<p>HOUSTON — Residents from Houston’s Third Ward are mourning the shooting death of Xavier Roberson, a rapper who used his music as a vehicle to highlight systemic racism and police brutality.</p>
<p>Rapping under the moniker Obe Noir, Roberson, 31, was fatally shot early Monday, March 8, the <a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/crime/article/He-was-my-heart-Close-friends-mourn-16016605.php">Houston Chronicle</a> reported.</p>
<p>Witnesses say they heard gunfire around 3:40 a.m. before spotting him running down the street. A vehicle drove around the block “as if chasing Roberson,” opened fire and fled, according to police.</p>
<p>Roberson, a good friend to <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trials-death-of-george-floyd-racial-injustice-minneapolis-48d84aa0ba2a66ebba91a7bef633ce89">George Floyd</a>, had marched the streets of Houston and Washington D.C. after Floyd’s death. He was planning to honor Floyd by forming a nonprofit to help people in the Third Ward.</p>
<p>Cal Wayne, a Houston rapper who also grew up with Floyd in Cuney Homes, said Roberson stuck out among other aspiring rappers “because of his vocabulary — how fluent he was. How much he could articulate a story on any topic.”</p>
<p>Roberson also played professional basketball in multiple countries overseas, including Colombia, where local news reports about his death hailed him as a “great figure” on the team, Titanes de Barranquilla.</p>
<p>Houston police have not made an arrest in the killing, and a detailed description of the suspects was not available.</p>
