 24th, 2012, Steez tragically took his own life at the age of 19, jumping to his death from the rooftop of the Cinematic Music Group headquarters in Manhattan’s Flatiron District.

In the time since, hardly any posthumous music has been released. His long-hyped album King Capital has seen multiple release dates announced over the years only to be further delayed and shelved over sample clearance and estate issues.

Nearly every aspect of Steez seems to be shrouded in some degree of mystery or debate.