Bing Worthington Jr., a music business executive and the younger brother of Snoop Dogg, died at the age of 44 on Feb. 15. As NBC News reports, Snoop announced the death of his brother on Instagram with a caption reading, “Bac wit momma.” According to Sgt. Frank Gonzalez, Worthington’s cause of death will be announced pending an autopsy and toxicology report, “The cause of death will be pending the results of the toxicology and autopsy report.”

Worthington worked his way up from being a roadie, or a member of Snoop’s entourage to becoming a tour manager and from there Worthington eventually became an executive producer at Dogg Records. Worthington told VICE in 2016 that he had a hand in several different ventures, including Snoop Doggs, a foot-long hot dog startup, and the skateboard deck company Snoop Dogg Board Company.

Worthington also described his feelings on his career longevity to the outlet, saying, “I think the word to describe my career is ‘blessed.’ The reason is because I’m still here. I’ve seen all these people’s careers. I’m not saying they made bad decisions but they lost themselves. And I think I still have myself. That’s really the most important thing, you can’t lose yourself. It’s like when you’re a war vet and you come home all messed up in your head, but I was in the war and I ain’t get messed up at all. I’ve still got limbs, and my mind is still there.”

Worthington also discussed his love of Canada and his merger with a Canadian hip-hop label Urban Heat Legends, which he said was birthed out of a long-standing friendship with the label’s owner Miguel Lopez. Lopez kept in touch with Worthington over the years, since meeting on the set of Xzibit’s “Concentrate” music video in 2007, which was directed by Director X. Lopez told NBC News that following the death of his mother, Beverly Tate, in 2021 Worthington was not the same person he had been before her death. “Its been a tough time since his mom passed,” Lopez said. “He took it very hard. He was very close to her.” 

Lopez also said that Worthington had been uncharacteristically uncommunicative during a recent family trip to Jamaica. Though he split time between California and Canada, Worthington and Lopez still maintained communication via weekly phone calls that Lopez says hadn’t been happening like they had in the past recently. The pair were looking to create a division of Dogg Records focusing on Latino artists, and Lopez told NBC News that he would be missing his friend, but plans to carry on the label in Worthington’s honor. “He had a great heart, and the little things he did were huge things for us, like opening the doors to his family,” Lopez said. “He’s going to be missed as a friend above all. This label has to carry on in his honor.” According to Lopez, Worthington is survived by his partner and an adult son.

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