Breaking News: Philly Rapper Tommy Hill Shot And Killed

(AllHipHop News) Rapper Tommy Hill was shot and killed in Philadelphia earlier this week, sources have confirmed with AllHipHop.com.

The rapper, born John Wilson, was a member of the well-known hip-hop group R.A.M. Squad.

A source provided AllHipHop.com with the details surrounding the shooting of Tommy Hill.

The source told AllHipHop.com that robbery was the motive, although there could have been any number of reasons behind his murder, due to his criminal background and alleged association with the mob.

Late Thursday, early Friday morning, the rapper was coming out of a bar named Reuben’s Marc, which is located on Stenton Avenue and Mount Pleasant in the Uptown area of Philadelphia.

“He was in a bar having a good time and afterwards they shot him and robbed him,” a confidential source told AllHipHop.com. “The dudes he was with shot back, security came out and it was hectic situation.”

Although it cannot be confirmed, the source said that Tommy Hill was alive after the shooting on Thursday.

But he died from his wounds in a Philadelphia hospital, sometime over the weekend.

The Richard Allen Mob [R.A.M. Squad] was a popular Philadelphia hip-hop group in the 80s and 90s who recorded with notables like Nelly and Sticky Fingaz.

The R.A.M. Squad, named after the notorious Richard Allen Homes housing projects, featured group members Tommy Hill, Boy Backs, Suave, 6’9 and Wiz Gam.

The group released albums like Operation Lock The City (1996), Thee Album Regardless (1997) and their major label debut, Universal’s 2001’s Random Access Money.

The album contained R.A.M. Squad’s best known single, “Ballers (Up In Here).”

Despite his career as a rapper, Tommy Hill ran into serious legal trouble in 2003, during a federal investigation into the R.A.M. Squad’s involvement in the city’s cocaine trade.

In 2003, Tommy Hill was charged with selling 51 grams of crack cocaine to a government witness, who was wired with a recording device provided by the FBI.

Tommy Hill faced a minimum of 10 years in prison, so he pleaded guilty to the charges.

Tommy Hill was allegedly a close associate of Philly mob boss skinny Joey Merlino and he had stated that the FBI had been seeking information from him, in relation to Merlino’s activities.

Over the years, Tommy Hill was dogged by accusations that he cooperated with the government, which did not help his rap career.

He was also involved in the city’s first “weapons of mass destruction” trial.

Tommy Hill, who had allegedly relocated to Atlanta, seem to be poised to make a comeback in December of 2010.

His reputation was seemingly cleared by group member Boy Backs, who inexplicably admitted on camera that he had been the informant who had originally set Tommy Hill up.

That paved the way for Tommy Hill to launch a new career as Tommy Butta and a new record label named 34th Floor Entertainment.

He then returned to the headlines, for consistently attacking fellow Philadelphia rap star Beanie Sigel.

In one clip, Tommy Hill can even be seen in front of top Beanie Sigel’s New Jersey apartment taunting the rapper.

In February Tommy Hill was arrested for attacking a woman at a Northwest Atlanta Wal-Mart.

In the end, however, the source said that robbery was most likely the sole motive.

“He thought he was where he was safe and it turned ugly on him,” the source told AllHipHop.com. “To make it worse, word is they were like ‘what was this rat ass ni**a doing up here in the first place and he got his stuff on?’ It is what it is. It could have been anything. He told on the Mob.

“People sleep on Uptown and that part of the city. [But] this is the same place Cassidy got into his situation, its just as bad as North and South Philly. He thought he was in an area where he was safe,” the source concluded to AllHipHop.com.