Queens-native and WorldStarHipHop founder Lee ‘Q’ O’Denat died in his sleep on Monday night.
Sources say that O’Denat, 43, suffered a heart attack. He left behind three children.
O’Denat was raised in Hollis. He started WorldStarHipHop in 2005 as a way for up and coming rappers to share their mix tapes. Over time, the website evolved and began to curate viral videos, outrageous clips and fighting videos.
“Hip-hop is for the sex, the drugs, the violence, the beefs, the culture. That’s the competitiveness of hip-hop, so I felt like the site needed to be R-rated,” O’Denat told The New York Times on Nov. 2, 2015. “People may be offended by some of the content, but, hey, the Internet is not a censorship boat. We’re the Carnival cruise, man. You don’t have to log on.”
O’Denat had hopes that the website would eventually create original content.
TMZ reported that an autopsy was scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 24.
