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WorldStarHipHop Founder Lee "Q" O'Denat Has Reportedly Died

He was 43 years old.

According to TMZ, WorldStarHipHop founder Lee "Q" O'Denat has died at the age of 43. The site reports that O'Denat passed away in his sleep on Monday night. Q founded WorldStar in 2005 and helped grow the visionary website to one of hip-hop's most notable websites for its viral and controversial content. In our 2013 interview with Q, he spoke about the motivation to start WorldStar:

"It was more of a blog with videos, editorial, and just anything relevant of the day. We noticed that it kept growing and growing. Because we were not just being like other boring hip-hop sites. I wanted to push buttons, you know. Because hip-hop is known for that. Profanity, pushing buttons, crossing lines. 2 Live Crew, Eminem, NWA. So I'm like, this is hip-hop."

UPDATE: WorldStarHipHop issued a statement Tuesday afternoon on Twitter confirming O'Denat's passing:

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