Promising rapper Lil Snupe was put to rest this week following his untimely death and the age of 18.

Rapper Meek Mill’s protégé’s funeral service was held in his hometown of Jonesboro, Louisiana, at Jonesboro-Hodge High School, and attended by hundreds of mourners.

“I saw something in him. His demo tape spoke to me. I saw myself in him,” Mill said Saturday, according to The Huffington Post .

A man accused of murdering the teen was taken into custody last week. The 36-year-old Tony Holden has been charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery, and illegal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

The Shreveport Times reported that Lil Snupe (born Addarren Ross) was shot and killed on June 20. Mill, who sat quietly for the majority of the service, broke his silence to express his sorrow at Ross’ passing, and the boy’s talent.

“He was spitting so much pain,” Mill said of the young rapper. “He’s from the South with a flow like an East Coast guy. He really can spit, and he was talking that talk that I can really relate to. I seen potential in him.”

While celebrities like Sean Combs expressed their sorrow at Ross’ death, the up-and-coming rapper’s biological father, Charlie Brown, wrote from his jail cell of his sadness. The emotional letter was read aloud at the funeral service.

“He came from nothing,” Brown wrote. “He taught the young to never make excuses. When the doors open for me, the world will forever hear Lil’ Snupe!”

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