Tavache Trife Kizer

Trife was born Tavache Kizer in Chicago Illinois. He was an American rapper whom became victim to the same violence he rapped against in his lyrics. Unlike most rappers from Chicago such as Chief Keef whom are part of the drill music scene, Trife’s lyrics were the opposite, instead of praising the violence, he urged his fellow brothers and sisters to stop it. Though Trife had a profound love for Hip Hop, it came after his two main priorities of being a husband and a father to 4 kids.



Trife worked at a transportation company which was founded by his older brother. Apart from his work at the transportation company, he spent his life trying to portray a better image for the ‘hood’. He and his brother Larry “Shaciaren” Kizer created a nonprofit called “Royalt2y” in an effort to reach out to young people, and prevent them from becoming victims of the hood. Trife believed that Hip Hop was one of the most influential tools in America, and the words conveyed by rappers in their lyrics had the power of life and death, but believe most rappers were in Hip Hop for self-preservation; he wanted to change that through his positive lyrics.

Trife Death

On October 7th of 2013, Trife was wrapping up the final edits of his video for his song “Respect the Youth”, however, before the video would be finalized, he would become victim of the same violence his song “Respect for the Youth” was speaking against. While at his neighborhood in the 7300 block of South Dorchester visiting a mechanic, he was killed by a hail of bullets around 2PM in the afternoon. The suspects have yet to be caught, but police believe that he was not the intended target of the shooters. He was only 38 years old at the time of his death.

Trife’s tragic death came less than a month after another rapper from Chicago, named Leonard “L’A Capone” Anderson was murdered while leaving a studio after a recording session. Trife’s death is yet another tragic reminder of the streets of Chicago, where those not affiliated with the violence plaguing the city, often fall prey to the criminals roaming the city. As Chicago surpassed New York to become the most murderous city in the US, Trife was hoping to change that through his rap songs, but his early death, which is not unheard of in Chicago, killed his dream but not his legacy.

Trife - Respect for the Youth Video