Lil Poppa is laid to rest in a gold casket following a heartwarming homegoing service during which his manager speaks out for the first time since Poppa’s passing.

On March 7, the Jacksonville, Fla., rapper’s funeral service was held at Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church in his hometown. The event was open to the public, drawing hundreds of fans to Poppa’s final sendoff. The CMG rapper was laid to rest in a gold casket. During the service, his manager, Dee Dee, spoke fondly about Poppa, born Janarious Mykel Wheeler.

“Everybody has to deal with they own things on they own time,” she said. “And, if you really knew Poppa, you knew this is what Poppa wanted. Poppa was never happy with life. It had nothing to do with anybody. He just feel like he wasn’t making nobody happy. And that wasn’t the way it was supposed to be. Because, in truth, he made all of us happy.”

Lil Poppa died on Feb. 18. The Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office in Georgia later confirmed his cause of death as a self-inflicted gunshot wound. According to TMZ, Poppa was in a single-car crash on the morning he took his own life. After the accident, Poppa reportedly met his manager in a hotel parking lot, where they had a conversation before Poppa shot himself.

Poppa’s manager also revealed what she told the rapper.

“I said, ‘Don’t ever stop praying.’ I said, ‘You have a song to live for,’” she revealed. “I said, ‘You have a family of people that need you and depend on you.’”

Yo Gotti, who signed Poppa to CMG in 2022, was also in attendance.

If you or someone you know is at risk of suicide or contemplating self-harm, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, text TALK to 741741 or visit Speakingofsuicide.com for additional resources.